August 15, 2022

CA9 (2-1) Overturns Cordero-Garcia

Cordero-Garcia v. Garland "This petition for review presents the following question: is dissuading or attempting to dissuade a witness from reporting a crime, in violation of California Penal Code (“CPC”) § 136.1(b)(1), “an offense relating to obstruction of justice” under 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)(S), and thus an “aggravated felony” for purposes of the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”)? Applying the categorical...

August 15, 2022

CA9 on Vacated Convictions: Ballinas-Lucero v. Garland

Ballinas-Lucero v. Garland "We hold that under Pereida v. Wilkinson, 141 S. Ct. 754 (2021), an applicant for cancellation of removal bears the burden of proving that a state-court conviction was vacated because of a substantive or procedural defect in the criminal proceedings, and not solely for immigration purposes or for rehabilitative or equitable reasons. We hold, further, that Ballinas-Lucero carried this...

August 15, 2022

Unpub. CA3 Asylum Remand: Bimpong v. Garland (BIA conclusion "defies the record")

Bimpong* v. Garland "Bimpong argues that the BIA erred in concluding that he failed to establish that his membership in a particular social group (“PSG”) is a nexus for the persecution he fears— as is required to qualify for asylum or withholding of removal. ... The IJ credited Bimpong’s testimony, and the BIA did not disturb this finding. Yet the BIA concluded that Bimpong’s persecution was a personal land dispute...

August 15, 2022

OFLC Releases the H-2B Foreign Labor Recruiter List for Q3 of Fiscal Year 2022

OFLC, Aug. 15, 2022 "The Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) has published an updated list of the names of foreign labor recruiters for the H-2B program as required by  20 CFR 655.9(c) . The list contains the name and location of persons or entities identified on Appendix C of the Form ETA-9142B that were hired by, or working for, the recruiter that employers have indicated they engaged, or planned to...

August 15, 2022

OFLC Releases Public Disclosure Data and Selected Program Statistics for Q3 of Fiscal Year 2022

OFLC, Aug. 15, 2022 "The Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) has released a comprehensive set of public disclosure data (through the third quarter of fiscal year 2022) drawn from employer applications requesting prevailing wage determinations and labor certifications for the PERM, LCA (H-1B, H-1B1, E-3), H-2A, H-2B, CW-1, and Prevailing Wage programs. The public disclosure files include all final determinations...

August 12, 2022

CA4 on IJ Conduct: Tinoco Acevedo v. Garland

Tinoco Acevedo v. Garland "Petitioner Rodolfo Josue Tinoco Acevedo appeals an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) affirming the denial of his application for cancellation of removal. Because the BIA failed to address whether Tinoco Acevedo’s case should be remanded to a new immigration judge (“IJ”) under Matter of Y-S-L-C-, 26 I. & N. Dec. 688 (BIA 2015) , we grant Tinoco Acevedo’s petition for...

August 09, 2022

Court Declares Turnback Policy Unlawful: Al Otro Lado v. Mayorkas

Al Otro Lado v. Mayorkas "This Court enters a DECLARATORY JUDGMENT that, absent any independent, express, and lawful statutory authority, Defendants’ refusal to deny inspection or asylum processing to noncitizens who have not been admitted or paroled and who are in the process of arriving in the United States at Class A Ports of Entry is unlawful regardless of the purported justification for doing so. For the foregoing...

August 09, 2022

Rare CA5 (Unpub.) Remand: Calle-Yanza v. Garland (Old 242(b) vs. New 242B)

Calle-Yanza v. Garland "Miguel Angel Calle-Yanza asserts that the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) abused its discretion by denying his motion to reopen his immigration proceedings after an Immigration Judge (IJ) entered an in absentia order of deportation. He claims that he did not receive notice of his hearing because the immigration court’s correspondence was mailed to an attorney who did not represent him...

August 09, 2022

Judge Vacates Injunction, Clearing Way for Remain in Mexico Wind Down

CGRS, Aug. 8, 2022 " A federal judge has vacated the injunction  that forced the government to revive the Trump-era Remain in Mexico policy, which the government concluded had inflicted “unjustifiable human costs.” This officially clears the way for the Biden administration to end the policy, once and for all. Today’s ruling follows the Supreme Court’s  certification  of its decision in Biden v. Texas, which affirmed...

August 08, 2022

Visa Bulletin for September 2022

Visa Bulletin for September 2022

August 08, 2022

"Team Anywhere"

Cyrus Mehta, Kaitlyn Box, Aug. 8, 2022 "From reliance on Zoom meetings to conduct business to an increased emphasis on employees’ health and wellbeing, COVID has ushered in fundamental alterations to many workplace cultures. But innovations in the ways in which employees carry out their day-to-day duties have not been the only change. As a result of the pandemic, entirely new jobs have popped up as well. A recent...

August 08, 2022

Don't Forget Sunday Ads!

Cyrus D. Mehta, Jessica Paszko, Aug. 3, 2022 "It’s no secret that employers wishing to sponsor a foreign national for permanent employment must jump through many bureaucratic hoops that Congress once envisioned would ensure that foreigners are not stealing jobs from U.S. workers. One of those bureaucratic hoops in the PERM labor certification process is conducting a series of recruitment steps. In addition to conducting...

August 08, 2022

ACLU Letter to DHS: Do Not Collaborate With TX State Cops

ACLU, Aug. 8, 2022 "On July 7, 2022, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order purporting to “authorize and empower the Texas National Guard and the Texas Department of Public Safety to . . . apprehend[] immigrants who cross the border between ports of entry or commit other violations of federal law, and to return [them] to the border at a port of entry.” The Texas Tribune has now reported witnessing...

August 05, 2022

EOIR Announces 19 New Immigration Judges

EOIR, Aug. 5, 2022 "The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) today announced the appointment of 19 immigration judges to courts in California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. EOIR continues to work to expand its immigration judge corps and welcomes qualified candidates from all backgrounds to join the agency. In addition to making a difference through...

August 05, 2022

CA9 on Cancellation, Pre-Trial Detention: Troncoso-Oviedo v. Garland

Troncoso-Oviedo v. Garland "The question before us is whether pretrial detention that is not credited toward a defendant’s sentence is confinement “as a result of conviction.” See 8 U.S.C. § 1101(f)(7). We hold that it is not. ... Pretrial detention not credited toward a sentence is not “confinement, as a result of conviction” under § 1101(f)(7). ... Troncoso-Oviedo’s petition is granted as to his eligibility for...

August 05, 2022

BIA (2-1) on Defective Notice, Jurisdiction: Matter of Fernandes

Matter of Fernandes, 28 I&N Dec. 605 (BIA 2022) (1) The time and place requirement in section 239(a)(1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1229(a)(1) (2018), is a claim-processing rule, not a jurisdictional requirement. (2) An objection to a noncompliant notice to appear will generally be considered timely if it is raised prior to the closing of pleadings before the Immigration Judge. (3) A respondent...

August 03, 2022

CA4 Rejects BIA's "Fruition" Test: Sorto-Guzman v. Garland

Sorto-Guzman v. Garland "Petitioners Zoila Sorto-Guzman and Axel Rivas-Sorto, a twenty-three-year-old mother and her seven-year-old son, respectively, seek asylum in the United States after fleeing El Salvador following death threats and violence at the hands of the Mara 18 gang due to Sorto-Guzman’s Catholic religion. An immigration judge (IJ) found that Sorto-Guzman’s testimony was credible and that...

August 03, 2022

Tracy Short Email: Taking Cases Off Calendar

Here is an email to all Immigration Courts from former Chief Immigration Judge Tracy Short, dated April 26, 2022, regarding taking cases off calendar: "Pursuant to the authority to "ensure the efficient disposition of all pending cases," including "to set priorities" for the resolution of cases, "to direct that adjudication of certain cases be deferred," and to "otherwise to manage...

August 02, 2022

Travel Ban Waiver Lawsuit Victory: Emami v. Mayorkas

Emami v. Mayorkas "Drawing all inferences and viewing all evidence in the light most favorable to the government, the Court finds that plaintiffs have met their burden of showing that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact, and that the waiver implementation guidance was arbitrary and capricious in violation of the APA. Plaintiffs have come forward with numerous waiver criteria -- such as for “undue...

August 02, 2022

Birhanu Remanded to BIA (mental health)

Birhanu v. Garland "Our ruling in this case, in which Judge Bacharach concurred and dissented, [990 F.3d 1242, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 6770 Birhanu v. Wilkinson] has been vacated by the Supreme Court [2022 U.S. LEXIS 3172 Birhanu v. Garland] and the matter remanded for our consideration of the Attorney General’s recent decision in Matter of B-Z-R-, 28 I&N Dec. 563 (A.G. 2022). The panel majority relied on Matter...

August 02, 2022

AILA MAP Victory: USCIS Updates Interpretation of “Under Honorable Conditions” for Military Naturalization

USCIS, Aug. 2, 2022 "U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is publishing an update to its  Policy Manual  to clarify that a current or former service member who received an uncharacterized discharge may be eligible for naturalization under sections 328 and 329 of the Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA). Previously, USCIS had interpreted the requirement for a separation “under honorable conditions” in...

July 29, 2022

CBP Fails to File NTAs Leading to Large Numbers of Dismissals

TRAC, July 29, 2022 "One out of every six new cases DHS initiates in Immigration Court are now being dismissed because CBP officials are not filing the actual “Notice to Appear” (NTA) with the Court. The latest case-by-case Court records obtained and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University through a series of Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests show a dramatic...

July 29, 2022

Jang v. Garland Amended, Pet. Reh. Denied

Jang v. Garland "After due consideration of the Attorney General’s petition for panel rehearing, we hereby deny the petition and, for clarification, nostra sponte amend our opinion. ... Petitioner Jung Hee Jang, a native and citizen of South Korea, seeks review of a Board of Immigration Appeals decision affirming an Immigration Judge’s denial of Jang’s application for cancellation of removal. In re Jung Hee Jang...

July 29, 2022

TPS for Syria Extended

Extension and Redesignation of Syria for Temporary Protected Status - This document is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on 08/01/2022 "Through this notice, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announces that the Secretary of Homeland Security (Secretary) is extending the designation of Syria for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months, effective October 1, 2022, through March 31, 2024...

July 28, 2022

DOS/AILA June 9, 2022 Meeting Notes

DOS, posted June 21, 2022 "Department of State/AILA Liaison Committee Meeting June 9, 2022 The Department of State’s Office of the Assistant Legal Adviser for Consular Affairs (L/CA), in coordination with the Visa Office in the Bureau of Consular Affairs, appreciates the opportunity to host these semi-annual meetings with the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA)’s Department of State Liaison Committee...