June 22, 2022

CISOMB: Updated Information on Employment-based Form I-485 Supplement J Receipt Notices, Case Status, and Medical Records

CISOMB web alert, June 22, 2022 "Dear Stakeholder, Our office continues to receive a significant number of requests for case assistance related to pending employment-based adjustment of status applications. We understand the time-sensitive nature of these requests and know that USCIS is committed to maximizing employment-based immigrant visa usage for the rest of Fiscal Year 2022. Given USCIS' focus on...

June 21, 2022

3 TRIG Waivers: Advance Copies

Advance copies of three TRIG waivers to be published in the Federal Register on June 23, 2022, here , here and here .

June 17, 2022

CA7 on Categorical Approach: Aguirre-Zuñiga v. Garland

Aguirre-Zuñiga v. Garland "Jonathan Aguirre-Zuniga became a lawful permanent resident of the United States in 2007. Approximately ten years later, he pled guilty to delivery of methamphetamine in Indiana. The Department of Homeland Security concluded that his conviction was an aggravated felony subjecting him to deportation, and the Immigration Judge (IJ) and the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) agreed. The question...

June 17, 2022

Texas Supreme Court on Immigration Detention, Licensure, Standing: Grassroots Leadership v. TDFPS

Grassroots Leadership v. TDFPS "In this suit, we determine whether the plaintiffs have standing to challenge a Department of Family and Protective Services licensing rule governing immigration detention centers. The court of appeals concluded that the plaintiffs—detained mothers, their children, a day-care operator, and an organization representing their interests— lacked standing to sue. Because the detained mothers...

June 16, 2022

NIPNLG Practice Alert: Judge Tipton Issues Decision Vacating Mayorkas Enforcement Priorities Memo

NIPNLG, June 15, 2022 "... Importantly, the earliest Judge Tipton’s order could take effect is Monday, June 27, 2022. The government has filed a notice of appeal and Judge Tipton has entered a temporary stay of the order to allow the government to seek emergency relief from the Fifth Circuit. It is difficult to know whether the Fifth Circuit will stay the Judge Tipton’s order pending appeal.3 Immigration practitioners...

June 15, 2022

Supremes DIG AZ v. SF (Public Charge Rule)

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES No. 20–1775 ARIZONA, ET AL., PETITIONERS v. CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ET AL. ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT [June 15, 2022] PER CURIAM. The writ of certiorari is dismissed as improvidently granted. It is so ordered.

June 15, 2022

Unlawful Presence Inadmissibility News!

Joint Status Report, Velasco de Gomez v. USCIS, May 25, 2022 "USCIS intends to modify its interpretation of 8 U.S.C. § 1189(a)(9)(B) to no longer require an applicant for adjustment to spend his or her period of inadmissibility outside of the United States and is in the process of finalizing a revised policy, including final approval by the Department of Homeland Security, and issuing new guidance to USCIS adjudicators...

June 15, 2022

CA1 on Credibility: Reyes Pujols v. Garland

Reyes Pujols v. Garland "[T]he BIA upheld an adverse credibility determination that the IJ reached in part based on an inconsistency in Reyes's story that simply was not an inconsistency. Nor can we say that absent the adverse credibility finding, Reyes's CAT claim would necessarily fail. We therefore must vacate the BIA's ruling affirming the IJ's denial of that claim. ...  Reyes's petition...

June 14, 2022

TRIG Exemptions for Eligible Afghans (June 14, 2022)

DHS, June 14, 2022 "Today, the Department of Homeland Security and Department of State took steps to ensure that vulnerable Afghans who have supported and worked with the United States in Afghanistan, and who have undergone rigorous screening and vetting, can qualify for protection and other immigration benefits in the United States. These actions will also ensure that individuals who have lived under Taliban rule...

June 14, 2022

OFLC Announces 60-Day Public Comment Period on the Form ETA-9141, Form ETA-9141, Appendix A, and Form ETA-9165

OFLC, June 14, 2022 "The Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) has published a 60-day Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA)  Federal Register Notice  (FRN) relating to the  Application for Prevailing Wage Determination  information collection request (ICR) (OMB Control Number 1205-0508). OFLC is seeking a three year approval of the information collection and related retention requirements associated with the Form...

June 14, 2022

BIA on Final Judgment, Particularly Serious Crime: Matter of D-L-S-

Matter of D-L-S-, 28 I&N Dec. 568 (BIA 2022) - "This case was last before us on October 28, 2016, when we dismissed the respondent’s appeal from the Immigration Judge’s decision denying his application for withholding of removal under section 241(b)(3)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3)(A) (2012), and protection under the regulations implementing the Convention Against Torture...

June 13, 2022

Supreme Court on Immigrant Detention, Bond: Johnson v. Arteaga-Martinez; Garland v. Aleman Gonzalez

Johnson v. Arteaga-Martinez - "Section 241(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), codified at 8 U. S. C. §1231(a), authorizes the detention of noncitizens who have been ordered removed from the United States. See 110 Stat. 3009–598. In particular, §1231(a)(6) provides that after a 90-day “removal period,” a noncitizen “may be detained” or may be released under terms of supervision. This Court recently held...

June 13, 2022

CA9 on Persecution, Nicaragua: Flores Molina v. Garland (2-1)

Flores Molina v. Garland "Petitioner Mario Rajib Flores Molina (“Flores Molina”) participated in demonstrations against the ruling regime in his native Nicaragua, where he witnessed the murder of his friend and fellow protester by police and paramilitary members. Thereafter, he was publicly marked as a terrorist, threatened with torture and death by government operatives, and forced to flee his home. Flores Molina...

June 12, 2022

Judge Blocks DHS Enforcement Memo: Texas v. USA

Texas v. USA "This case is the culmination of a series of challenges to immigration-related memoranda issued within the Department of Homeland Security. The legal issues are varied and complicated. But the core of the dispute is whether the Executive Branch may require its officials to act in a manner that conflicts with a statutory mandate imposed by Congress. It may not. ... The Court VACATES the Final Memorandum...

June 10, 2022

Visa Bulletin For July 2022

Visa Bulletin for July 2022

June 10, 2022

CA9 on Particularly Serious Crime: Mendoza-Garcia v. Garland

Mendoza-Garcia v. Garland "The BIA reviews de novo the IJ’s determination of “questions of law, discretion, and judgment,” 8 C.F.R. § 1003.1(d)(3)(ii), including whether an alien’s prior offense is a “particularly serious crime.” It is unclear whether the BIA undertook that de novo review here, because it applied a “presumption” that Petitioner’s conviction was a particularly serious crime and required him to ...

June 10, 2022

DHS Resumes Cuban Family Reunification Parole (CFRP) Program and Haitian Family Reunification Parole (HFRP) Program Operations

DHS, June 9, 2022 "The United States is taking a series of measures to increase support for the Cuban and Haitian people in line with our national interests. Both Cuban and Haitian people are confronting a humanitarian crisis and our policy focuses on empowering people to help them create a future free from repression and economic suffering. Expanding access to lawful migration pathways offers migrants safe and...

June 10, 2022

OFLC SOC Webinar, June 21, 2022

DOL, June 10, 2022 " OFLC announces a webinar on June 21, 2022 to update stakeholders on the implementation of the new 2018 Standard Occupational Classification system.  As part of the Office of Foreign Labor Certification's (OFLC) ongoing efforts to increase public engagement, OFLC's National Prevailing Wage Center (NPWC) will host a two-hour webinar on the implementation of the 2018 Standard Occupational...

June 09, 2022

ICE Directive Considers Military Service (May 23, 2022)

ICE, May 23, 2022 -  Consideration of U.S. Military Service When Making Discretionary Determinations with Regard to Enforcement Actions Against Noncitizens "It is ICE policy to consider a noncitizen's U.S. military service when deciding whether to take civil immigration enforcement actions against them, what enforcement action to take, if any, whether to release an individual from ICE custody, in accordance...

June 09, 2022

IJ Distinguishes Jaco, Grants Asylum (PSG = Honduran Women)

Hats off to Prof. Hiroko Kusuda for her victory in New Orleans Immigration Court !  IJ Eric Marsteller distinguished Jaco v. Garland, stating: "The Fifth Circuit in Jaco v. Garland suggested that "Honduran women" is not sufficiently particular. 16 F.4th 1169, 1181 (5th Cir. 2021). The particular social group of "Honduran women" was not at issue in Jaco, however, and the Fifth Circuit's comment...

June 08, 2022

Desk Edition Update (June 2022)

If you subscribe to the Matthew Bender LexisNexis Immigration Law and Procedure: Desk Edition you will receive the latest update , Rel. 75, very soon.  See what has been updated here .  (Not yet a subscriber?  Contact Sales 1-877-394-8826.)

June 08, 2022

Supreme Court on Border Bivens: Egbert v. Boule

Egbert v. Boule - 998 F. 3d 370, reversed. THOMAS, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which ROBERTS, C. J., and ALITO, KAVANAUGH, and BARRETT, JJ., joined. GORSUCH, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment. SOTOMAYOR, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part, in which BREYER and KAGAN, JJ., joined.

June 06, 2022

Cameroon TPS; F-1 Employment Authorization (Advance Copy)

Designation of Cameroon for Temporary Protected Status : "Through this notice, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announces that the Secretary of Homeland Security (Secretary) is designating Cameroon for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months, effective June 7, 2022, through December 7, 2023. This designation allows Cameroonian nationals (and individuals having no nationality who last habitually resided...

June 03, 2022

CA9 Affirms Class Certification in TVPA Lawsuit Against CoreCivic

Owino v. CoreCivic "This appeal arises from a class action filed by individuals who were incarcerated in private immigration detention facilities owned and operated by a for-profit corporation, CoreCivic, Inc. These individuals—detained solely due to their immigration status and neither charged with, nor convicted of, any crime—allege that the overseers of their private detention facilities forced them to perform...

June 01, 2022

ICE Clarifies Continuation of March 2020 Guidance for the 2022-23 Academic Year

ICE, May 31, 2022 "The Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) is reissuing its guidance for the 2022-23 academic year to clarify that the guidance only applies to nonimmigrant students who were actively enrolled at a U.S. school on March 9, 2020, and have continuously complied with the terms of their nonimmigrant status. Students who enrolled after March 9, 2020, must adhere to SEVP’s existing regulations...