On Wednesday, December 17, 2003, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services naturalized the oldest immigrant to become a naturalized US citizen on record.  Shlema Khaimovich Livshits, a 104-year-old Russian immigrant, came to the US as a refugee based on a fear of persecution in Czarist Russia as a result of his Jewish ancestry. 

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The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States recently had their fifth public hearing.  Thomas Kean chaired the third panel, and panel speakers consisted of Professor Jan Ting, Professor Khaled Medhat Abou El Fadl, and Professor David Martin.  The panel professors discussed their papers individually and then engaged in a dialogue with members of the panel. 

The issues raised included border controls, enforcement of the law against the employment of illegal aliens, detention and the Padilla case, the impact of the war against terrorism on the American Muslim/Arab community and the American Jewish community, Muslim profiling in immigration and granting visas, and the enforcement of immigration laws. 

The full text of the hearing can be found at

http://www.9-11commission.gov/hearings/hearing6.htm

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Leonel Salazar, formerly a clerical worker at USCIS California Service Center in Laguna Niguel, California, is on trial for shredding thousands of documents pertaining to active immigration and naturalization applications. The shredded documents included marriage certificates, checks, money orders, immigration applications and passports issued by other nations.

The trial is to determine whether Salazar intentionally destroyed the documents to eliminate an overflowing backlog.  Salazar’s attorney claims that Salazar merely acted at the orders of a supervisor.  The trial of the supervisor, Dawn Randall, is expected to begin in March.

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Beginning in January, driver’s license applicants in Virginia will be required to prove that they are in the United States legally.  The new “legal presence” requirement has cost Virginia $2 million to hire more personnel, train staff to recognize immigration documents and educate the public about the change. 

Virginia’s Department of Motor Vehicles agents will be required to inspect thousands of immigration documents in order to verify the applicant’s legal status.  The DMV is already warning of long delays for renewals and encouraging applicants to use the DMV’s web site or the phone if possible.

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The director of Field Operations at USCIS has stated that as of December 4, 2003, for employment authorization purposes, asylees may rely on I-94s as an alternative to the renewable, fee-based EAD.  An asylee may go to a local CIS office to receive an I-94 endorsed with evidence of asylum status for free.

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Last week a new feature was added to InfoPass, an Internet-based system that allows people to set up appointments at Florida’s immigration offices online.  People are now able to cancel and reschedule appointments as well as provide more detail about what help they are seeking. 

InfoPass is available only for appointments at immigration offices in Florida.  Before the additions, about 25 percent of the people who make InfoPass appointments for the Miami office did not appears and had no way of telling immigration officials of their cancellation.

In addition to the online upgrades, immigration officials have added a walk-up window for people to pick up forms at the immigration building.

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This year marks the first graduation of students of Florida International University’s Foreign Physicians-to-Nursing program, the only one of its kind in which foreign-born physicians are educated about United States medical practices.  The program was launched two years ago, and students can waive certain basic courses in the bachelor of sciences in nursing curriculum and test out of others.  Hospital Corporation of America, which owns hospitals nationwide, provides $600,000 for the program, which gets no public money.

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The wife and son of a US soldier about to be deployed will not be deported to Mexico in his absence, thanks to Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL).  His office worked with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services to resolve a problem that was holding up her application for permanent residency.

Army Reserve Spec. Jorge Monarrez and his wife incorrectly signed the forms for the 245i program in April 2001.  Although they initially met the deadline, by the time the corrected application was received on July 7, 2001, it had apparently missed the April 30 cut off date.  Monarrez and his wife were notified last month that immigration authorities would recognize the original filing date and allow his wife to be considered under the 245i program.