Officials in DeKalb County, Georgia, one of the several counties in the metropolitan Atlanta area, recently voted in favor of accepting identification documents issued by Mexican consulates in the US. With the vote, the county becomes the first in the southern US to accept the cards, known as matricula consulars. Many are opposed to the acceptance of the cards, saying that it helps undocumented immigrants remain in the US; others, however, argue that without it, there is no way to know who a person without other identification is.
*********
The government of Guatemala recently announced that it would begin issuing identity documents to immigrants living in the US. It is hoped that doing so will allow Guatemalan immigrants the same benefits enjoyed by Mexican immigrants with consular identification documents. A growing number of banks and other businesses, as well as some municipalities, accept the documents as proof of identity. Responding to this trend, the governments of El Salvador and Honduras have also announced that they will begin issuing consular identity documents.
*********
Government officials continue to investigate airport employees in an effort to ensure that all people employed at airports are legally authorized to work in the US. Last week officials arrested 29 people, mostly immigrants, at three airports in South Florida. Others are being sought. While none of those arrested is believed to have committed a crime other than working without authorization, officials say that such workers are vulnerable and pose a threat to public safety. In another airport operation, more than 100 workers as the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston were arrested on charges of lying about criminal backgrounds or their right to work in the US.
*********
A woman who won asylum in the US after a highly publicized case, and was then found to have lied about her identity has now been indicted on charges of entering the US with a fraudulent passport and lying under oath. Regina Norman Danson, who called herself Adelaide Abankwah, claimed that she would face genital mutilation by her tribe in Ghana if it were discovered that she was not a virgin. Her case won the support of numerous celebrities and politicians, until, in December 2000, the Washington Post ran a story alleging that her story was a lie. Danson, who pled not guilty, faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
*********
The State Department this week closed the US Embassy and Consulate in both Jakarta, Indonesia, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, saying that there was credible evidence that they were at risk of a terrorist attack. US citizens in Indonesia, which has the world’s largest Muslim population, were also cautioned to exercise extreme vigilance. The embassy and consulate will remain closed indefinitely while a security review is conducted. Also, embassies and consulate in Hanoi and Ho Chi Mihn City, Vietnam, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and Manama, Bahrain were closed temporarily.
*********
The INS recently agreed to a preliminary settlement of a case filed by the American Immigration Law Foundation over the INS’s failure to timely adjudicate applications for Family Unity benefits. The Family Unity program grants spouses and children of people who became permanent residency through the 1986 amnesty relief from deportation and work authorization while they wait to legalize their own status. The INS’s failure to deal with these applications in a timely manner had left many people exposed and subject to deportation. Under the settlement, the INS will be required to adjudicate employment authorization applications within 90 days, and will also be required to devote 16 hours a day to the adjudication of applications for Family Unity benefits. The INS will also issue a memo to all field officers telling INS prosecutors to not place Family Unity applicants in deportation proceedings.
*********
Following the announcement this summer that the INS would begin enforcement of a long-standing rule requiring all foreign nationals in the US to notify the agency of all address changes, the INS is being swamped with such notices. Before September 11th, about 2,800 notices were received each month. After the attacks, the number rose to nearly 20,000 a month. But following Attorney General John Ashcroft’s announcement this summer, the number has skyrocketed to 30,000 a day. Lacking a way to keep up with all the paperwork, the INS has only processing about 100,000 of the 870,000 notices received.
*********
The person tapped by President Bush to be the new ambassador to Mexico recently said that the US and Mexico should continue the immigration talks that were halted after September 11th. Testifying before a Senate confirmation panel, Tony Garza supported a program of “earned legalization,” adding that he did not support a general amnesty.
*********
A California man was recently sentenced to seven years in prison following his conviction on charges that he swindled numerous undocumented immigrants out of thousands of dollars. Henry Barela, a former INS employee, told the immigrants that he would help them legalize their status using his contacts within the INS. The victims say they felt that if they complained, he would have had them deported. Barela did not file anything on behalf of the people from whom he took money. He was also ordered to pay back $110,000 to his victims.
*********
Fourteen people in Michigan were recently indicted on charges of providing false statements that applicants for naturalization were unable to learn English or pass the required civics test. The law dealing with naturalization allows exceptions to these requirements when there is a medically valid reason the person cannot pass the tests. Prosecutors say the scheme had been going on for at least one year, and involved about 600 immigrants in four states.
*********
Responding to a request from Reps. James Barcia and Lynn Rivers, both Democrats from Michigan, the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, is conducting an investigation into H-1B hiring practices. Specifically, the report, which is expected next year, will address whether some employers demonstrate a preference for hiring H-1B workers over US citizens and permanent residents, and if they do, why. Many expect the report to come out as Congress debates what to do with the annual H-1B visa limit, which is set to return to 65,000 after October 1, 2003. A separate report on the effectiveness of the training programs funded by special H-1B visa fees is expected to be released within the next month.
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. The information provided in this article has not been updated since its original posting and you should not rely on it until you consult counsel to determine if the content is still valid. We keep older articles online because it helps in the understanding of the development of immigration law.