June 25, 2024

Ravi v. US: Fake University Lawsuit Revived

Ravi v. US "Starting in March 2018, Ravi Teja Tiyagurra paid thousands of dollars to the “University of Farmington” to enroll as a student, expecting to take classes. At the time of his enrollment, Mr. Ravi was unaware that the University was not a university at all but had been formed and advertised to offer educational services for money—though not actually provide them—as an undercover...

June 25, 2024

CADC: District Courts Cannot Order DOS to Issue Visas

Goodluck v. Biden "In these four consolidated appeals, district courts held that the Department of State had unlawfully suspended, deprioritized, and delayed the processing of applications for diversity visas for fiscal years 2020 and 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a remedy, the courts ordered the Department to continue processing applications and issuing visas after the statutory deadlines for...

June 25, 2024

USCIS Policy Alert: Customer Service Options for Refugee/Asylee Relative Petition (Form I-730)

USCIS, June 25, 2024 "USCIS is updating guidance in the Policy Manual on USCIS Contact Center inquiries for Form I-730 petitions to clarify the available customer service options and explain that USCIS Contact Center personnel may respond to inquiries after identity and authorization verification is completed consistent with 8 CFR 208.6 confidentiality protections."

June 21, 2024

SCOTUS on Consular Nonreviewability: DOS v. MUÑOZ (6-3)

DOS v. MUÑOZ (6-3) 50 F. 4th 906, reversed and remanded. BARRETT, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which ROBERTS, C. J., and THOMAS, ALITO, and KAVANAUGH, JJ., joined. GORSUCH, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment. SOTOMAYOR, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which KAGAN and JACKSON, JJ., joined. Majority: "Like the Din plurality, we hold that a citizen does not have a fundamental...

June 20, 2024

USCIS Extends Employment Authorization Documents under Temporary Protected Status Designations of El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan

USCIS, June 20, 2024 "We are extending the validity of certain Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) issued to Temporary Protected Status (TPS) beneficiaries under the designations of El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua and Sudan through March 9, 2025. We will send a Form I-797, Notice of Action , notifying you if you are affected by this extension. If you are a current TPS beneficiary under one of these...

June 20, 2024

BIA on Credibility, CAT: Matter of H-C-R-C-

Matter of H-C-R-C- (1) Applicants bear the burden of establishing their own credibility, and no statute or legal precedent compels an Immigration Judge to conclude that an applicant’s testimony is credible. (2) Rape is sufficiently severe to constitute torture and can never be a lawful sanction under the Convention Against Torture. "Because we conclude that the Immigration Judge’s credibility determination...

June 20, 2024

Easing the Nonimmigrant Visa Process for U.S. College Graduates: DOS

State Department, June 18, 2024 " On June 18, 2024, the Biden-Harris Administration announced actions to more efficiently facilitate employment-based nonimmigrant visas for those who have graduated from college in the United States and have a job offer. This initiative will allow certain individuals to more quickly receive nonimmigrant work visas if they are deemed eligible. As part of this initiative, the...

June 19, 2024

"Keeping Families Together" Resources

Wednesday, June 19, 2024: We are waiting for the official Federal Register notice for all the details of President Biden's immigration initiatives. Meanwhile some resources are here: 1. AILA Doc. No. 24061831, New Actions to Promote Family Unity 2. AILA President Kelli Stump video 3. Immigration Impact summary 4. USCIS website: Process to Promote the Unity and Stability of Families

June 17, 2024

CA4 on Credibility, Evidence: Garcia Cortes v. Garland

Garcia Cortes v. Garland "Virginia Garcia Cortes petitions for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals decision affirming an Immigration Judge’s denial of her application for cancellation of removal. The Immigration Judge and Board of Immigration Appeals denied Garcia Cortes’s application on the basis that she failed to make the requisite showing under 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(1)(D) that her removal...

June 15, 2024

Emami Litigation - Notice to Class Members

State Department, June 13, 2024 " THIS NOTICE WILL BE UPDATED AS MORE INFORMATION COMES AVAILABLE. PLEASE CHECK BACK FOR FINAL INSTRUCTIONS NO LATER THAN AUGUST 2, 2024. NOTICE OF CLASS-WIDE RELIEF The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has certified a class in the consolidated cases Farangis Emami, et al. v. Alejandro Mayorkas, et al., No. 18-cv-01587-JD, and Pars Equality Center,...

June 14, 2024

Supreme Court (5-4) on Defective NTA: Campos-Chavez v. Garland

Campos-Chavez v. Garland No. 22–674, 54 F. 4th 314, affirmed; No. 22–884, 24 F. 4th 1315, reversed (Mendez- Colín) and vacated and remanded (Singh). ALITO, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which ROBERTS, C. J., and THOMAS, KAVANAUGH, and BARRETT, JJ., joined. JACKSON, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which SOTOMAYOR, KAGAN, and GORSUCH, JJ., joined. Majority : "We hold that, to...

June 13, 2024

Invalid NTA Remand (Unpub. BIA)

Hats off to Ana Maria Portela (Arocha) for scoring this victory on June 5, 2024!

June 13, 2024

USCIS Issues Policy Guidance on Customer Service and Confidentiality Protections for Certain Naturalized U.S. Citizens

USCIS, June 12, 2024 "USCIS is issuing guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual that interprets that the confidentiality protections under 8 U.S.C. 1367 end at naturalization, which will allow naturalized U.S. citizens previously protected under 8 U.S.C. 1367 (specifically, Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) self-petitioners and those seeking or with approved T and U nonimmigrant status) the ability to fully access e...

June 11, 2024

Visa Bulletin for July 2024

Visa Bulletin for July 2024 Notes D & E: D. RETROGRESSION IN THE EMPLOYMENT-BASED THIRD (EB-3) PREFERENCE CATEGORY As readers were informed was possible in Item D of the June 2024 Visa Bulletin , it has become necessary to retrogress the worldwide EB-3 final action date (including Mexico and Philippines) effective in July. Given continued high demand and number use in this category, it will likely be necessary...

June 10, 2024

MOU Between DoD and USCIS re Military Naturalization

DoD, USCIS, July 223 "This memorandum of understanding (MOU) and relevant appendices constitutes an agreement between the Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS), acting through the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), to educate Service members about the naturalization process and its benefits and provide them with time and access to the resources and information necessary...

June 08, 2024

ICE Prisoner Locator Tool Improved; Now Find CBP Prisoners Too!

As reported by El Paso immigration law superstar Taylor Levy (@taylorklevy on X) on June 6, 2024 , the ICE Online Detainee [a.k.a. "prisoner"] Locator web tool has been improved to include those prisoners " currently in CBP custody for 48 hours or more ."

June 07, 2024

CADC on Delay: Afghan Allies v. Blinken

AFGHAN AND IRAQI ALLIES, UNDER SERIOUS THREAT BECAUSE OF THEIR FAITHFUL SERVICE TO THE UNITED STATES, ON THEIR OWN AND ON BEHALF OF OTHERS SIMILARLY SITUATED v. BLINKEN "Congress has authorized the Secretary of State to give special-immigrant visas to certain Iraqi and Afghan nationals who face serious threats because of their faithful service to the United States during recent armed conflicts. After initial applications...

June 06, 2024

USCIS Policy Alert: Special Immigrant Juvenile Classification and Limited In-Person Filing

USCIS, June 6, 2024 "U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is updating policy guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual to address how petitioners for special immigrant juvenile (SIJ) classification (or their representatives) may schedule an appointment with a USCIS field office to file a Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant (Form I-360) in person in limited circumstances."

June 05, 2024

CBP Proposed Rule: 9-11 Response and Biometric Entry-Exit Fee for H-1B and L-1 Visas (Advance Copy)

This document is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on 06/06/2024 "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposes to amend and clarify the regulations concerning the 9-11 Response & Biometric Entry-Exit Fee for H-1B and L-1 Visas (9-11 Biometric Fee). The proposed regulatory changes would clarify DHS’s interpretation of ambiguous statutory language to require that covered employers...

June 05, 2024

ICE "Securing the Border" Implementation Memo

ICE, June 4, 2024 "Implementation Guidance for Noncitizens Described in Presidential Proclamation of June 3, 2024, Securing the Border, and Interim Final Rule, Securing the Border"

June 04, 2024

Securing the Border Interim Final Rule (Advance Copy)

This document is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on 06/07/2024 "On June 3, 2024, the President signed a Proclamation under sections 212(f) and 215(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), finding that the entry into the United States of certain noncitizens during emergency border circumstances would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, and suspending and...

June 03, 2024

Unpub. BIA Hardship Remand

Hats off to Lisa Seifert , my friend and colleague from my Seattle days (1996-2001) for this remand on the issue of hardship by AIJ Sunita B. Mahtabfar.* * "Attorney General William P. Barr appointed Sunita B. Mahtabfar as an Appellate Immigration Judge in August 2020. Judge Mahtabfar earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1994 from the University of Texas at Austin and a Juris Doctorate in 1998 from Thurgood Marshall School...

May 31, 2024

CA2 Habeas Victory! - Black v. Decker

Black v. Decker "These tandem appeals arise from habeas petitions brought under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 by legal permanent residents Carol Williams Black, in No. 20-3224 (Schofield, J.), and by Keisy G.M., in No. 22-70 (Cronan, J.). As directed by 8 U.S.C. § 1226(c), the government detained Black and G.M. pending their removal proceedings: Black, for seven months, and G.M., for twenty-one months. Neither had...

May 31, 2024

CA2 on AgFel: Stankiewicz v. Garland

Stankiewicz v. Garland "In this case, we must decide whether N.J. Stat. § 2C:35-7, which criminalizes distributing a controlled substance on or near school property, is an “aggravated felony,” as defined in 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)(B). Petitioner Aleksandra Malgorzata Stankiewicz was convicted in 2003 of violating § 2C:35-7. In removal proceedings initiated in 2018, the immigration judge...

May 31, 2024

A Guide to Obtaining Release from Immigration Detention

NIPNLG Practice Advisory, May 28, 2024 "The purpose of this guide is to provide practitioners with a comprehensive resource for representing adult clients detained by DHS in immigration court bond proceedings. The guide covers the following topics: An overview of immigration detention The different legal authorities governing immigration detention and corresponding strategies for seeking release An...