Supreme Court Decision Changes Standard for Deportation
The Supreme Court ruled that part of a Federal law that facilitated the deportation of immigrants who had received a conviction of crimes deemed to be “crimes of violence” was unconstitutionally vague. The 5-4 decision in Dimaya v. Lynch was centered around the definition of what constitutes a violent crime, the conviction of which would all but guarantee deportation for an immigrant, regardless of the duration of stay for the individual. The vague language of the law resulted in the deportation of individuals who were convicted of minor, nonviolent crimes, and the change will require the government demonstrate the violent nature of a crime before a deportation can occur.
While the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated that the decision restricts the agency’s “efforts to remove aliens convicted of certain violent crimes,” the ruling does not affect the ability of the government to deport individuals convicted of crimes like murder or rape that are inherently violent. Specifically, the ruling pertains to crimes for which the punishment is more than one year in prison but do not match the long list of aggravated felonies which warrant deportation.
For more information, view the full article.
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Presidential Proclamation Removes Visa Restrictions from Chad
On April 10, a new Presidential Proclamation (P.P.) was issued, amending Presidential Proclamation 9645 which was issued on September 24, 2017 by removing visa restrictions placed on nationals of Chad. This change officially took effect on Friday, April 13th, while all the visa restrictions placed upon other countries in P.P. 9645 remain in effect.
As required in section 2 of Executive Order 13780, Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States, an assessment was conducted in order to determine what further information each foreign country needed to provide before the government could accurately determine the potential threat of foreign nationals seeking entry into the U.S. The results of the review identified seven countries which were deemed to have “inadequate” information sharing practices and received restrictions from the President regarding entry of non-immigrants and immigrants from those seven countries. Furthermore, the President determined it was necessary for one country to receive restrictions resulting from perceived “special concerns.” A number of travel restrictions affect nationals from those countries, including prohibition of immigrant or diversity visas for Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen, and restrictions placed on North Korea and Syria prohibit the issuance of nonimmigrant visas. The restrictions prohibit the issuance of B-1, B-2, B/1, and B/2 visas to nationals of Libya and Yemen, and Iran is prohibited from any nonimmigrant visas with the exception of F, M, and J visas. Venezuela is prohibited from receiving B-1, B-2, B/1, or B/2 nonimmigrant visas for government officials of the Ministry of the Interior, Justice, Peace; the Administrative Service of Identification, Migration, and Immigration; the Corps of Scientific Investigations, Judicial, and Criminal; the Bolivarian Intelligence Service; and the People’s Power Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and their immediate family members.
After the mandated review of countries required by Executive Order 13780, it was determined that Chad adhered to the baseline criteria dictated by the Department of Homeland Security. DHS, more specifically, noted that Chad made substantial strides in modernization of its passport documents, standardizing the processes for the routine sharing of information related to criminals and terrorist threats, and refining the procedures for reporting passports that have been lost or stolen.
Exceptions to the proclamation for individuals from all 8 countries who will not be subject to any travel restrictions put forth by the Proclamation include the following:
- Individuals who were in the United States on the applicable effective date noted in Section 7 of the Proclamation;
- Individuals who had a valid visa on the applicable effective date noted in Section 7 of the Proclamation;
- Individuals who qualify for a visa or other valid travel document under Section 6(d) of the Proclamation;
- Individuals who are Legal Permanent Residents (LPR) of the United States;
- Individuals who are admitted to or paroled into the United States on or after the applicable effective date in Section 7 of the Proclamation;
- Applicants who have a document other than a visa, that is valid on the applicable effective date in Section 7 of the Proclamation for the applicant or issued on any date thereafter which permits the applicant to travel to the United States and seek entry or admission, such as advance parole;
- Any dual nationals of a country designated by the Proclamation when travelling on a passport issued by a non-designated country;
- Applicants traveling on a diplomatic (A-1 or A-2) or diplomatic-type visa (of any classification), NATO-1 through 6 visas, C-2 visa for travel to the United Nations, or G-1, G-2, G-3, or G-4 visa, with the exception of certain Venezuelan government officials and their family members travelling on a diplomatic-type B-1, B-2, B/1 or B/2 visas.
- Applicants who have been granted asylum, who have been admitted to the United States as a refugee, or have been granted withholding of removal, advance parole, or protection under the Conventions Against Torture.
For more information, including a list of frequently asked questions, view the full article.
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