Immigration News
DHS Changes Enforcement EmphasisThursday, April 30, 2009
On April 30, the Department of Homeland Security announcement changing worksite immigration enforcement.
The new DHS guidelines focus on criminal prosecutions of employers who knowingly hire unauthorized workers. In 2008, large-scale raids resulted in more than 6,000 arrests, only 135 of whom were employers. In recent years DHS launched raids based on tips that an employer was hiring unauthorized workers rather than being the result of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigations of employers, making it difficult to secure adequate evidence to result in prosecution. The new guidelines emphasize investigating and criminally prosecuting abusive employers thus honing in on one of the root causes of undocumented immigration.
Key Unions Support Immigration Reform
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
John Sweeney, president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. and Joe T. Hansen, leader of Change to Win, have agreed today to support an overhaul of the immigration system. The development gives President Obama significant support among unions as he pushes immigration reform.
The two groups endorsed legalizing the status of undocumented immigrants already in the United States and oppose large new programs for employers to bring in temporary workers.
Administration Pledges to Fix Immigration
Thursday, April 09, 2009
The New York Times reported on April 9 that the Obama administration has reiterated its intention to tackle comprehensive immigration reform this year. Recent statements from Speaker Nany Pelosi and Senator Harry Reid have also signaled their support. Some observers had assumed that the promise President Obama made during his campaign to reform the dysfunctional U.S. immigration system during his first year in office would be sidelined by the current recession.
H-1B Filings Tank
Thursday, April 09, 2009
WASHINGTON, DC – On April 7 USCIS advised that, during the initial filing window for H-1Bs, it has not received even half the number of petitions to reach the 65,000 cap. “This indicates that H-1B filings really do reflect the realities of the marketplace,” said Charles H. Kuck, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA).
H-1B petitions are filed by U.S. employers seeking to hire a specific foreign national in a specialty occupation involving the theoretical and practical application of a body of specialized knowledge (such as the sciences, medicine and health care, education, biotechnology). The numerical limitation on H-1B petitions for fiscal year 2010 is 65,000. Additionally, the first 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of aliens who have earned a U.S. master’s degree or higher are exempt from the fiscal year cap.
USCIS has indicated that, while it has received nowhere near the number of filings that would fill the overall H-1B cap; it has received close to the number needed to fill the 20,000 exemption for those who have earned a U.S. master’s degree or higher.
Jack Pinnix notes that since H-1Bs fuel the U.S. economy, the decline is a significant negative economic indicator.
Angelina Jolie Calls on Thailand To End Warehousing
Friday, February 27, 2009
On a recent visit to Ban Mai Nai Soi camp, Jolie asked Thai authorities to allow the approximate 110,000 refugees in nine camps in Thailand to have greater freedom of movement and to be able to leave their camps. Many of them have been warehoused in this camp for 5, 10, 20 years or longer. While refugee camps were intended to be temporary weigh stations on the way to true refugee settlement, the international community has let them become permanent camps where refugees live in squalid conditions with no chance to move their families into real homes, earn a living or provide a proper education for their children. USCRI launched an international Campaign to End Warehousing in 2004 to bring attention to refugee warehousing and end the inhumane practice. The Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu and several Nobel laureates have joined nearly 500 organizations from 80 countries in supporting the campaign.
Court Dismisses Katrina Guest Worker Worker Suit
Friday, February 13, 2009
The ASSOCIATED PRESS reports that a court has ruled that employers are not obligated to cover the moving costs and other expenses incurred by many immigrant workers.
In a case against a New Orleans hotelier that hired dozens of foreign workers after Hurricane Katrina, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit the dismissed the suit that accused Decatur Hotels of exploiting foreign employees recruited in August 2005.
Rhode Island: Suit Over Detainee Death
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
new_york_times:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/us/10brfs-SUITOVERDETA_BRF.html
The New York Times reports that the widow and children of a Chinese man who died of cancer in immigration custody last summer filed suit in federal court in Providence, Rhode Island charging that detention center guards broke his spine days before his death, then taunted him as he screamed in agony. Defendants, include Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Central Falls Detention Facility Corporation, owner of the jail where the man spent his last month, and where federal investigators found he was denied adequate medical care.
Government Contract Employers Ordered to Use E-Verify
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
On June 6 an Executive Order was issued providing that all federal agencies and departments that enter into contracts with contract employers use the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) electronic employment eligibility verification (E-Verify) system to verify the employment eligibility "of all persons hired during the contract term by the contractor to perform employment duties within the United States" and "all persons assigned by the contractor to perform work within the United States on the Federal contract." The Executive Order permits DHS and Attorney General to consult with appropriate department and agency heads to issue rules and procedures to implement the order. A final implmentation date has not been announced.