New Supreme Court Case - good news

In a unanimous opinion, the Court held that the BIA’s comparable grounds rule, as applied to applications for §212(c) relief in deportation proceedings, is arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act. (Judulang v. Holder, 12/12/11). While the decision is a very good one, and corrects a BIA interpretation that made no sense,  the case will effect a dwindling number of LPR's with pre-1996 convictions. 

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.