VELAZQUEZ V. GARLAND DECISION BELOW: 88 F.4th 1301 (CA10) CERT. GRANTED 7/2/2024 QUESTION PRESENTED: Federal immigration law allows the government to grant a "voluntary departure" period...
Gutierrez v. Garland "Sergio Manrique Gutierrez petitions for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) decision dismissing his appeal of an order of removal by an Immigration...
BIA, June 28, 2024 "The Board of Immigration Appeals welcomes interested members of the public to file amicus curiae briefs discussing the below issue(s): ISSUE(S) PRESENTED: What is the scope of...
This document is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on 07/03/2024 "MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE [and] THE SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY SUBJECT: Extending Eligibility...
DOL, July 2, 2024 "The Employment and Training Administration published an FRN on June 24, 2024 updating the AEWRs under the H-2A temporary agricultural employment program that apply to a limited...
"On April 7, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in Shalom Pentecostal Church v. Acting Secretary DHS, 783 F.3d 156 (3d Cir. 2015), found the regulatory requirements that qualifying work experience gained in the United States must have been acquired in lawful status (herein “lawful status requirements”) in 8 CFR 204.5(m)(4) and (11) to be beyond the Department’s legal authority (ultra vires). The court found that the statute was clear and unambiguous and that the regulation was inconsistent with the statute. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not seek further review of this decision.
As a result of this decision and a growing number of Federal courts reaching the same conclusion, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has decided to acquiesce to the Shalom Pentecostal decision nationally and will no longer deny special immigrant religious worker petitions based on the lawful status requirements at 8 CFR 204.5(m)(4) and (11).1 To promote a uniform immigration policy and consistent adjudications, this policy memorandum (PM) instructs USCIS employees to apply the Shalom Pentecostal decision nationwide until such time as DHS amends the regulations at 8 CFR 204.5(m)(4) and (11) to remove the lawful status requirements. This PM updates chapter 22.3(b) of the Adjudicator’s Field Manual (AFM); AFM Update PM-602-0119. The guidance contained in this PM is controlling and supersedes any prior guidance on the lawful status requirements for special immigrant religious workers." - USCIS, July 5, 2015.