Month: September 2010

According to the USCIS, as of September 10th, 2010, the agency has received 37,400 out of 65,000 available cap-subject H-1B petitions for FY-2011 and 13,700 out of 20,000 available petitions under the H-1B Master’s Cap Exemption.

As the number of filed petitions increases, it is likely that more employers will be filing for foreign-nationals to start employment on or after October 1, 2010.

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Before the Arizona debacle, Hazelton, a small town in Pennsylvania tried to pass some restrictive immigration ordinances.  According to a Time.com article quoting the decision:  “‘It is…not our job to sit in judgment of whether state and local frustration about federal immigration policy is warranted.  We are, however, required to intervene when states and localities directly undermine the federal objectives embodied in statutes enacted by Congress,’ wrote Chief Judge Theodore McKee of the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia.”It is simply a matter of time before this issue will be on the US Supreme Court’s docket.

The Visa Bulletin for October 2010 is now available.

When the Department of Labor took the role of adjudicating Alien Employment Labor Certification Applications from the states, the stated goals were to increase efficiency and consistency in processing the applications.  Perhaps a sign of the high national unemployment or simply inefficiency on the part of the agency, cases now take at least ten months before a decision is reached.Fortunately, the DOL has the iCERT Portal Case Processing Times link that has proven to be quite accurate in determining when one can expect to have an application filed on his or her behalf adjudicated.  An employer or attorney that filed the PERM application electronically is able to log into the PERM system to check the status of a particular case which will show up as either certified, denied or in process.

According to globalshift.org:  “Jessamyn Waldman’s background isn’t in baking, but public policy. Yet she had the idea for Hot Bread Kitchen, a social purpose bakery that provides jobs and training for immigrant women. She learned to make bread, and now she teaches women from impoverished immigrant communities how to combine yeast with flour and water to make a livelihood.”

A positive story relating to helping immigrants and someone with a social conscience, how refreshing!

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According to an article on washingtonpost.com:  “The Justice Department sued Joe Arpaio, sheriff of Arizona’s Maricopa County, on Thursday, saying his office has repeatedly declined to hand over documents to federal investigators examining whether his aggressive tactics against illegal immigrants have violated their civil rights.”

It is about time that this man be held accountable for his actions.  Not only does he allegedly violate the civil rights of individuals his office detains, as the original justice department lawsuit accuses him of doing, but he frequently appears on any cable network that will have him and antagonizes the federal government.

Most people understand that once a lawsuit has been filed, parties have the right to demand that certain information be provided and documents be produced.  This is the law.  For a man who spends so much time boasting about how he upholds the rule of law by detaining undocumented aliens, it is surprising that he refuses to comply with the basic discovery requirements of the lawsuit that has been filed against him and his department.

How the lawsuits against Brewer and Arpaio will turn out is unknown.  However, I would guess that most attorneys would dream as having these two as opposing party witnesses.  It is unclear whether either Brewer or Arpaio will actually testify in these cases.

Brewer had trouble remembering her opening statement in a recent debate and was unable to answer reporters’ simple follow-up question that followed.  Being so evasive would not be easy under cross-examination.  Arpaio frequently appears on television and challenges the federal government to follow through on its threats of a lawsuit.  When the government follows through Arpaio allegedly refuses to comply with discovery forcing another lawsuit to compel cooperation.  All of this nonsense is costing Arizona taxpayers a small fortune in legal fees as well as lost revenue from organized boycotts as well as from those who simply choose to spend their vacation dollars elsewhere.

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Maybe it was just an off night…a way off night for Governor Brewer last night but the way she froze during her opening statement against her Democratic opponent, Steve Goddard (see 38 seconds into the video) as well as the way she “responded” to post-debate queries from reporters about her allegations regarding beheadings in Arizona leaves one asking:  Is this lady qualified to be Governor?  Watch the videos and the reporting for yourself on washingtonpost.com.

Her claim to fame is the high-profile, ill-conceived state immigration law that although popular, has led to boycotts, a federal lawsuit and other dire economic consequences for a state that was already suffering a great deal before this law was enacted.  The truth is that the number of violent crimes committed by undocumented persons and illegal immigration into the US generally have decreased.

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Although it is disturbing to realize that such a tool would be necessary for a family to locate a loved one being detained by ICE, it is a vast improvement over the past where a wife or child would desperately call ICE and would not get a clear answer as to where her husband or father was being held.

The Online Detainee Locator  is a step in the right direction in the government’s efforts to make the process of detaining alleged undocumented aliens more transparent.

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According to an article on wsj.com:  “llegal immigration to the U.S. has slowed sharply since 2007, as the bleak U.S. job market has discouraged potential migrants from heading north.”

More evidence that the majority of undocumented come here to work.  They do not come to commit crimes or to abuse our benefits.  When there are fewer employers to hire them, they are less likely to come.  There is a misconception among many anti-immigrants that all the undocumented have to do is “make themselves legal”, as though this is a viable option.  Rest assured, for most undocumented aliens, there is no avenue to legalize and truth be told, there is often no legal means for many of these individuals to enter the US.  Many of the people who entered through Mexico paid human traffickers as much as a lawyer would charge to assist them.  If there were legal means for these individuals to enter the country, why would they pay so much and risk their lives to do it unlawfully?

Add to that the 3 and 10 year bars to reentry for those who leave the US after having been in the country out of status for more than six months, and one can see that there is a built-in disincentive in the law for undocumented aliens who overstay their status to leave because then they would be unable to return for several years, if ever.

Our immigration system is broken.  As the years pass, I become less hopeful that our elected officials will do what needs to get done to fix the system.  Political games usually trump effective government.

Please visit our firm’s websites at www.immigrantconnect.com and www.americaninvestorvisa.com and check out our page and become our fan on Facebook!