Alabama Governor Signs Tough New Immigration Law

On June 9, 2011, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley signed into law a tough illigal immigration bill, requiring police to check the status of anyone they suspect may be in the country illigally when stopped for another reason. The bill is due to take effect on Sepetember 1, 2011.

For more, see http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/06/09/alabama.immigration/index.html

Immigrant Workforce Growing

Here is an interesting article from the Wasghington Post about the growing immigrant workforce. Enjoy.


Link to article

Immigration Court's Case Backlog Reaches Record High

According to Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a non-partisan research organization that operates out of Syracuse University, the number of cases pending before Immigration courts reached a record high at the end of 2010.  At the end of December, the number of cases awaiting resolution in Immigration courts was roughly 268,000.  The backlog has increased by 44 percent since 2008 with cases pending 467 days on average.

Read the report here.
Read the article here.

ARBITRARY SEARCHES & SEIZURES IN THE "CONSTITUTION-FREE ZONE:" Far From Border, U.S. Detains Foreign Students

Excerpt from The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 9, 2011 edition:

By Colin Woodard

Old Town, Me.

Six miles north of the University of Maine's flagship campus, on the only real highway in these parts, students and professors traveling south might encounter a surprise: a roadblock manned by armed Border Patrol agents, backed by drug-sniffing dogs, state policemen, and county sheriff's deputies.

Although the Canadian border is nearly 100 miles behind them—and Bangor, Maine's second-largest city, just 15 miles ahead—motorists are queried about their citizenship and immigration status. Those who raise an agent's suspicions are sent to an adjacent weigh station for further questioning and, sometimes, searches. Any foreign students or scholars unable to produce all of their original documentation are detained and could be arrested.

Thus far, nobody from the University of Maine has actually been arrested at this ephemeral checkpoint, which usually appears near the start of the academic year, when migrant laborers happen to be leaving eastern Maine's blueberry fields. One student had to wait at the roadblock until university authorities had satisfied agents that the individual was in the country legally, university officials say.

But elsewhere on the northern border, foreign students and scholars experience fear and uncertainty every time they leave campus, pick up a friend at the bus station, or board a domestic train or flight, even when they have all their documents with them.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has greatly increased its manpower along the northern border, allowing for more-frequent use of roving patrols or surprise checkpoints on buses, trains, and highways far from the border itself. Students who failed to carry their original documents have been delayed and fined, apprehended even when they're just a few miles from campus.

"We used to tell students: When you get here, put your passport and I-90 form away so you don't lose it, because you don't need anything special when you travel around the country," says Thy Yang, director of international programs at Michigan Technological University, located a few miles from the shores of Lake Superior. "Now we tell them to carry it at all times.
. . .

'Temporary Permanent'

Customs and Border Protection officials did not make themselves available for an interview, despite repeated requests. A written statement ignored questions on the topic, instead providing general commentary on the purpose of internal checkpoints. "CBP Border Patrol agents conduct these types of operations periodically in key locations that serve as conduits for human and narcotics smuggling," the statement said. "These operations serve as a vital component to our overall border security efforts and help sustain security efforts implemented in recent years."

Customs and Border Protection also maintains that it can set up roadblocks—it prefers the term "temporary permanent checkpoints" for legal reasons—and question people on trains and buses or at transportation stations anywhere within 100 air miles of a U.S. border or seacoast. This broadly defined border zone encompasses most of the nation's major cities and the entirety of several states, including Florida, Michigan, Hawaii, Delaware, New Jersey, and five of the six New England states. The American Civil Liberties Union—concerned about the erosion of Fourth Amendment protections against arbitrary searches and seizures—has called it the "Constitution-Free Zone."

READ MORE AT:

http://chronicle.com/article/Far-From-Canada-Aggressive/125880/

Private Legislation

Every year, large numbers of noncitizens with compelling circumstances are removed from the United States because their cases do not fall squarely within the ambit of existing immigration laws.  One potential avenue for addressing the shortcomings of current immigration laws on a case-by-case basis, without comprehensive immigration reform, is through the private legislation process.  Private legislation can be used to provide a much-needed remedy which is lacking under existing law in a particular case.

Successful use of private immigration legislation is rare.  Recently, however, Virginia's own Senator Jim Webb sponsored a private bill for the Japanese widow and son of an American Marine killed in Iraq.  Immigration refused to recongize the marriage despite the fact that it had been recognized by the military.   The first successful private immigration bill since 2006, the bill passed the House on Wednesday and now awaits the President's signature.

Read more about the Private Bill here.

Colbert Brings 'Truthiness' to Immigration Debate

Famous faux news anchor Stephen Colbert made real news Friday when he provided 'expert' testimony before the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugee, Border Security and International Law.  

Drawing attention to the plight of migrant workers appeared to be the goal of the appearance by the Emmy-winning host of Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report.  Colbert expressed “hope that my star power can bump this hearing all the way up to C-SPAN I.” And perhaps it worked.  The panel’s chair, California Democrat Zoe Lofgren, who invited Colbert to appear, noted that the chamber had not been so packed since the Clinton impeachment proceedings.

For much of his appearance, Colbert testified in character.  At one point he commented that “the obvious answer” to farm labor shortages is “for all of us to stop eating fruits and vegetables. And, if you look at the recent obesity statistics, you’ll see that many Americans have already started.”

In a few serious moments, Colbert stepped out of character, commenting that “[i]t just seems like one of the least powerful people in the United States are migrant workers who come and do our work but don’t have any rights as a result,” he said.  Colbert spent a day picking beans and packing corn in upstate New York. Testifying about his experience, which was documented on his show Thursday, Colbert expressed his belief that many Americans would be unwilling to do work of that nature.

The high profile testimony from Colbert came as part of the subcommittee's effort to examine the guest worker program, which allows people into the country temporarily to do farm work.  Many growers say they must hire the immigrants because they have a hard time hiring U.S. workers.  Opponents of the guest worker program argue that hiring immigrants depresses wages and leads to poor working conditions, making the jobs unattractive to U.S. residents. 

Watch Colbert's testimony here.

Introducing Vandeventer Black's Immigration Law Blog

Welcome to Vandeventer Black’s Immigration Law Blog!  The Blog is yet another way that the Immigration Law Group communicates with clients, both past and present, as well as those interested in our services or immigration matters in general. 

Who we are: 

The Immigration Law Group provides a full range of immigration services for businesses and individuals from visa applications to green cards to deportation defense.
We represent businesses currently located, or seeking to locate, in the U.S. with strategies to help expedite and facilitate the transfer of managers, executives and other personnel to their U.S. operations. The Immigration Law Group also provides wide-ranging assistance for the families of foreign national workers and with other types of family-based cases.

Our established, full-service practice provides complete preparation of the full range of immigrant and nonimmigrant petitions and visa applications. We also handle all aspects of permanent resident applications (green cards), including PERM labor certifications, intracompany transferees, extraordinary ability petitions, outstanding professors and researchers, national interest waivers, religious workers, health care professionals, and family-based petitions. We skillfully prepare nonimmigrant petitions for H professionals, L intracompany transferees, E treaty traders and investors, B-1 business visitors, O and P outstanding and performing individuals, R religious workers and TN Canadians.

Vandeventer Black assists employers with compliance under the employer sanction provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act, including counsel on the implementation of I-9 processes and procedures and avoiding civil and criminal fines and penalties under the Act.

We also assist aliens in defending against deportation notices, recognizing that tough immigration removal rules and criminal charges can subject visitors to deportation all too frequently. We defend cases in immigration court, and have experience in asylum, waivers, adjustment of status, immigrant visas, and criminal consequences. In removal cases, members of our Immigration Law team have secured sentence reductions in state criminal court and sentence commutations from the governor to eliminate immigration consequences resulting from criminal convictions. Our long history of handling immigration matters and working with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Department of Labor enables Vandeventer Black to provide effective and efficient service to our clients.