Dear Readers:
Most of Washington is focused right now on budget battles and the debt ceiling. But while many in the media are ready to pronounce immigration reform dead, insiders know that work continues behind the scenes to move an immigration bill. Readers will remember that the Senate has passed immigration reform legislation and the House Judiciary Committee has passed several narrow bills. House Republicans are working on several additional bills which are likely to be debated beginning in the next couple of weeks. The Democrats are working on a new bill in the House as well that would combine most of the Senate bill with the unanimously approved House Homeland Security Committee border security bill (the controversial Senate border surge provisions would be removed). And the House Gang of 7 appears dead with the resignation of two more Republicans. The long and short of it is that no one can really say where immigration reform is going at this point and House leadership is so distracted with the current battle over Obamacare that no one is even discussing immigration vote scheduling. So we wait.
In the meantime, the government is set to shutdown on Tuesday, October 1st. Expect some aspects of the immigration system to be a mess and others less affected. The quick rules are that if a program is fee supported – like USCIS processing of visas – work will continue since those functions don’t depend on congressional appropriations. If work is deemed to be vital – presumably ICE enforcement and the Border Patrol – expect that work to continue. But many other functions will stop including Department of Labor processing, E-Verify, and consular processing of visa applications (except, perhaps, emergency filings). How this will all play out is also far from clear.
We will post the latest updates on immigration processing and the shutdown as well as the immigration reform legislative process on my blog at blogs.ilw.com/gregsiskind.
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Siskind Susser is pleased to welcome seasoned immigration lawyer Cheryl Williams to our Nashville office. I’ve known Cheryl for most of her 17 years of immigration practice and I’m excited to welcome her on board. She’s a Vanderbilt graduate like myself and has a broad range of immigration experience. She’s going to be a great addition to the firm. Welcome Cheryl!
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Readers are reminded that they are welcome to contact my law office if they would like to schedule a telephone or in person consultation with me or one of my colleagues. If you are interested, please call my office at 901-682-6455.
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.