Hamed Aleaziz, New York Times, Oct. 4, 2024 (gift link) "The Biden administration said Friday it would allow the temporary legal permission for migrants from Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti, and Nicaragua...
Singh v. Garland (2-1) "Jaswinder Singh, a citizen and native of India, appeals the Board of Immigration’s (“BIA”) decision affirming the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”...
CGRS, Oct. 1, 2024 "Last night, a federal judge ruled in a case challenging the Biden administration’s policy of turning back asylum seekers who approach ports of entry along the southern...
Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and National Immigration Litigation Alliance, Oct. 2, 2024 " FREE WEBINAR Today, Oct. 2 from 3-4pm Eastern, 2-3pm Central, 12-1 Pacific On September 26, a U...
USCIS, Oct. 2, 2024 "U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is issuing policy guidance in our Policy Manual to further clarify the types of evidence that we may evaluate to determine eligibility...
Belevich v. Thomas
"The question in this appeal is whether certain equitable defenses may excuse an immigrant’s sponsor from her financial obligation to support the immigrant under 8 U.S.C. § 1183a. Tatiana Kuznitsnyna and her daughter, Klavdia Thomas, sponsored Kuznitsnyna’s husband, Valentin Belevich, for admission into the United States by executing Form I-864 affidavits, which the Department of Homeland Security approved. By signing these affidavits, the sponsors promised the United States that they would support Belevich at 125% of the poverty income level if the United States granted Belevich a visa. After Belevich immigrated from Russia, the sponsors cut off all financial support and accused him of sexually abusing Thomas’s six-year-old daughter. Belevich sued to enforce their obligations, and the sponsors raised the affirmative defenses of unclean hands, anticipatory breach, and equitable estoppel. The district court rejected those defenses as a matter of law and awarded damages to Belevich. The sponsors argue that the district court erred in rejecting their defenses. We hold that these defenses are foreclosed by the statute and regulation that govern the Form I-864 affidavit, as well as the text of the affidavit itself. Accordingly, we affirm."