Major Disaster Vermont Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides Impacted Areas Frequently Asked Questions September 30, 2024 Major Disaster Hurricane Helene Impacted Areas Frequently Asked...
Meza Diaz v. Garland "Petitioner Briseyda Meza Diaz (“Meza Diaz”) and her minor daughter, Gabriela Segundo Meza (“GSM”), fled Mexico after suffering a home invasion by hooded...
Q & A and slides from Sept. 12, 2024 Stakeholder Engagement
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”...
Alam v. USCIS
"Alam enlisted in the United States Army through MAVNI — a program to provide an expedited path to citizenship for immigrant soldiers with specialized skills. The Army discharged Alam from service for medical reasons and gave him an “uncharacterized” discharge. USCIS denied Alam’s citizenship application under its policy that an “uncharacterized” discharge is not “under honorable conditions.” ... Defendants’ motion to dismiss is denied because the Court finds Defendants’ interpretation of Section 1440 unavailing. First, the plain language of Section 1440 contemplates only two categories of discharge. Second, USCIS must consider military instructions in its analysis: Section 1440 makes characterization of discharge theresponsibility of the military, not USCIS. The Court also declines to place the burden of proving statutory meaning on Alam because statutory interpretation is a question of law. ... [T]his Court finds that the military’s certification of an “uncharacterized” discharge may mean “under honorable conditions” to the military because of DoD instructions. Only by considering the military’s meaning of uncharacterized can the Court ensure, as the Kulkarni court tried to, that “USCIS [has] no role in the military’s certification.” Id. at 918. Any other outcome relieson USCIS’s meaning of honorable and not the military’s, which Section 1440 expressly prohibits."
[Hats off to Margaret Stock, Neil O'Donnell and Graham Ojala-Barbour!]