A new sign-on letter requesting that the Department of Homeland Security stipulate to a grant of asylum for Malik Jarno, a mentally challenged orphan, is circulating among immigration advocates.  The letter contains information on the growing support for Jarno as well as new evidence that his supporters are hoping will compel a grant of asylum.  Jarno’s individual hearing is scheduled for July 9, 2004, before Immigration Judge Churchill, the same judge who heard the case previously.  If you are able to sign on, please notify Ruth Spivack at ruth_spivack@washlaw.org.

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The South Dakota International Business Institute (SDIBI), Dairy Economic Development Region (DEDR) has been designated as a regional center to participate in the Immigrant Investor Pilot Program.  The center will have a commercial investment focus on the commercial enterprise areas of animal dairy farm operations and animal heifer ranch operations.  Those seeking immigrant visas through the Immigrant Investor Pilot Program may file individual petitions with USCIS for these new commercial enterprises located within the SDIBI/DEDR regional center area comprised of 12 counties in eastern South Dakota.

The designation by the USCIS of the SDIBI/DEDR as a regional center does not reflect any determination on the merits of individual petitions filed by entrepreneurs under the Investor Pilot Program.  All petitions for those seeking immigrant visas that invest within the regional center will be adjudicated by the USCIS on a case-by-case basis and each petition must be fully documented and submitted to the Texas Service Center.  For questions concerning the SDICI/DEDR designation under the Immigrant Investor Pilot Program, contact the Office of Programs and Regulation Development, at (202) 616-7862.

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Nancy Stephenson, a former employee of the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s California Service Center in Laguna Niguel, CA, pleaded guilty last week to accepting thousands of dollars in bribes for issuing work permits she was not authorized to approve.  Although Stephenson was authorized to adjudicate employment–based immigration petitions, she was not authorized to approve applications for work permits.  The prosecuting attorneys have said that she charged at least 99 applicants up to $4,000 each to mark their applications with a coded INS stamp indicating approval, along with having made false entries in INS computer records supporting the fraudulent approvals.

Stevenson faces up to 25 years in federal prison on charges of bribery and issuing work permits fraudulently when she is sentenced August 12, 2004.

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The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. State Department has delayed implementing the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, an international treaty governing adoptions.  This agreement was to be implemented by the end of 2004, but the date has been moved to 2006 because the agency needs to address the more than 1,500 comments they have received from parents and adoption agencies.  This treaty is designed to curb abuses, such as child trafficking, and the outcome of the delay in ratifying the treaty could make it tougher to adopt from certain countries.  Families currently in the adoption process are not likely to be affected. 

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On Cinco de Mayo, about 400 people, mostly Hispanic families, participated in a protest and march in South Bend, Indiana.   This demonstration was formed to oppose a March 2004, rule change within the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles.   In an effort to verify authenticity, the BMV began screening foreign nationals’ immigration documentation.  According to the South Bend Tribune, the BMV’s new screening procedure has created a culture of fear for immigrants who attempt to obtain driver’s licenses. This policy, according to protestors, has increased the number of drivers who are uninsured and not properly trained.  The BMV stated that they could not issue driver’s licenses to people who can’t prove their legal right to be in the United States, because a driver’s license serves as a primary identification document.

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Under a new U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) program, certain aliens who are under supervision and would otherwise be detained prior to their deportation may now report their whereabouts via telephone.  Aliens who are under supervision are those who have been ordered deported, but cannot return to their country due to unstable conditions.  ICE will select certain aliens who it determines are not a threat to society.  Once selected, the aliens no longer have to report to the specified office but may report to ICE by calling a system that verifies the individual’s voice. 

The new program, which allows officers to prioritize their time to seek out the more than 80,000 criminal alien fugitives, is currently employed in Anchorage, Chicago, Detroit, Miami, Orlando, Portland and Seattle. 

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ANG Newspapers reports that Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente released documents proving his U.S. citizenship.  The 2006 mayoral candidate’s stated reason was to refute local radio talk show host Gene Burns’ on-air suggestions that he was an illegal immigrant.  De La Fuente was born in Mexico but moved to the U.S. in 1971 and was naturalized in 1979.