NY Report Finds 39% Immigrant Detainees Eligible for Relief

by Prerna Lal

category: Immigration Detention

Published November 03, 2009 @ 10:14AM PT

A newly released NYC Know Your Rights report from New York City Bar Justice Center claims that 39% of immigrant detainees at the Varick detention facility in New York have ways to adjust their status. They are only allegedly 'illegal aliens.' Of the 250 kidnapped by the U.S. government, 100 detainees were jailed without facing charges while working on a $1 per day, however, the Department of Homeland Security sees the jail as a 'good model' to emulate.

The NYC project could only help 10 detainees per week. 27 of the detainees were lawful permanent residents while some had claims to relief for being born to citizen parents. 39% have claims to adjustment of status via cancellation of removal; asylum; withholding of removal, and/or relief under the Convention Against Torture, non-immigrant visas including U and S visas, 212(c) relief; and adjustment of status under 245(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

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Ninth Circuit Hearing For CSPA Lawsuit Sparks Optimism

by Prerna Lal

category: Immigration Law

Published November 02, 2009 @ 12:12PM PT

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is getting set to hear an appeal from immigrant families regarding the Child Status Protection Act. Last month, Judge Selena from a federal district court in Los Angeles ruled against the petitioning families and upheld a strict USCIS re-interpretation of the law, but several sources are confident of winning this appeal.

Attorney Carl Shusterman justifies his optimism by discussing a prior INS regulation that restricted waivers for eligible physicians under the National Interest Waiver (NIW). Congress enacted the law to provide that "all physicians" working in medically-underserved areas were eligible for NIWs, but INS regulations limited this immigration benefit to only primary care physicians. A federal district judge upheld this re-interpretation but upon going to the Ninth Circuit, the judges were incredulous at the arguments put forth by the government. The Appeals Court judges overturned the decision of the district judge and ruled in favor of the plaintiff physicians.

Since the CSPA lawsuit is equally straightforward, Shusterman is confident that "the Judges on the Court of Appeals will not let an administrative agency unlawfully restrict who benefits from a law passed by Congress and signed by the President." Additionally, the Ninth Circuit has a good record on immigration cases, most recently ruling against the widow penalty, which spark a nationwide revoke of the law. The CSPA case has the backing of legal statutes enacted by Congress and it would not require mental gymnastics to overturn the USCIS re-interpretation.

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New Immigration Legislation Resuscitates More Than Surviving Spouses

by Prerna Lal

category: News

Published November 02, 2009 @ 08:00AM PT

Last month, I reported the elimination of the widow penalty through H.R.2892. But the 2010 Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act goes a step further in allowing the surviving beneficiaries of all approved family and employment-based petitions to be protected as "survivors" and allow them to continue their applications for adjustment of status despite the death of the original petitioner.

This is a crucial fix in immigration law because due to long immigration waits, original petitioners sometimes pass away, leaving entire families in perpetual limbo. Additionally, under the new law, if the principle beneficiary passes away while the petition is pending, the spouse and derivative beneficiaries can still immigrate. If the family is abroad, then they can request a reinstatement of the visa petition on "humanitarian" grounds.

Specifically, these are the categories affected by the new legislation:

(A) the beneficiary of a pending or approved petition for classification as an immediate relative (as described in section 201(b)(2)(A)(i));
(B) the beneficiary of a pending or approved petition for classification under section 203 (a) or (d);
(C) a derivative beneficiary of a pending or approved petition for classification under section 203(b) (as described in section 203(d));
(D) the beneficiary of a pending or approved refugee/asylee relative petition under section 207 or 208;
(E) an alien admitted in `T' nonimmigrant status as described in section 101(a)(15)(T)(ii) or in `U' nonimmigrant status as described in section 101(a)(15)(U)(ii); or
(F) an asylee (as described in section 208(b)(3)).'.

President Obama is widely expected to sign the legislation soon. Actual interpretation of this bill and guidelines on how to claim relief under Sec. 568 will come from USCIS after passage of the bill.

(Photo Credit: WTL photos on Flickr)

9500 Liberty: 9-11 Not the Same as 7-11

by Prerna Lal

category: Reviews

Published October 31, 2009 @ 07:00PM PT

9500 Liberty, a documentary film by Annabel Park and Eric Byler, premiered in San Francisco this past Thursday. Hosted by Citizen Hope, NDN and Netroots Nation, and attended by several city officials, it promised to pack a punch. After a three hour grueling commute with detours in the Bay Area, I made it to the screening just in time.

Named after the block on which one resilient immigrant resides, the award-winning documentary traces how imported anti-immigrant legislation in Prince William County in Virginia, tore apart the community, leading to a mass exodus of immigrants, which hurt even the biggest opponents of immigration. Curiously, the movie shows how a blogger (Greg Letiecq from BVBL) working with larger anti-immigration national organizations influenced the Board of County Supervisors in Prince Williams to enforce a legislation supporting immigration checks carried out by local law enforcement based on the shaky ground of 'probable cause.' Even as the immigrant community came out against the legislation, the board approved it unanimously. It was not till immigrants started to leave Prince Williams and devastated the local economy, that most people saw the error in the law and fought to repeal it.

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My Name is Gloria and I am an Undocumented American

by Prerna Lal

category: DREAM Act

Published October 30, 2009 @ 09:00AM PT

[This week's DREAM Act guest post comes from Gloria, a DREAM-eligible future entrepreneur in Texas. Visit Dreamactivist.org to find out how you can help pass the DREAM Act].

I was brought to the United States by my aunt when I was 15.  My parents got divorced when I was 3, and since then my grandma had been taking care of me.  She was getting older and older each day, and if I were to continue through high school in Taiwan, she would not have been able to pay for my tuition.

To ease grandma's financial burden, my aunt brought me in with a visitor's visa, hoping that once I get in, they would be able to adopt me and my status would be changed.  Unfortunately, in order for them to adopt me, they would need my dad to give up custody, but he was nowhere to be found (he was always a drifter).  Next thing you know, I turned 16 and I was no longer eligible for adoption.

I, however, was completely unaware of all that happened around me, as I was busy adapting to the new culture (also because typical Chinese parents don't usually discuss "grown-up matters" with their kids).  School was not easy for me, as English was not my primary language.  I was made fun of at school, because of my "FOB"ish ("Fresh-Off-the-Boat") accent, and I could barely understand my teachers.

But growing up in a divorced family, I was much more determined compared to other kids.  I would not have given up so easily.  Every night, I stayed and studied until 2 AM (if not later).  An average American kid might spend an hour to finish her history homework, but I had to spend three hours, because I needed to look up every other word in the passage.  Whenever there was a presentation, I would spend hours practicing my speech in front of the mirror, correcting every single word that I was pronouncing wrong, just so nobody could make fun of my accent.

By junior year, I was able to speak English almost flawlessly. I did grow up in Texas, so I do speak it with a little southern accent.

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Waiting for Change

by Prerna Lal

category: DREAM Act

Published October 29, 2009 @ 10:33AM PT

It takes over a decade to pass a good bill. Last week, Senator Durbin promised to fight for the DREAM Act till he 'draws his last breath' at an immigration forum at DePaul University while also telling immigrant youth to wait in the same breath. It's the same promise deferred year after year. The DREAM Act was introduced back in 2001 when I still had legal status in this country and almost every year after that. In 2007, undocumented youth were told to wait till 2009. Now, they are being told to wait till 2010. When the election year swings around faster than anyone expected, thousands of dreams may just be deferred till 2011.

The White House promised to look into the possibility of deferring deportation for undocumented youth this past August but DHS still refuses to defer the deportation of DREAM Act students like Jorge Alonso Chehade, and Herta Llusho. USCIS has the power to exercise discretion in immigration cases but it is more concerned about deporting people than doing justice. Next week, Gilbert Mejia might be left in limbo in the United States while his family is deported back to Guatemala along with his U.S. citizen siblings.

The person who is waiting for something to turn up might start with their shirt sleeves.
- Garth Henrichs

'Waiting it out' is not an option. Expecting politicians to do the right thing on immigration without nudging them is never an option. President Obama could chose to defer the deportation of thousands today with just an executive order, place a moratorium on raids and suspend misguided programs that give local cops power to act like immigration officials. But he refuses to budge and pays lip service to the large immigrant community in the United States.

In the face of Executive and Congressional inaction, we have to take action. Today, supporters of the Mejia family are holding a vigil outside Dianna Feinstein's San Francisco office in hopes that she would introduce a private bill to keep the family in the United States. Perhaps no one represents the spirit and character of a fighter better than Jorge Alonso who recently established a site dedicated to his dream of staying in the United States in order to keep his campaign alive. He is not waiting for deportation. Neither should the thousands upon thousands who currently live in the shadows of society.

Video Credit: ProgressIllinois

One Step Closer to Lifting the HIV+ Travel Ban

by Prerna Lal

category: News

Published October 28, 2009 @ 03:55PM PT

Last February, more than 150 community based organizations sent a letter to President Obama, requesting the administration lift the ban on travel by HIV+ people.

President Bush had approved a bill passed by Congress to repeal the ban last June but it still remains in place as status quo United States policy. The amount of time it has taking to institute the new policy has left many immigrants in legal limbo.

The Center for Disease Control has finally approved the removal of HIV from the list of communicable diseases that disallow an individual entry into the United States. The Office of Budget and Management must take action within 60 days to finally approve the removal of the travel ban.

This HIV ban is one of the antiquated laws in our immigration system in need of immediate change. It is an archaic means of promoting public health in a global age. Stigmatizing HIV immigrants is a disgrace that only provides a false sense of security and apparently the United States is joined by countries like Libya, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and eight other countries in instituting this practice. The current ban has remained in place since 1987,  and is also discriminatory towards gay and lesbian families, who do not benefit from the waiver available to straight couples.

Hat Tip: Diana

(Photo Credit: Trygve.u Flickr Photostream)