Month: February 2009

According to a USCIS Press Release:  “U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reminds its customers that authorization for the non-minister special immigrant religious worker program will expire on March 6, 2009.   Individuals applying under the non-minister category of the program, including family members, must either adjust status to permanent resident or be admitted with an immigrant visa before March 6, 2009.”

This is a messy situation for those individuals with I-485 applications pending based on approved non-minister I-360 petitions.  Hopefuly the USCIS adjudicates these cases in a timely manner to not leave too many people in limbo. 

According to a USCIS Press Release:  “U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reminds petitioners who participate in the H-2A agricultural temporary worker program and the H-2B nonagricultural temporary worker program to use the new Form I-129, “Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker,” which contains the H Classification Supplement.”

According to an article on nytimes.com:  “The looser rules were reflected in sweeps like one conducted in New Haven in June 2007. During the raid, lawyers at Yale’s immigration law center said, agents who found no one home at an address specified in a deportation order simply knocked on other doors until one opened, pushed their way in, and arrested residents who acknowledged that they lacked legal status.”

With a new administration at the helm, it will be interesting to see the shift in US immigration and enforcement policies. 

According to americasvoiceonline.com:  “Three Washington, D.C.-based immigration-restriction organizations stand at the nexus of the American nativist movement: the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), and NumbersUSA. Although on the surface they appear quite different — the first, the country’s best-known anti-immigrant lobbying group; the second, an “independent” think tank; and the third, a powerful grassroots organizer — they are fruits of the same poisonous tree.”

Interesting read.  You can also watch a video and vote for the “Top Anti-Immigrant Wolf”.  This inspired me to research who won the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “Dobbsy Award” named after CNN’s Lou Dobbs.  The winner?  Neil Cavuto of Fox News for allegedly blaming undocumented immigrants for the subprime mortgage meltdown. 

According to a USCIS Press Release:  “USCIS recognizes the important sacrifices made by non-U.S. citizen members of the United States armed forces and their families and is committed to processing their naturalization applications in a timely and efficient manner while providing exemplary customer service, maintaining the integrity of the immigration system, and the security of the process.  Qualifying military service is generally in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and certain components of the National Guard and the Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve. “

I am still amazed at what can be found online and can hardly believe that only ten years ago when someone asked me to “google” something my response was “what’s google?”

In any event, the site politifact.com is keeping track of pronises made by Obama and seeing which have been kept, broken or those on which no action has been taken.  They are calling this feature the “Obamameter”.  So far no action has been taken on any immigration promises but it may be worthwhile to check the site from time to time to see whether the President keeps his promises.