 NEWS BYTES
The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) recently obtained a memo from the State Department instructing consular officers on the issuance of nonimmigrant visas. According to the memo, officers should issue the visa for the maximum allowable period unless there are exceptional circumstances that would counsel otherwise. It seems that some officers had been routinely issuing visas for less than the maximum period. Secretary of State Colin Powell was concerned that this practice would damage visa reciprocity agreements, hindering the ability of US citizens to travel abroad. He also said that it was better practice for the consulate to issue a full validity visa and let the INS made the determination on the proper period of admission.
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The INS’ Immigrant Services Division and the American Immigration Lawyers Association had a teleconference on April 12, 2001 at which several key issues were discussed. The ISD announced the following: - The INS will continue to allow F-1 students to file for Employment Authorization Documents before the requisite 9 months has passed as long as the start date requested on the EAD is after 9 months. The INS had been considering changing this policy. - If an H-1B petition is filed with the INS with an LCA that was previously submitted to the Department of Labor but that LCA has been lost by the Department of Labor (which is not uncommon), then the INS will now allow the submission of a later filed LCA as long as it is submitted at the time of responding to an evidence request with proof of the original LCA’s filing. - The INS expects to issue an H-1B count for Fiscal Year 2001 shortly and then promises to begin issuing these reports on a regular basis after that. *********
The INS has extended Temporary Protected Status for Angolans. Because of the new grant, Angolans in the US who register for TPS will have authorized status until March 29, 2002. The re-registration period is April 5, 2001 to May 7, 2001.
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The Rogers, Arkansas, Police Department has filed a response denying the accusations in a lawsuit claiming that the department routinely stops people simply because of their Hispanic appearance. The three plaintiffs who filed the suit are seeking to have it made into a class action. They claim that they were stopped and made to produce immigration documents, and were not ticketed for any traffic offense.
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In a raid last week the INS arrested 84 undocumented workers at a Maryland company. This was the second time in two years that Chesapeake Building Components Inc. was raided by the INS. If the company is found to have knowingly violated immigration laws, it could be fined up to ,000 per worker.
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Late last week Mohammad Bachir was released after almost four and a half years in INS detention. His release came only after intense lobbying efforts on his behalf by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. Bachir, who is a permanent resident, is stateless and could not be deported. Because he could not be deported, the INS detained him.
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Because of demand for INS forms created by the pending expiration of section 245(i) on April 30, 2001, the INS is advising people that it may not be able to meet the demand for requests for forms by mail. It recommends obtaining forms from its website, http://www.ins.usdoj.gov.
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Gholamreza Mohajeri Nejad, an activist for democracy in Iran, was recently granted political asylum in the US. There is a standing order for his execution in Iran because of his opposition to the current government. He was jailed in Iran and when he was released last year, he fled to the US. In the US he continued his activism, giving interviews that were sent to Iran. For this, he was sentenced to death for treason.
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Twenty-one custodians at the University of Wisconsin were fired last week after they failed to present documentation that they were authorized to work in the US. The local branch of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees believes that the firing was racially motivated because all of those fired were Hispanic. The workers came to the attention of the University after it attempted to reimburse them for union dues that had been overpaid. A number of the workers had the same names and Social Security number.
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New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer recently announced the formation of a task force that would ensure day laborers receive the protection of New York labor laws. In a statement, Spitzer said that all workers, regardless of their immigration status, should receive the protection of the law.
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This week the Pulitzer Prizes, which are awarded for outstanding achievements in journalism, were awarded. Reflecting the increased importance of immigration issues in recent years, a number of the awards went to immigration related stories. The prize for photography went to Alan Diaz, an Associated Press photographer who took the most famous picture from the raid on the Miami home where Elian Gonzalez was living. The Miami Herald won an award for its breaking news coverage of the raid. The Herald’s coverage of the Elian saga is available online at http://www.miami.com/herald/special/news/elian/. The Portland Oregonian received an award for its series on problems within the Portland INS office, and within the entire agency. The series is available online at http://www.oregonlive.com/ins/.
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The INS in Salinas Valley recently deported 39 people after receiving complaints from local schoolgirls and their parents. According to the parents, the girls were harassed on their way to and from school. However, a number of people claim that the real motivating factor was racism, and that the men were not doing anything more than simply standing on a street corner. The deportations have sparked a local debate, with the parents saying that the other side is ignoring their claim that their girls were sexually harassed.
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This week a new website opened that allows people to search for their ancestors on passenger manifests of ships that carried immigrants to Ellis Island. The database covers 1892 to 1924, when as many as 5,000 immigrants were arriving each day. The website, which is run by the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, is available at http://www.ellisislandrecords.org.
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This week a Los Angeles man was sentenced to 11 years in prison for holding an undocumented immigrant in slavery for more than five years. The man, Nur Alamin, was also ordered to pay 5,819 in restitution to Shaefeli Akhtar, a Bangladeshi woman. She was threatened with death if she tried to leave, and was also likely sexually abused.
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In a recent speech at a San Jose, California, job training center, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao said that wanted to find a way to better screen H-1B visa applications to ensure that the documents provided were accurate. One of the possibilities that is being examined is a joint task force comprised of officials from the Department of Labor and the INS. Chao recently discussed this possibility with Attorney General John Ashcroft.
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A 13-year-old Sri Lankan boy has won the right to remain in the US. Nearly two years ago Senthan Mahendrarajah’s mother and father sold all their possessions to buy him a false passport and a plane ticket so that he could enter the US to live with an aunt and uncle. Senthan, an ethnic Tamil, initially applied for asylum, saying that he had been jailed by the government and forced to chose between remaining in jail or spying on a rebel group for the government. He agreed to spy, and after his release from jail, fled to the US. When it began to look unlikely that the asylum application would be granted, Senthan applied for special immigrant juvenile status, which was recently approved.
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A recent report from the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General criticized the INS for failing to keep track of computers used to store confidential information and for its inability to account for hundreds of weapons. The report, which is based on an investigation begun in 1998, showed that six INS guns were linked to crimes, and that nearly million in property, including 539 weapons, could not be tracked. The INS says that it has improved training and documentation, and the report did praise the agency for these improvements. The report will be available online at http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/igwhnew1.htm.
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This week Attorney General John Ashcroft paid his first visit to the INS. One of the topics of discussion were plans to reorganize the agency, splitting it into two separate agencies, one for services and one for enforcement. Officials would not say what, if any, conclusions were reached during the meeting.
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A recent directive from the Office of Refugee Resettlement announces a change in the policy of the Social Security Administration on issuing Social Security numbers to asylees. Previously, asylees were required to have an INS issued employment authorization document to obtain a Social Security Number. Under the new policy, either the employment document or an order from an Immigration Judge granting asylum or an I-94 can be used to get the number. Also, it is an unrestricted number, meaning that the card will not include the notation that it is valid for work only with INS authorization.
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Early this month Acting INS Commissioner Kevin Rooney gave his first public speech before the National Legal Conference on Immigration and Refugee Policy. He noted that the Bush administration has not fully formulated its positions on all immigration issues, and spoke about the importance of developing a sound policy in this time of high levels of both legal and undocumented immigration.
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The Washington Post is interested in speaking with attorneys who have clients in immigration detention in remote jails far away from where they lived. Anyone interested in speaking with the paper should contact washingtonpoststory@visalaw.com.
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