Dear Readers:

Today began on a sad note at our office. A client passed away over the weekend quite suddenly. Our client was a man in the prime of life who left behind a wife and three children. We had been working with him for quite some time and he was in the final stages of adjusting status. We had gotten to know this client and when his widow called with the news, we were stunned. The widow called to discuss her own suddenly changed situation. Unfortunately, our immigration laws are not particularly friendly to surviving family members. The family members' underlying visa status is dependent on the deceased spouse remaining in that visa category. The same holds true for the green card adjustment practice. Not only do the surviving family members have to deal with their own grief and make funeral arrangements, they are confronted with the fact that after many years of being in the US legally and always complying with the rules, they are suddenly illegally in the US. Fortunately, this family may have some options. The mother can probably qualify for a new visa on her own if she decides to stay in the US. But we could easily envision cases where the family would have no options but to leave. And they not be easy if the kids are in school, the family owns property, and the property must be settled according to the state's laws of trusts and estates. Two thoughts cross our mind. First, just as a responsible person should have a will and a plan to deal with providing for their family's economic needs in the case of an untimely death, that person should be prepared for the immigration consequences of an untimely demise. Second, why is it that the law does not provide for relief from the surviving spouses and children's family? Why not allow a grace period to enable family members enough time to settle their affairs and leave or transition into another status? What could the policy justification be to put families in this situation?

There were several interesting immigration stories this week that we're covering. First, a major immigration bill was introduced that would create amnesty possibilities for agricultural workers. This may be a prelude to a much broader "earned adjustment" bill that would allow many of the estimated 10 million people working in this country without paper's to legalize their status. A major computer virus infected the State Department's computers and halted visa processing. Immigrants from across the US are currently on a cross-country trip on their way to Washington, DC as part of the Immigrant Freedom Bus Ride.

I recently finished the very funny book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by the comedian Al Franken. Franken is the outspoken liberal comic who has gained notoriety for taking on the right wing media and conservative politicians. In the book (which, incidentally, has reached the number one spot on the New York Times bestsellers list), Franken particularly takes aim at the Fox News Channel. I enjoyed the book, but I think Franken might have noted that the so-called "mainstream" networks seem to be drifting in the direction of the first place Fox News Channel. At least on the immigration issue, CNN can no longer be seen as taking an unbiased, balanced view of the story. I'm speaking in particular about Lou Dobbs who has given up any pretenses of trying to show more than just the "anti" side of the immigration debate. Night after night he has been attacking immigration often through off-handed editorial comments and through the seemingly endless series "The Great American Giveaway" which has "exposed" the hidden truth of how immigrants are here to take jobs away from Americans and destroy everything that is dear to our hearts. As someone who follows immigration news more closely than most people, I'd like to think I'm aware of which news organizations have reporters that genuinely try and learn how the immigration system truly runs and try to provide fair coverage of the issue. CNN is NOT one of those news organizations. Lou Dobbs' show has gotten the facts wrong consistently on this issue and when people have written in to correct the errors and distortions, no corrections or apologies have been forthcoming. By the way, the last time I took the time to criticize Dobbs in this column, my remarks were picked up by Rob Sanchez, a virulent anti-immigrant who decided to embark on a very public debate with me on immigration issues. I presume I'll hear from him again this time. I'll let you know...

Finally, as always, we remind readers that we're lawyers who make our living representing immigration clients. We would love to discuss becoming your law firm. Just go to http://www.visalaw.com/intake.html to request an appointment or call us at 800-748-3819 or 901-682-6455.

Regards,

Greg Siskind