Month: December 2007

According to an article on azcentral.com: “As Phoenix crafts a more aggressive immigration-enforcement policy, Police Chief Jack Harris on Monday strongly defended the current policy, saying significant changes could cripple the department’s efforts to fight violent crime.”

According to Boston.com: “The soon-to-be-completed federal immigration-enforcement headquarters that has stirred anger and anxiety among many residents sits in a typical suburban office park near Route 128, between the Burlington Mall and Lahey Clinic.”

There is currently so much hysteria about the undocumented  being “criminal illegal aliens” (as I believe Lou Dobbs likes to call them) that these poor residents are expecting their  town to be invaded by dangerous criminals. The truth is, most of those who will come through the facility are visa overstays or have allegedly committed other paperwork violations and have not been convicted of any crimes. Even among those who have been charged or convicted of a criminal offense, I would bet that a large portion of those charges relate to motor vehicle infractions.

Our office is a few blocks from this facility and we won’t be changing our office locks or putting bars on our windows just yet.

According to an article on Boston.com: “Eliseo Garcia was churning out military backpacks last March at the Michael Bianco Inc. leather-goods factory when panicked workers started racing for the exits. But instead of smoke, he saw federal immigration agents. He thought the odyssey that had delivered him from a tiny village in Guatemala to this historic seaport was over.”

Here’s what our resident tech genius had to say regarding how readers can subscribe to this blog:

All they need to do is point their RSS reader to http://immigrantconnect.com/feed/.

RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication,”  and the idea behind RSS is that you won’t have to keep coming back to websites for updates.  Instead, a piece of software called an “RSS Reader” will do that job of checking the websites you specify for updates, alerting you when new articles are available, and then presenting the new articles in a succinct form.

Modern web browsers (such as Firefox and Internet Explorer 6), e-mail clients (such as Thunderbird), and some portals like My Yahoo! and Google already work as RSS readers.   For Outlook, there’s a free plug-in called RSS Popper, which you can download here:  http://rsspopper.blogspot.com/

Doesn’t sound “really simple” to me, but I welcome new subscribers.

According to an article on svherald.com:  “Brian D. Levin, spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said the agency has four primary ways to receive complaints and compliments, including passenger service representatives, comment cards, a customer service center and a telephone or verbal complaint program.”

The USCIS has released its Application and Receipting Update for 12/14/07.  Both the Texas and Nebraska Service Centers are current with their I-140 and I-485 receipts.

US CBP intends to increase staffing for the upcoming holiday and offers holiday travelers some Tips for a Quick and Safe Border Crossing.

The USCIS e-Filing System will be temporarily unavailable on Sunday, December 16, 2007, from 8:00 AM EST until 8:00 PM EST for necessary maintenance.

According to a Reuters article:  “The intense debate over illegal immigration has made life more difficult for U.S. Hispanics, the fastest-growing minority in the country, with many fearing deportation and having difficulty finding work and housing, study found.”

According to an article on cnnmoney.com: “Companies, especially high-tech ones, rely heavily on immigration to bring them the best and brightest talent. They look to immigrants for new ideas and sometimes to start companies. Loss of this source of talent could hurt U.S. industry.”

One of the best visas available for foreign professionals is the H-1B. This year’s 65,000 cap was exhausted on the first day cases were accepted for filing. In fact thousands of petitions were rejected even though they were received on April 2, 2007 (April 1, 2007 was a Sunday).

Given this messy situation, for those who may be eligible for H-1B status or employers wishing to hire foreign born professionals it is best to get the process organized sooner rather than later. Maged Rost is now accepting clients who would like to apply for cap-subject H-1B status for FY 2009.

For those who wish to commence H-1B employment on October 1, 2008, the petition may be filed as of April 1, 2008 (and preferably no later as all available cap-subject petitions may again be exhausted in a single day). Please call or e-mail us for additional information. www.magedrost.com.