Identical DHS and DOS media notes are here and here . Media coverage here , here , here , here , here and here . The intent is to curtail irregular migration through the Darién Gap . [I have...
Cyrus D. Mehta and Kaitlyn Box, July 1, 2024 "The conservative majority Supreme Court recently issued two decisions that will have a major impact on the administrative state by transferring power...
CISOMB, June 2024 "I am pleased to present the Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman’s (CIS Ombudsman) 2024 Annual Report to Congress. This Report, submitted annually...
Gaby Del Valle, The Verge, June 28, 2024 "Chevron deference has given the Department of Homeland Security and its component agencies broad latitude. For example, under Chevron , decisions made by...
Prof. Nancy Morawetz said this on today's ImmigrationProf Blog : "In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’ decision in Loper Bright , you might think that everyone would agree that courts...
"[H]e persuaded his colleagues on the Senate Judiciary Committee to adopt by voice vote an amendment (Franken 4) to the Gang of Eight's comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) bill, S. 744. If CIR is enacted with Franken 4 included, it would establish within U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) an "Office of the Small Business and Employee Advocate" (the SBE Advocate), whose purpose would be to "assist small businesses [firms with 49 or fewer employees] and individuals in complying with the [Form I-9 (employment-eligibility-verification) requirements" of the immigration laws, "including the resolution of conflicts arising in the course of attempted compliance with such requirements."
The new role for the SBE Advocate complements the expanded authority of the USCIS Ombudsman under another amendment engrafted onto S. 744. Like the Ombudsman, the SBE Advocate is empowered to provide assistance to the public, resolve I-9 compliance problems and make recommendations for changes to immigration laws and regulations.
Unlike the bully-pulpit authority of the Ombudsman, however, the SBE Advocate would be authorized to issue an "Assistance Order" if any employer (not just a small business) or an individual has suffered or will likely suffer a "significant hardship" relating to I-9 compliance. The SBE Advocate can also consider "significant hardship" more favorably to the small business or individual if USCIS does not follow its own "applicable published administrative guidance" and require the Secretary of Homeland Security under the terms of an Assistance Order:
The anticipated creation of the Office of SBE Advocate follows on the longstanding difficulties encountered by small businesses in trying to comply with immigration law requirements and the more recent laudable attempts by USCIS to espouse (and, alas, inconsistently demonstrate) support for small-business entrepreneurship under that agency's Entrepreneurs in Residence program, which has provideduseful training to its adjudicators and continues to grow." - Angelo A. Paparelli, May 19, 2013.