Newt and Immigration, Part II

Well, I feel like I have to take back most of my praise for Newt Gingrich and his statements last week supporting what appeared to be some form of amnesty for 11 million undocumented workers in the U.S.  At last Tuesday's debate, he seemed to offer humane and reasoned comments on the impracticality of deporting millions of people form the United States who have strong family ties.  He appears to be backtracking from those comments and now suggests local citizen panels to review each person's request to remain in the U.S.  It smacks of some sort of Stalinist loyalty review board.  You can read about it here:  Article from Atlanta Constitution 

Newt and Immigration

I have never been much of a Newt Gingrich fan.  His politics and mine are about 180 degrees apart, and he has always struck me as a bloviator.  I have to give him credit for his statements regarding U.S. Immigration policy during last nights debate.  His comments were thoughtful, humane, practical and reasonable and were not motivated my the political winds.   And of course he is right:  we cannot deport 11 million people, nor should we, especially if they have been here for long periods of time.  Bravo.  Here is a link from the Guardian: article

ICE Arrests in Boston

According to Fox News, ICE arrested 53 criminal noncitizens yesterday in the Greater Boston area.  Here is the link:  ICE Arrests 53  There was also a piece on WBUR this morning. 

The Obama Administration continues to do exactly as it has promised, which is to arrest and deport noncitizens with criminal records.  We will see if this policy is balanced by actual implementation of prosecutorial discretion.   

Will prosecutorial discretion become a reality?

DHS appears to be moving closer to actually implementing the June 2011 Morton Memo.  On Thursday, ICE published criteria for ICE attorneys to follow when reviewing cases pending before the Immigration Courts or the BIA.  The criteria repeat those same criteria described in the Morton Memo.  We have not yet seen much discretion exercised by ICE in the Boston Immigration Court.  Hope springs eternal.  

New York Times Article on Implementation of Morton Memo

Today's New York Times contains an article on plans by DHS to actually implement the Morton Memorandum from June.  DHS would focus on deporting non-citizens with criminal records and would elect not to proceed against non-citizens with no criminal history, longstanding ties, etc.  This would be a welcome change.  To date, we have seen little or no exercise of the type of discretion contemplated by the memo.  The article is here.

H-1B visas for FY-2012 Inching Closer to Cap

As of November 14, 2011, 56,300 out of 65,000 cap subject visas for FY-2012 have been used.

New York Times Article on Prosecutorial Discretion

There was an excellent article in yesterday's New York Times on the Obama Administration's implementation of the "prosecutorial discretion" policy and the Morton Memo.  The article can be found here.

Reminder: Registration for Haitian TPS expires on November 15, 2011

USCIS has released the following:

USCIS Reminds Eligible Nationals of Haiti to File for Temporary Protected Status

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reminds eligible nationals of Haiti (and persons without nationality who last habitually resided in Haiti) to file for Temporary Protected Status (TPS). TPS was originally designated for Haiti in January 2010 in response to a catastrophic earthquake that devastated the country.
 If you are filing for TPS for the first time, you may apply through Nov. 15, 2011
 If you have TPS now but did not file your re-registration application before the Aug. 22, 2011, re-registration deadline, you may still be eligible to file late. Please visit the late re-registration for TPS guidance on the TPS Web page to determine if you may still apply.

William Graves named Super Lawyer in the 2011 New England survey

In the for what it's worth department:  I was named a Super Lawyer in the Immigration practice area in New England for 2011.  Link

H-1B visas for FY-2012 Nearing Cap

According to USCIS, as of November 2, 2012,  The H-1B numbers are as follows:

FY 2012 H-1B Cap Count:
H-1B Regular Cap 65,000 50,800 11/2/2011
H-1B Master’s Exemption 20,000 20,000 11/2/2011

Masters exemptions are closed and there are about 14,000 regular H-1B's left.

Registration for New Haitian TPS Cases expires on November 15, 2011

The re-designation of Haiti allows additional Haitians who have continuously resided in the United States since Jan. 12, 2011 to obtain TPS, provided they meet all other Haiti TPS eligibility criteria. If you do not currently have TPS, you may apply before Nov. 15, 2011.