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1/20/2012 EASIER FOR SOME ILLEGALS TO GET GREEN CARDS If you are an "Immediate Relative" (married to an American citizen, or a child of a U.S. citizen, or a parent of an adult U.S. citizen), and if to get a Green Card you must go back home for an interview at the American Consulate because you entered the U.S. without a visa or as a crewperson or as a K-1 who did not marry the petitioner - you risk a long delay in your return to the U.S. (many months or years, up to ten years), because the American Consul would request that you apply for a waiver (a "pardon") for your illegal stay in the U.S. Now came the Immigration Service and announced that they intend to change this procedure: The regulations would be changed so that you would be able to apply for the waiver before you leave the U.S. If you get the waiver, you go for the consular interview and if you don't get the waiver, you don't go. Either way, you don't get "stuck" and separated from your family for an unpredictable period of waiting. This improved procedure is not for employment-based cases and not for all family-based cases. But for "immediate relatives" (mainly – spouses of U.S. citizens), this is a great gift for the New Year. We hope that the change will happen soon. * * * * * 1/5/2012 IMMIGRANTS, LATINOS AND ASIANS CONTRIBUTE MORE TO YOUR STATE THAN YOU THINK Immigration has never been a numbers game. When people think of immigration in America, they likely call to mind fear-fueled myths perpetuated by immigration restrictionists, like "immigrants are stealing American jobs" or "immigrants are a drain on our system." Sadly, numbers and facts have rarely been part of the discussion, especially as state legislatures continue to take immigration law into their own hands. Today, however, the Immigration Policy Center published 50 state fact sheets updated to show just how much immigrants, Latinos and Asians contribute to our country as consumers, taxpayers, workers, entrepreneurs and voters—facts state legislators would do well to consider before passing legislation that drives immigrants, undocumented and documented, from their state. More than one quarter of Californians are immigrants.
More than half of Californians are Latino or Asian—and they vote.
Naturalized citizens excel educationally.
The English proficiency rate among Asian children in California was 86.4%, while for Latino children it was 83%, as of 2009. Unauthorized immigrants pay taxes.
Immigrant, Latino, and Asian entrepreneurs and consumers add hundreds of billions of dollars and a more than a million jobs to California's economy.
905,957 people. Together, businesses owned by Latinos and Asians comprised more than one-quarter of all businesses in the state, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2007 Survey of Business Owners. Immigrant workers, entrepreneurs, and taxpayers are integral to California's economy.
Immigrants are integral to California's economy as students.
* * * * * IS THE ROMNEY CAMPAIGN EMBRACING ANTI-IMMIGRANT EXTREMISM? Today, Mitt Romney's campaign heartily accepted the endorsement of renown anti-immigrant activist, Kris Kobach. As Mitt Romney emerges as the leading contender for the GOP nomination, he and those he affiliates with will garner closer scrutiny, making it critical for Romney's campaign to understand who Kobach is and why his policies engender such strong emotion. * * * * * 1/12/2012 IMMIGRATION BY INVESTMENT (EB-5) The US Senate held hearings about the accomplishments, issues and possible extension of the EB-5 program after expiration at the end of September 2012. Senator Leahy claims that the Regional Center Program added 25,000 jobs to the economy in 2011 while the direct investments amounted to $1.25 billion. He added that the program can contribute 100,000 jobs each year. Senator Grassley claimed that the program has to be reevaluated because he believes the program is un-American in spirit because it encourages buying a Green Card and not enough is required to create more jobs. He also raised the supposition and objection that the jobs created are taken by illegal aliens. A president of a Resort company in New England argued that the program has helped the area's economy greatly. Other testimonies claimer that immigration is giving too much (a Green Card) for too little and that the $500,000 or $1 million minimum is insufficient, focusing too much on passive investments rather than creation of new businesses. Also, and the process is conducted by too many middlemen. Only 1% of immigrants immigrate under the EB-5 program. Different potential projects were also discussed like in the field of technology. Another issue raised was what if the program is discontinued and investors that are in the middle of the process could lose their investment. Questions also arose during the hearing regarding investors withdrawing from their investments too early though, according to the law, the Green Cards don't become permanent for at least two years on condition that the business prevails. EB-5 established a class of immigrant visas for individuals who invest either $500,000 or 1 million depending on whether the investment is in a targeted employment area or not in a new commercial enterprise located within the U.S. that will create full time employment for not fewer than 10 qualified employees. * * * * * November 16, 2011 Here is the logic: Here is the payoff: Congress decided to pay California $66 million to cover this year's cost of keeping criminal aliens in jail . November 15, 2011 "No work, no reason to go north", is the headline on a big news item in the Los Angeles Times of today. They explain with graphs and statistics that the number of illegal aliens coming to the U.S. from south of the border (meaning Mexicans and Latinos), is going down in recent years. What is more, the number of Mexicans leaving the U.S. is going up. As a result, the number of illegal Mexicans living and working in the U.S. is actually decreasing. This is in the category of "good news/bad news". The good news is that the U.S. government would not need to spend the money that some Republicans want to spend for building an electric fence along the border. The bad news is that this decline in illegal aliens is proof of how bad the economy is. I believe that neither an electric fence nor a recession are the best ways to stop illegal immigration. A better way would be to make legal immigration a realistic possibility. November 14, 2011 Today I heard a radio report that a huge percentage of the food supply of the U.S. comes from other countries. This raises difficult questions about safety: first, the health risks of such foods, and second, the reliability of supply in times of international crisis. Today I also saw a press release of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) announcing a penalty of nearly 3 million dollars had been imposed on a dairy farm in Michigan for employing 78 illegal aliens. I wonder whether there is a connection between these two news items? Does one lead to the other? • November 14, 2011 The University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles has enrolled the largest number of international students in the U.S. – 8,615 for this year. 70% of them are in graduate programs, mostly in engineering, computer science and business. I wonder how many of them would be forced in 3 – 4 years to take their diplomas and their American know-how and leave the U.S. because our immigration law does not provide Green Cards for highly educated people in a reasonable time?. • November 16, 2011 Here is the logic: Here is the payoff: Congress decided to pay California $66 million to cover this year's cost of keeping criminal aliens in jail . If you want to better understand this kind of accounting, see the Los Angeles Times of November 16, 2011. • "No work, no reason to go north", is the headline on a big news item in the Los Angeles Times of today. This is in the category of "good news/bad news". The good news is that the U.S. government would not need to spend the money that some Republicans want to spend for building an electric fence along the border. The bad news is that this decline in illegal aliens is proof of how bad the economy is. I believe that neither an electric fence nor a recession are the best ways to stop illegal immigration. A better way would be to make legal immigration a realistic possibility. • Today I heard a radio report that a huge percentage of the food supply of the U.S. comes from other countries. This raises difficult questions about safety: first, the health risks of such foods, and second, the reliability of supply in times of international crisis. Today I also saw a press release of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) announcing a penalty of nearly 3 million dollars had been imposed on a dairy farm in Michigan for employing 78 illegal aliens. I wonder whether there is a connection between these two news items? Does one lead to the other? • The University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles has enrolled the largest number of international students in the U.S. – 8,615 for this year. 70% of them are in graduate programs, mostly in engineering, computer science and business. I wonder how many of them would be forced in 3 – 4 years to take their diplomas and their American know-how and leave the U.S. because our immigration law does not provide Green Cards for highly educated people in a reasonable time? • September 14, 2011 LOTTERY: Applications for the DIVERSITY PROGRAM (DV) for 2013, must be submitted Only way to submit applications is ELECTRONICALLY. Persons born in any of the following countries are not eligible: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam. • It is obvious that Congress is not going to make any changes in our immigration laws in the near future. It is also recognized that the Obama Administration cannot act against the written laws of Congress. However, the Administration has a "tool" permitting it to handle the cases of people in deportation, either in a more lenient or in a more strict way. This tool is known as "Prosecutorial Discretion". Last week, the Obama Administration announced that they are going to use Prosecutorial Discretion in a more lenient way. The declared purpose of the new policy is to reduce the backlogs in Immigration Court by: (a) closing the cases of persons who fit into low-priority categories; What are the "low priority categories"? This has not been finalized yet, but probably the following: • People who were brought to the U.S. at a young age and were raised and educated here; All this is still waiting for "guidelines" how to implement the new policy. It is expected that these new guidelines will instruct Immigration officials and ICE officers to look at the nature of the people who are in deportation or already under a deportation order and to decide, on the basis of the personal qualifications of those people, to "push" their deportations or to permit them to stay in the United States. This does not require a Congressional change in immigration law. It only requires a more liberal use of Prosecutorial Discretion. However, we are still waiting for guidelines, rules and memoranda instructing immigration officers and prosecutors how to use their Prosecutorial Discretion. Even if a friend, neighbor or coworker encourages you to act, do NOT try to contact immigration authorities and do not fall for a scam! Register with us and we will keep you updated on developments for future action. August 12, 2011 News of the Day. U.S. publicly-owned companies such as Intel, Selectron, Sanmina, SCI, Sun Michael Systems, E-bay, Yahoo and Google were founded by immigrants and employ approximately 220,000 people in the U.S. and more than 400,000 people worldwide. August 11, 2011 Alarm of the Day.
August 3, 2011 Mexicans are migrating to the U.S. because of the severe unemployment here. Fewer Mexicans are going home. Many of the immigrants to the U.S. are parents of U.S. citizens of Mexican origin who were born here. More than 55% of Mexican immigrants in the U.S. are here illegally. Over all, fewer are coming, fewer are leaving and the majority of the illegal population has been in the U.S. for a decade or more and is not leaving.
July 29, 2011 CALIFORNIA DREAM ACT OF 2011 AB 130, introduced by Assembly member Gil Cedillo and signed by Governor Jerry Brown on July 25, 2011, is the second step after AB 540. AB 540 permitted undocumented (illegal) aliens graduating from a California high school (after attending a California high school for 3 years), to enroll in California community colleges and California State Universities while paying in-state tuition (much less than out-of-state tuition). Now comes AB 130 which permits these institutions of higher learning (and also the University of California), to grant these students (if they deserve it) scholarships from "private" scholarship funds at the disposal of the colleges and universities. Since these kids would never be deported -- better that they be well educated. Better for them -- better for California.
July 21, 2011 These days it seems that some people want to blame immigrants for every problem under the sun: high taxes, crime, pollution, the national deficit, healthcare costs, even traffic. Now some folks are even trying to say that immigrants are solely to blame for unemployment and lower wages among minorities. WRONG! Immigration causes unemployment. • July 15, 2011 TRAVEL TIPS FOR FOREIGN STUDENTS AWAITING A CHANGE OF STATUS TO H-1B There can be significant risks in traveling abroad for many F-1 students after an H-1B petition has been filed on their behalf and they should carefully consider whether such travel is necessary. If they travel internationally, they should make sure to have all necessary documents and should be prepared for possible delays in their ability to reenter the United States. • July 5, 2011 ETHICS AND PROFESSIONALISM GUIDE FOR IMMIGRATION JUDGES Immigration Judges should be faithful to the law and maintain professional competence in it. They should strive to be knowledgeable about immigration law, be skillful in applying it to individual cases, and attempt to engage in preparation that is reasonably necessary to perform an Immigration Judge’s responsibilities. Immigration Judges must act impartially and may not give preferential treatment to any organization or individual when adjudicating the merits of a particular case. Immigration Judges must endeavor to avoid any actions that, in the judgment of a reasonable person with knowledge of the relevant facts, would create the appearance that he or she is violating the law or applicable ethical standards. Immigration Judges should not be swayed by partisan interests or public clamor. Immigration Judges should be patient, dignified, and courteous and should act in a professional manner towards all litigants, witnesses, lawyers and others with whom the IJ deals in his or her official capacity and should not, in the performance of official duties, by words or conduct, manifest improper bias or prejudice. Immigration Judges should be alert to avoid behavior, including inappropriate demeanor, which may be perceived as biased. Examples of manifestations of bias or prejudice include but are not limited to epithets, slurs, demeaning nicknames, negative stereotyping, attempted humor based upon stereotypes, threatening, intimidating, or hostile acts, suggestions of connections between race, ethnicity, or nationality and crime; and irrelevant reference to personal characteristics. Moreover, an IJ must avoid conduct that may reasonably be perceived as prejudiced or biased. • July 1, 2011 HOW ARE IMMIGRANTS INTEGRATED |
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