U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Office of the General Counsel (OGC) within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced last week that President Bush as appointed Robert Divine as the agency’s first Principal Legal Advisor.  Divine practices immigration law in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

In a press release, Director of USCIS Eduardo Aguirre said, “I am proud to welcome Mr. Divine as a member of the USCIS family.  He brings with him 17 years of business immigration law experience and will serve our agency and its customers as part of my Senior Executive Staff.”

In the same release, General Counsel Joe Whitley said, “We are fortunate to have a person of Mr. Divine’s caliber become a part of the DHS General Counsel’s Office.  Mr. Divine’s many years of immigration practice will serve the department well in this critical new position.”

Divine was the sole author of “Immigration Practice,” a treatise addressing all aspects of U.S. immigration law.  He was recently highlighted in the 2003-2004 publication, Best Lawyers in America, and has been given an A/V rating by the Martindale Hubbell law directory.  Divine has been a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association since 1986 and served as elected Chair for AILA’s Mid-South Chapter from 2001-2003.  Until his appointment, he had served as an expert on behalf of the U.S. Commission on Religious Freedom in its congressionally mandated study of the “expedited removal” process used at U.S. ports of entry.