Dear Readers:
The chaos in immigration law continues. After the travel ban from seven countries was thrown out by the courts in February, a new pared back order was signed earlier this month and is, again, being challenged by the courts.
CBP continues to stir controversy with high profile detentions at ports of entry. And mysterious revocations of Global Entry status for US citizens and lawful permanent residents (all of Muslim descent) made news. I’m proud that Siskind Susser has jointly submitted a Freedom of Information Act filing with US Customs and Border Protection along with lawyer Andrew Free and the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee to try and get to the bottom of this.
And ICE continues its mass deportation efforts. There have been a number of high profile removals and ICE ominously tweeted (yes, that seems to be how this Administration announces big news) that DACA isn’t the protection from deportation people think.
Finally, USCIS, the third of the three formerly INS agencies, decided to add additional heartburn to the mix when it announced that beginning April 3rd it would stop premium processing on all H-1B cases for up to six months. USCIS claims it needs to be able to catch up on its backlog of existing cases. But it’s hard to see how they do this when a huge source of funding is about to disappear. USCIS owes the public an explanation of how it got in to this position. And it needs to solve the issue in a way that doesn’t adversely affect customer service.
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Lots of firm news to report. Lynn Susser, my firm co-founder, was chosen by the Memphis Business Journal as the top small firm lawyer in Memphis. She’s the first immigration lawyer to receive the honor in any of the categories.
Four of our lawyers – me, Lynn, Elissa Taub and Ari Sauer were named to Who’s Who Legal’s annual listing of the top corporate immigration lawyers. I was #6 on the publication’s list of top North American immigration lawyers. Lynn and I were described as follows:
SISKIND SUSSER remains a superb player in the US market and five of its attorneys are recognised in our listings.
Gregory Siskind is a “very well-known and highly thought-of” lawyer who is recognised as a thought leader in our research this year. Siskind has over 25 years’ experience in immigration law and is lauded by peers as one of the top practitioners in the US and worldwide.
Lynn Susser also draws dozens of recommendations from impressed market sources, who describe her as an exceptional immigration specialist. She acts for a range of major corporations in construction, healthcare and manufacturing.
Lawyers from the firm have been speaking at numerous events around the country including the National Association of Physician Recruiters annual meeting in San Diego, synagogues and mosques in Memphis and Nashville, Yale University. I’ll be speaking next week at the AILA Las Vegas Chapter conference later this month.
Regards,
Greg Siskind
Disclaimer: This newsletter is provided as a public service and not intended to establish an attorney client relationship. Any reliance on information contained herein is taken at your own risk.