A First Look at the Biden/Harris Immigration Bill

A First Look at the Biden/Harris Immigration Bill Hours before he takes the oath of office, President-Elect Joe Biden released details of the immigration bill his administration will send to Congress.  The fact sheet distributed by his office reveals a bold bill that provides a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented people in the US, with priority for Dreamers, TPS holders and immigrant farmworkers.  The bill seeks to make more visas available and expand migration opportunities for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics graduates. 

Is USCIS really not processing green card applications?

Is USCIS really not processing green card applications? Outstanding reporting by Tanvi Misra in Roll Call last week uncovered memos that state that U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service has “stopped” processing applications for residence.  While we have not seen the memos at issue, we are going to try to piece together what it means.  In our opinion, it is not as nefarious as it seems, though it sure is bad. Let’s start with this basic premise: this administration is resolutely and completely anti-immigrant. 

DACA: Some Venting and Some Solutions

DACA: Some Venting and Some Solutions Of all the stupid, dirty, slimy, no-good, treasonous, villainous, putrid, double-crossing treachery, low life, vengeful, mean-spirited, spiteful, nasty, pin-headed, pathetic, weak, ugly, traitorous, short-sighted, weak-kneed, unbecoming, dumb, awful, smelly, vile, cruel, vicious, unjustifiable, illogical, unfriendly, basic, ungrateful, pig-nosed, trashy, small-minded, ham-handed, mercenary, ruinous, bad, fallacious, godawful, crummy, abominable, bad trip, lame, poor, slipshod, cruddy, wicked, corrupt, mean, discouraging, unpleasant, sulfurous, harsh, rotten, scandalous and just plain uncool things that Donald Trump has done, his elimination of DACA, after promising to treat the Dreamers with “great heart,” has to be the worst, the lowest, the meanest, the weakest and the dumbest thing his administration has done. 

End of DACA- What are the new rules?

End of DACA- What are the new rules?   This is the first of several articles detailing the changes to the DACA program announced on Tuesday September 5, 2017.  This is meant to give quick and dirty information, whereas the next one we will: (1) get our emotions out; (2) plan our resistance; and (3) offer ideas how DACA holders can protect themselves. Sandwiched between the natural disasters of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, the Trump administration unleashed its own man made disaster by eliminating Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”) on September 5, 2017. 

April 2017 Clients of the Month- Angela and Omar Totti Ramirez

April 2017 Clients of the Month- Angela and Omar Totti Ramirez Angela and Omar Totti Ramirez are our clients of the month for April 2017.  Omar, a Bolivian citizen, recently received his residence based upon his marriage to Angela, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Bolivia. We thought we had seen it all before we handled this case.  It started off as a simple marriage-based application for residence, the type we have done thousands of times.  Angela had been married before. 

Benach Collopy Asylum Summer Fellowship 2017

Benach Collopy Asylum Summer Fellowship 2017 The Benach Collopy Asylum Summer Fellowship 2017 I have been so lucky to get to know so many brave, hard-working, family-oriented, and generous people from all over the globe.  They all shared one thing in common: a willingness to take a chance to come to the U.S. to be the person they knew they were meant to be. -Ava Benach Description of Fellowship Surging violence against transgender and gender nonconforming communities worldwide continue to force a record number of individuals to seek protection at U.S.

Clients of the Month December 2016: Andres and Jazmine St. Claire

Clients of the Month December 2016: Andres and Jazmine St. Claire Our December 2016 Client of the Month is another member of the “Dreamers out of Trump’s reach” club. Andres St. Claire and Jazmine St. Claire are clients of the month after Andres was granted residence seven years after marrying Jazmine Andres St. Claire is a Dreamer who got protection under DACA. But before that, he was in love with Jazmine St. Claire, with whom he shared an immigrant experience and a love of video games and dogs.

Client of the Month: January 2017 Danieca Bugarin

Client of the Month: January 2017 Danieca Bugarin Our January 2017 Client of the Month is part of our ongoing series of: “Dreamers that Trump can’t touch!”  Danieca Bugarin landed in San Francisco, CA on December 30, 2016, presented her immigrant visa, and was admitted to the U.S. as a permanent resident.  Her admission to the U.S. as a permanent resident looked so improbable for the past two years because Danieca was snake-bit when it came to immigration. 

Client of the Month November 2016- Mariana Laredo

Client of the Month November 2016- Mariana Laredo We are happy to announce Mariana Laredo as our Client of the Month for November 2016.  In a week full of dread over the results of the Presidential election, Mariana provided a ray of sunshine.  Yesterday, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service formally acknowledged that Mariana was a citizen at birth when she was born in Mexico in 2002 to her Mexican mother, Rosalba and her American father, Gilberto Soto. 

Client of the Month- September 2016 Flor Estrada

Client of the Month- September 2016 Flor Estrada Our client of the month for September 2016 is Flora Estrada Amador, a hard-working, kind-hearted woman from Honduras who waited over 20 years to become a permanent resident (“green card” holder) of the United States.  Flora first came to the United States in the mid-90s as an A-3 personal employee of a diplomat.  She then received Temporary Protected Status (“TPS”) for Hondurans in 1999 and left her position with the diplomatic family.