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The Immigration Year in Review: The 2014 IMMI Awards

12/30/2014

1 Comment

 
by Angelo Paparelli, Past ABIL President
Nation of Immigrators


[Blogger's Note:  Today we have a dandy guest post from the ever insightful, prolific and droll, Nici Kersey.  Don't be put off by her introductory paragraphs.  There's an immigration gem awaiting -- one that employers, and the lawyers who counsel them, will not want to miss.]
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With slightly less giddy anticipation than the annual fan frenzy evoked by the Academy Awards and the Emmys, the nation awaits another hotly competitive yearly awards ceremony.  Yes, Nation of Immigrators, it’s time to announce the 2014 winners and losers in dysfunctional immigration law and policy who’ve earned the coveted (or disdained) IMMI Award. Some recipients are repeats from hitherto IMMI awards of 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013; others will take home an IMMI for the first time.  The rules are the same. The IMMIs are merely this outside-the-Beltway observer’s take on the year’s highs and lows in U.S. immigration, with help from some Cool Immigration Lawyers. Evolver in Chief.   Fighting off a strong challenge by Sean Hannity who demonstrated astonishing elasticity in opposing, then supporting, then again opposing lawful status for the undocumented and a path to citizenship, President Obama earned this IMMI for his yoga-like pliancy. As itemized in the screed of a complaint filed by multiple states, the President opined at least ten times before his grant  to DREAMers in 2012 of deferred action, and work and travel permits, and nine times thereafter, that he lacked unilateral authority to address America’s dysfunctional immigration policies, that is, until he announced a series of Executive Actions (not Executive Orders) in the year’s penultimate month.

Mojo Master. Barack Obama takes home this IMMI as well for bringing roughly 5 million people out of the shadows and setting an immigration trap — apparent to all — into which fractious and blustering Republicans consciously stepped.  By taking executive actions on immigration (as have numerous past Commanders in Chief ), the President caused Republicans to flail about searching for a way to stop the his executive actions, including impeachment, censure, withholding an invitation to give the State of the Union speech in the House chamber, prohibiting the expenditure of funds, threatening a government shutdown, and ultimately short-funding until February the budget for the Department of Homeland Security. None of these ploys have worked.  The upshot is that the President’s popularity has seen a resurgence among Latinos.

Most Flawed Legal Advice.  This IMMI is awarded to that former constitutional law professor now sitting in the Oval Office who must have read and taught the seminal case of Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Chadha (declaring unconstitutional as an impermissible legislative veto an immigration statute that allowed Congress to overturn a grant of an immigration benefit by the Executive Branch).  At a December 9 public forum in Nashville, President Obama said (at 21:18 on the video):

Make sure that they understand they don’t have to hire a lawyer . . . in order to pay for this [requests for deferred action].  Because what we saw during DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] when the young people were given this opportunity, a lot of people signed up but sometimes you’d see advertisements you know, “Come and give us $1,000 or $2,000 and we’ll help you.”  You don’t have to do that.
The President also may not have read but surely officials in the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice are aware of Padilla v. Kentucky, where Justice John Paul Stevens, writing the majority opinion, stated: ”Immigration law can be complex, and it is a legal specialty of its own.”  While not all applicants seeking temporary reprieve under DACA or DAPA [Deferred Action for Parental Accountability] need a lawyer if their case is straightforward and they are assisted by an Accredited Representative approved by the Board of Immigration Appeals (certainly never a notario), numerous cases will require the advice of a competent immigration lawyer.  I have a ready answer when prospective clients ask me, “Why do I need a lawyer to fill out immigration forms?  I tell them that “I guess I could perform surgery on myself, but it is not advisable.”  Another lawyer I know, when faced with the same question, says he’s done the following:
I used to pick up a copy of the [Immigration and Nationality Act] and pick out section 203(a) and hold out the pages “these are the ways to get green cards.” I then indicate section 212(a) and hold out the pages — “These are the ways you will not be allowed to obtain a green card.” And then, do the same with what is now [section] 237(a). “And these are the ways that once you have a green card, it can be taken away. . . .” “Any questions?”
To be sure, DACA and DAPA are not as complex as the myriad ways to assemble the right evidence to qualify for, obtain, maintain or lose permanent resident status.  Still, the process is sufficiently complex and the consequence of failing to qualify significant (the individual is now on the government’s radar and is subject to removal).  Thus, even for those seeking deferred action, the need for a lawyer (or merely the desire to hire a lawyer to facilitate the assembly of potential evidence of physical presence in the U.S.), is obvious.  Hence, the President’s advice is simply incomplete and therefore wrong.  Thus, for failing to make appropriate distinctions and caution that some cases may require legal counsel, President Obama deserves the opprobrium of this IMMI.

Profile in Poltroonery.  In 2014, the winner of this IMMI offered an enlightened solution to illegal immigration:

Our national and economic security depend on requiring people who are living and working here illegally to come forward and get right with the law. There will be no special path to citizenship for individuals who broke our nation’s immigration laws – that would be unfair to those immigrants who have played by the rules and harmful to promoting the rule of law. Rather, these persons could live legally and without fear in the U.S., but only if they were willing to admit their culpability, pass rigorous background checks, pay significant fines and back taxes, develop proficiency in English and American civics, and be able to support themselves and their families (without access to public benefits).
The “get right with the law“ reference may have fooled you.  This IMMI goes not to President Obama but to House Speaker John Boehner who included the foregoing in a set of “Republican Standards for Immigration Reform.”  Prioritizing retention of his post over the welfare of the country, the Speaker emphatically refused to bring the Senate’s comprehensive immigration reform bill, S. 744, to a vote in the House, knowing full well that it would pass with bipartisan support, while failing to fulfill his promise that the House would pass a series of immigration bills.

Profile in Machiavellian Buffoonery.  Rep. Steve King takes the IMMI for doubling down this year on his absurd, fact-free statement in 2013 about DREAMers that “[for] everyone who’s a valedictorian, there’s another 100 out there that weigh 130 pounds and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert.” While Rep. Jared Polis teased King about a recent trip to the U.S.-Mexico border where no unusual calves were on display, King’s over-the-top rhetoric is carefully calculated and a clear and present danger to the cause of immigration reform.  Sadly, he is only one of many propagating myths about immigrants and immigration.

Lemmings over the Cliff.  This IMMI goes to the sitting and defeated Senators who for naught urged the President to delay executive action on immigration until after the November election.  To the surprise of few in the advocacy community, this “too clever by half” strategy nonetheless led to a GOP rout.

All about Love.  Jeb Bush, the first 2016 candidate for the presidency, earned an IMMI for his recognition of the prime reason why the undocumented take the risk of dying in the desert. With Fox News in attendance, Mr. Bush commemorated the 25th anniversary of his dad’s presidency, offering these honest words:
The way I look at this is someone who comes to our country because they couldn’t come legally, they come to our country because their families — the dad who loved their children — was worried that their children didn’t have food on the table. And they wanted to make sure their family was intact, and they crossed the border because they had no other means to work to be able to provide for their family. Yes, they broke the law, but it’s not a felony. It’s an act of love. It’s an act of commitment to your family. I honestly think that that is a different kind of crime that there should be a price paid, but it shouldn’t rile people up that people are actually coming to this country to provide for their families.
Bordering on the Absurd and Heartless. U.S. Customs and Border Protection takes this double-faceted IMMI for its two-faced demeanor in 2014.  One face promotes Jolly St. Nick who learns that only Global Entry will allow this North Pole alien to speed through immigration inspection.  The other face reveals how CBP shakes down and abuses immigrants by relieving them of their meager possessions before removing them, while also subjecting them to coldly harsh conditions before their ouster.

Talk is Cheap. 2014 saw USCIS make ever greater strides in public engagement and in the EB-5 immigrant investor arena, while its earnest new Director has sounded all the right themes.  Still, the agency wins this IMMI for its long and prolonged list of unfinished business on business immigration.  The reasons for this IMMI are numerous: Ungovernable adjudicators still issue too many requests for additional evidence, highfalutin promises of expanded use of the National Interest Waiver for entrepreneurs never materialize, oft-stated assurances to publish a final rule on employment authorization for H-4 spouses and updated L-1B guidance remain unfulfilled, the agency’s de facto reliance in determining degree equivalency solely on the EDGE database despite a contrary claim to a Member of Congress, and the buggy and insufficiently tested ELIS program which can’t handle simple applications to change status and surely is unready for complex EB-5 filings.

No Bonding of Kids and Moms.  It’s no surprise that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is rated by the Partnership for Public Service in its 2014 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government® rankings as the second-worst place to work out of 315 sub-agencies.  Ever the enforcers, ICE officers through their union have  chafed over the Administration’s prosecutorial discretion and deferred action policies. Perhaps part of their angst originates with their duty to arrest and detain immigrant children and mothers apprehended at the border.  The IMMI goes to ICE for its “no-bond” policy requiring the incarceration of refugee families fleeing unrest in their countries of origin, with special mention going to ICE officials Philip Miller and Traci Lembke for their affidavits that have been included as ICE’s centerpiece exhibits in opposing bond and release for ALL moms and children in family detention.

We Read Nothing.  This IMMI goes to the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs — an agency that places unreasonable mandates on consular officers to adjudicate far too many visa applications in too short a time frame.  The upshot is that consulates, such as the busiest blanket L-1 post in Chennai, will no longer read substantive correspondence from companies seeking to hire tech workers and instead requires all the facts to come solely from the mouth of the visa applicant during the brief consular interview.

Best Manual on Surviving Secondary Inspection.  The IMMI goes to the Central Intelligence Agency for its interesting and thorough “Surviving Secondary Screening at Airports While Maintaining Cover.”    In words that might apply to ordinary people applying for admission at a U.S. port of entry, the CIA notes: “Secondary screening—a potentially lengthy and detailed look by airport officials at passengers not passing initial scrutiny—can significantly stress the identities of operational travelers.” The cover wins an IMMI for best government cover page as well. Check it out at p. 2.

(Mostly) Courtly Behavior.  This IMMI goes to the Supreme Court (for its refusal to hear Arizona Governor Jan Brewer’s claims, and thus allowing the issuance of driver’s licenses to the state’s undocumented population), to Judge Juan Osuna, Director of EOIR, the Executive Office for Immigration Review (for urging immigration judges to deal compassionately with the flood of undocumented refugee families), and to Federal District Court Judge Beryl A. Howell for refusing to issue a preliminary injunction and finding that Sheriff Joe Arpaio lacks standing to complain of President Obama’s exercise of executive authority in the field of immigration.  Sadly, however, the IMMI is tarnished by another federal judge, Arthur J. Schwab, who went out of his way in a criminal case to rule as unconstitutional the civil immigration remedies announced by the President, while inexplicably suggesting that a criminal defendant who pled guilty to illegal reentry after removal may withdraw his plea and pursue the Administration’s executive actions. The IMMI is also tainted by the non-transparency of EOIR in refusing a Freedom of Information Act request by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) seeking to identify immigration judges against whom 767 complaints have been lodged and declining to reveal the resolution of these complaints.

A Credit to the Profession. Multiple IMMIs go to the 330+ lawyers and three bar groups for their selfless pro bono efforts in 2014.  Many helped the flood of unaccompanied children (including some citizens) fleeing oppression and crossing into the U.S. from Mexico.  These awardees include Stephen Manning, Laura Lichter, volunteer attorneys who represented kids at the Artesia, New Mexico detention center; AILA and the American Bar Association for resolutely supporting the cause; the Bronx Defenders and their New York Immigrant Family Unity Project, the first institutionally-provided, free public defender program in the country for immigrants facing deportation; attorneys such as immigration author and editor Dan Kowalski (who alerted the American people to ICE’s no-bond policy), my Seyfarth Shaw colleague, Loren Locke who won the GAIN (Georgia Asylum and Immigration Network) pro bono volunteer attorney of the year award, and Michelle Mendez, Senior Managing Attorney at Immigrant Legal Service of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington (who worked on cutting-edge issues and cases, warned the community and country of notario fraud and helped promote a change in state law that expanded the class of Special Immigrant Juveniles); as well as so many other worthy lawyers too numerous to mention.

In-Their-Face Activists. Again, a slew of IMMIs go out to individuals and groups who pushed the boundaries of traditional movement politics and refused to allow the President and members of Congress to ignore the need for compassionate immigration relief, including Jose Antonio Vargas, Erika Andiola, Prerna Lal, the National Day Laborer Organizer Network (and their #NotOneMoreDeportation campaign), to name but a few.

Chroniclers, Filmmakers, Quantifiers, Litigators and Proponents. Still more IMMIs go to those who made a difference in asserting the case for comprehensive immigration reform.  They include: J.M. Rieger for his powerful video,  ”Stalemate: How an Immigration Rewrite Died in the 113th Congress“;  the Weather Channel for its searing documentary, “The Real Death Valley“; Jose Antonio Vargas for his autobiographical documentary, “Documented“; the Pew Charitable Trusts, NAFSA: Association of International Educators and TRAC Immigration for their compelling sets of immigration metrics, including, e.g.,  respectively, “Immigrants slow population decline in many counties,” “The International Student Economic Value Tool,” and ”Prosecutor Discretion: Immigration Court Cases Closed Based on Prosecutorial Discretion“; the American Immigration Council’s Immigration Policy Center and its powerful blog, “Immigration Impact” and AIC’s Legal Action Center for its frequent resort to the courts, most recently in defense of the President’s executive actions; Cato Institute’s Alex Nowrasteh for his prolific and persuasive writings espousing increased legal immigration; venture capitalist Paul Graham for his exuberant call for dramatically greater importation of tech workers; and the American people who consistently support comprehensive immigration reform and a path to citizenship for the undocumented.

Best Immigration Quiz.  Two lawyers are awarded IMMIs for great brainteasers, Donna Becker for her U.S. Nonimmigrant Quiz, and Liam Schwartz for his Consular Corner Quiz.  I venture that few of the Nation of Immigrators will score 100% on each.

 Jokesters and Satirists.  Lastly, a trio of cable denizens win IMMI’s because they brought us laughter’s tears over the sorry state of immigration in 2014:  Stephen Colbert (“Bats**t Serious – Child Immigrant Intrigue,” ”Waiting Forever for Immigration Reform,” ”Obama’s Immigration Plan – Esteban Colberto,” and “Questionable Compassion for Child Immigrants“), Jon Stewart (“No Country for Little Kids“ and “Guardian of the Amnesty“) and John Oliver (“John Oliver Takes on Our Broken Immigration System“).
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Well, that’s it for this year’s IMMIs.  The Nation of Immigrators must wait till December 2015 for the next annual IMMI Awards.  Meantime, Tweet me your nominees as you witness them.
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Gambling on Immigration at a Dangerous Intersection (Merry Christmas, Ninja Squirrel!)

12/21/2014

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by Angelo Paparelli, Past ABIL President
Nation of Immigrators
[Blogger's Note:  Today we have a dandy guest post from the ever insightful, prolific and droll, Nici Kersey.  Don't be put off by her introductory paragraphs.  There's an immigration gem awaiting -- one that employers, and the lawyers who counsel them, will not want to miss.]
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_Gambling on Immigration at a Dangerous Intersection (Merry Christmas, Ninja Squirrel!)
By Nicole (Nici) Kersey

I run several days a week on the Air Force base where I’ve lived for the past 18 months.  I prefer to run on River Road, which has a river on one side and a golf course on the other and which leads from my house to a prison.  (Apparently, prisons and military bases are frequently co-located, perhaps in part because of the need for cheap labor to take care of golf courses, which are also frequently located on Air Force bases.)  Here are some things I have learned on these runs:

  1. People will try to hit you with golf balls.  They will find this funny.  They are probably drunk and are unlikely to hit you, but it will be unnerving, and you will learn to avoid the golf course area during the drunkest hours.
  2. Signs warning you about alligators will, at first, cause you to run your fastest miles in years.  Over time, you will begin to slow, hoping to actually see some evidence that alligators once inhabited the earth.  You will see a snake one day, and that is as exciting as your wildlife encounters will be.
  3. Until the day you see a meerkat, which you will chase and photograph.  But then you will figure out that it was just an Eastern Fox squirrel, which is basically a larger-than-normal squirrel wearing a ninja mask.
  4. The inmates will, at first, have an effect similar to the alligator signs, causing you to run faster and carry mace.  Over time, you will realize that they have little interest in you, and they are prohibited from even speaking to you.  You will eventually just wave hello to the prisoners and start to concoct wild plans for how you can help them escape from jail.
  5. Two things that you will never get used to:  running behind an active firing range.  (This will always make you run very, very fast.)  Ditto:  running under a C-130 that is landing.  You will manage to be within 20 yards of the end of the runway at least twice, and both times, you will nearly soil yourself.
  6. Every now and then, your normal running trail will be closed due to “explosive dog training.”  Causing you to wonder how, exactly, one trains a dog to explode and, if you succeed, why you even bothered with the training.

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Okay, okay.  I’m supposed to write about immigration, right?  Here goes: when I run 4 or
more miles, I come to an intersection that used to cause anxiety:  turn left, you enter the federal prison; turn right, and signs warn you of alligators; turn around, and you have to run back through the golf course where the drunk people tried to hit you with balls. Employers who are trying to decide whether to conduct a voluntary I-9 audit today face a similar intersection.  Turn left, they risk entering the federal prison in a way more “official” way; turn right, and they may lose valuable employees who are eligible for work authorization which simply hasn’t been granted yet.  (In this metaphor, the employees are getting gobbled up by the alligators.  Get it?)

Previously, employers deciding whether to undergo an audit needed to consider several factors.  Among them:  the cost of the audit, the risk that would be eliminated by the audit, whether the employer could take the time to correct violations discovered, and whether the business could survive the loss of any employees determined to lack employment authorization.  The new executive order adds a twist.  A number of employees who do not hold work authorization today may obtain employment authorization within the next 12-24 months.  This raises the question of whether now is the right time to conduct an audit.

If an employer discovers today that Bob presented fake documents when he was hired, and the employer confronts Bob, and Bob admits that his documents were fake and that he is not authorized to work, the employer must terminate Bob’s employment.  If Bob says he is not work-authorized today, but he is eligible for DAPA under the new executive order, the employer still must terminate Bob’s employment, even though – if the employer had waited a year to conduct the audit and confront Bob – Bob’s fate could have been much different.

So the question becomes whether employers would be wise – or kind – to wait until the new batch of DACA/DAPA beneficiaries have obtained employment authorization prior to conducting a voluntary audit.

If the employer waits a year or so, it can clean up its I-9s without the loss of as many valuable employees.  But if the employer waits a year or so and is, in the interim, inspected by ICE, the employer may face hefty fines and – in the most egregious situations – a prison sentence.

And it has become abundantly clear that ICE is not “chilling out” until the new batch of DACA and DAPA employment authorization cards are issued.  (ICE isn’t even chilling for the holidays, having issued Notices of Inspection this week.)  Who is most likely to be inspected?  Employers in “critical infrastructure” are high on ICE’s priority list.[1]  It also seems that employers who were previously inspected and issued a Warning Notice are high on the list, as are employers referred to ICE after an investigation by another agency (DOL, OSC, USCIS).  And those employers who are suspected of hiring unauthorized workers – knowingly or unknowingly – are at high risk of an inspection.  Employers at higher risk of inspections may not be wise to gamble by waiting to conduct an audit.

Employers may also consider geography in assessing their vulnerability.  Those in California are less likely to be fined for I-9 violations than those in Illinois (see page 7).[2]

So I understand the inclination to wait so that you can avoid the “alligators” that will gobble up your valuable employees.  But to avoid the alligators, you have to run through the golf course and risk being hit.  If you’re lucky, you’ll see a ninja squirrel or a tiny green snake.  If you’re not lucky, you may have to run through the prison yard, and not in a fun way.

Addendum:

Wait a second … this was supposed to be a holiday-themed blog post?  Yikes.  Okay.  So, one day I was running on River Road and listening to Vampire Weekend (for the purposes of this post, we are going to say that the song was “Holiday”) when an unidentifiable liquid dropped from a tree directly into my eye.  I became convinced that a squirrel peed in my eye.  The best thing to do when you think a squirrel has peed in your eye is ask your Facebook friends for advice.  They will call you Chicken Little, and your eye will be fine.  And if you still don’t feel like this post was holiday-y enough, here’s a gift:  an annotated Form I-9 to help keep you out of trouble.  Merry Christmas!

[1] “Critical infrastructure” is defined by ICE to include Agriculture/Food, Banking/Finance, Chemical, Commercial Facilities, Communications, Critical Manufacturing, Dams, Defense Industrial Base, Emergency Services, Energy, Government Facilities, Healthcare/Public Health, Information Technology, National Monuments/Icons, Nuclear Reactors, Materials/Waste, Postal/Shipping, Transportation Systems, and Water.

[2] But some employers in California are considering conducting self audits on an expedited basis so that they can terminate employees who lied at the time of hire about their employment authorization.  (Such terminations based on dishonesty may not be allowed if the employees have gained employment authorization under a law that took effect early this year.)

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EB-5 Predictions for 2015 the Year of the Goat

12/17/2014

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by Bernard Wolfsdorf, ABIL Lawyer
Wolfsdorf Immigration Law Group
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February 19, 2015 marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year. This will be the Year of the Goat, an animal known for its determination, elegance and good nature. The goat is also known to worry too much and while others impose on it, it is stronger than it seems and prevails in harsh conditions. So too will the EB-5 program thrive in 2015.

Here’s why:

1.    About 11,000 new I-526 petitions were filed in fiscal year 2014 representing over $5.5 billion in new investment, an increase of 72% over the previous year. Since the program involves at least a 5-7 year deal flow, $20-$25 billion in new investment is at stake.

2.    U.S. Immigration approved 5,115 EB-5 petitions in the year ending September 30, 2014. For the second half of the year, only 198 were denied, reflecting an approval rate of over 91%. Final stage I-829 applications had an even higher approval rate of almost 95%. These appear to be the highest approval rates on record. Adjudications also sped up as over 1,000 matters were processed in November 2014. See chart below.
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3.    In the Year of the Goat, 10,224 EB-5 visas will be allocated, of which 9,050 will be available for Chinese born nationals. This is slightly less than the 9,128 Chinese nationals who obtained EB-5 visas in fiscal year 2014. Chinese immigrants constituted 85.4% of the program. South Koreans representing the second largest nationality with 2.1% or 225 investors. Mexico was third with 129 investors and Russia had 100 investors, or less than 1%. Brazil had 30 investors representing less than half a percent. See chart below.

4.    A Chinese EB-5 quota, or waiting line, often called “retrogression,” is a certainty and the China EB-5 cut-off date will start in May or June 2015. The waiting line for a final interview will be about 2 years. Therefore cases filed before about May 2013 will be eligible for final interviews in May or June 2015. The March 2015 Visa Bulletin, which is published mid-February 2015 will most likely have critical information regarding the date of the establishment of the China cut-off date.

5.    During the months from May 2015 to September 2015 this waiting line will increase from about 2 years to as long as 3 years. While there has been talk about counting only petitions or families, instead of individuals, a more likely possibility is the Obama Administration will allow investors to be admitted to the U.S. before their priority dates become current. Also, principal Chinese investors who are in valid status in the U.S. may be allowed to file an application to adjust status, even though there numbers are not current. Those who file for adjustment of status will be issued work and travel permits while waiting for their green cards.

6.    97% of investors have selected regional centers. Only 316 investors filed direct or stand-alone EB-5 petitions in fiscal year 2014. This is less than 3% of the total. The Regional Center Program is therefore a huge success.
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ACTION ITEMS FOR 2015 – THE YEAR OF THE GOAT

7.    If you have a derivative child who will age out because the I-526 petition was filed too close to the Child’s 21st birthday, consider requesting an expedite based on current USCIS guidelines.

8.    If you haven’t yet filed your EB-5 application, and there is a derivative child over 18, consider filing with the child as the principal applicant.

9.    If your petition has been approved and there is a child beneficiary still under 21 years old, based on the Child Status Protection Act definition, be sure to take steps to “lock-in” the child’s age by filing forms DS 260, and paying the State Department fee bill, or by filing an adjustment of status application, if possible.

10.    For those thinking about applying for an EB-5 investor visa, the time to file is now. The Regional Center program needs to be extended by Congress as it expires in September 2015. While Congress has extended it many times, this extension may come with conditions. For example, the amount of $500,000 was set almost 25 years ago in 1990. That amount presently has the purchasing power of only $275,235, when adjusted based on the Consumer Price Index. Will Congress increase the amount, my guess is they will.

CONCLUSION

With at least $20 billion at stake, and thousands of jobs being created every year, the EB-5 program will continue to thrive. It is probably the only jobs program that doesn’t cost the government a single dollar. Therefore, as new wealth creation continues to provide mobility for high-net worth investors, the EB-5 program will increase in popularity.

For those thinking about applying, the time to file is now. Expect to see a substantial increase in the minimum investment amount, and if you are Chinese born, expect a 2-3 year waiting line. Eligibility is established by filing so do your due diligence as to the project and be decisive. The EB-5 program, like the goat, is resilient and resourceful.

Wolfsdorf Rosenthal LLP holds regular free immigration webinars on a broad range of topics. The January 20, 2015 webinar will be held with Henley & Partners and will focus on Global Investor Citizenship and Residence Programs, including the U.S. EB-5 Program. Register HERE.
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Immigration Voices: Coming Out of the Shadows with the U Visa

12/15/2014

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by Angelo Paparelli, Past ABIL President
Nation of Immigrators
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[Blogger's note;  Probably the most gratifying element of practicing immigration law is watching clients flourish.  Obtaining immigration benefits, especially lawful permanent residency, often unleashes a wave of innovation and creativity.  Less often, it produces a humanitarian "pay it forward" moment.  This is the story of today's guest blogger, Protima Pandey.  Many years ago, I represented a technology company that asked me to help Protima's husband obtain an H-1B visa and a green card, and obtain H-4 dependent visa status and lawful permanent residence for her as well.  Unbeknownst to me, she had chosen law as a career, and with the work permit that pending green card status afforded, she began a stint as a lawyer in private practice.  Soon after obtaining residency, she followed her dream and became a public interest immigration lawyer. Today, she is  a Staff Attorney with Bay Area Legal Aid, helping the impoverished, abused and desperate obtain redress and immigration benefits.  Protima is helping "pay it forward" by telling us the  story of "Tanya" and "Rose," whose names are changed to honor their privacy.  Protima's is only one of example of how the forthcoming final rule on H-4 spousal employment authorization will benefit America.  I am pleased to report, moreover, that Protima is very happy in her work; you could be happy too.]

Out of the Shadows — U Nonimmigrant Visa Status:
Creating Safer Communities and Bringing Justice for All

By Protima Pandey
When Tanya found out that her daughter Rose was being sexually assaulted by her father, Mauricio, Tanya’s world collapsed. All these years Tanya looked at Rose’s mood swings, flashes of anger and refusal to go to school as behavior typical of pre-teen and adolescent girls. But after Rose revealed what her father was doing to her for 7 years in a row, Tanya went numb. Even more distressing was the fact that her father told Rose categorically and continuously that she would be punished if she ever told anyone about what was happening.

On the day that Tanya learned of this, she called Mauricio at work and told him to come home immediately. She then gathered her other two children, and gently prodded them about their life with their father. Relieved not to hear them repeat the stories that Rose told her, Tanya waited for Mauricio to return. He never came. Instead, she received a call from a relative overseas that Mauricio had returned home saying Tanya was unfaithful and that he left her.

Why is this story relevant on a blog that talks about immigrants and the law? Because this is a story of a family that lived “under the shadow,” to quote President Obama, for years, trying to make a life in America. Because this is the story of a family that had a deep, dark and dirty secret, one which included believing that the laws in this country do not apply to those who are undocumented. Because this is a story of a family that the United States of America decided should not be allowed to suffer in silence while they were being victimized by a crime punishable under the laws of this country.

U nonimmigrant status (popularly known as the U visa) was created by the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Prevention Act, enacted in October 2000.[1] The law addresses the plight of aliens who have been exploited, victimized, and abused, but do not have legal status in the U.S.,  and therefore may be reluctant for fear of removal to help in the investigation or prosecution of criminal activity. The existence of U status provides law enforcement officials a means to help support the legalization of immigration status of undocumented crime victims who assist during investigations or prosecutions of criminal activity. U status provides temporary immigration benefits to certain victims of crimes who assist law enforcement officials in investigating and prosecuting those crimes.

In passing this legislation, Congress intended to strengthen the ability of law enforcement agencies to detect, investigate, and prosecute cases of domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking of persons, and other criminal activity of which undocumented people are victims, while offering protection to victims of such offenses in keeping with the humanitarian interests of the United States. The maximum number of U status applications that can be approved in any one year is 10,000 for principal petitioners.[2]

Tanya’s story is one of several thousands of victims and families who live in silence and suffer indignities that are crimes in the U.S. all because they feel their lives are not counted the same way as are documented people’s lives. By December 2013, USCIS has granted close to 50,000 U visas to victims of qualifying crimes such as Tanya. The most important aspect of this relief is that the goal of the visa is to permit those who qualify to live temporarily in the U.S. with U status.[3]

However, the reality in the lives of the Tanyas in our country is that they often do not know that such relief exists or that they could qualify for this relief.[4] Victims rarely reach out to law enforcement because they fear that their status somehow makes them ineligible for help — a common misunderstanding among undocumented. A report released in 2013 cited by the website Think Progress[5] stated that among the Latinos surveyed (4,000 according to this report), Seventy per cent of the undocumented surveyed said they would not call the police to report being a victim of crime or a witness to a crime.[6] Anecdotal evidence from colleagues and my own clients confirms this practice. If the crime victim speaks a language other than English, there is added fear that s/he will not get help if they dial 911. It is therefore important for law enforcement and community-based agencies alike to create mechanisms for outreach, assistance and referrals for crime victims who could qualify for these protections.

Tanya called the police to report the crimes that Rose had suffered. Especially since Tanya knew Mauricio had run away, she knew that at this time she had to take a step forward to protect not just Rose, but all her children. The police referred her to Bay Area Legal Aid for legal assistance, where I am a staff attorney.[7] Tanya was low income (below 125% Federal Poverty Guidelines) and qualified for free legal assistance as a victim of crime.

Among other requirements, an applicant for U status, apart from being a victim of an eligible crime and cooperating in the investigation of that crime, s/he must ask a law enforcement agency or official to complete a certification form confirming that the applicant “has been helpful, is being helpful, or is likely to be helpful” in the investigation or prosecution of the criminal activity.”[8] The issuance of this certification[9] is a critical step that has to be completed before the applicant can file for relief under this special category of non-immigrant status. USCIS offers a guide to practitioners and certifying agencies which contains valuable guidance on the process of obtaining certification. According to the guide the certifying agency can be:

  • Federal, State and local law
    • enforcement agencies;
    • prosecutor’s offices;
    • judges;
    • family protective services;
    • Equal Employment Opportunity commission;
    • Federal and State Department of Labor; and
    • Other investigative agencies.
Community-based agencies can liaise with local agencies that investigate, prosecute qualifying crimes to determine if there is a certification process available. Some agencies, such as the California Dept. of Fair Employment and Housing post their certification process, while others require attorneys or petitioners to inquire with of staff regarding certification procedures.

Another aspect of this form of relief is that a petitioner who qualifies for a U visa can also petition for derivative family members. For petitioners who are 21 and older, this means minor children and/or non-abusive spouses. For petitioners who are 21 or younger this means minor children, a non-abusive spouse, siblings under the age of 18, and parents.[10]

We obtained certification for Tanya as a victim of a qualifying crime because it was her care, love and encouragement that allowed Rose to report the heinous crimes she had been suffering and because as a parent of a victim, Tanya is considered an indirect victim of the crime. Tanya helped law enforcement track Mauricio down in his home country and extradite him. Because Tanya was able to obtain certification as a victim of a qualifying crime, our office filed for U status relief for her, and her children were included on the application as derivative family members.[11]

Since our office represents victims with several different legal issues, Tanya asked us to assist her in obtaining a divorce and sole custody of all her children. Working with local law enforcement, we were able to serve the summons and complaint for divorce on Mauricio and obtain a divorce decree with sole legal and sole physical custody of the children awarded to Tanya. We also informed Tanya that her family could qualify for healthcare so  that her family could get assistance with therapy and rehabilitation for their trauma.

Once Tanya and her children were granted status, they were all issued Employment Authorization Documents (EADs), a benefit conferred by the regulations that govern this type of relief.[12] Because Mauricio no longer lived with the family and could not support them because he had been deported shortly after sentencing, Tanya carried all the burden of financially supporting her children. With the EAD card, she found stable employment, was able to enroll her oldest child in community college for apprenticeship (she feared he would not be able to do much after high school since she worried that colleges might require “papers” that document the immigration status of applicants before admissions) and has encouraged her two younger children to work hard in school so they can have a future for themselves.

Tanya’s story won’t end here. The visa she and her family have is good for four years. After three years of living in the U.S. and maintaining their U status, Tanya and her children can qualify to adjust their status to that of a lawful permanent residents (LPR).[13] A holder of U status like Tanya will have to file for adjustment showing that s/he has remained in the U.S. and has not unreasonably refused to cooperate with law enforcement in the investigation of the qualifying crime that made her/him eligible for this relief in the first place. The application to adjust status must contain documentation proving continuous presence.

In the case of Tanya, it could be in the form of tax returns for the three qualifying years, school records to show the children maintained residency and any other documents with her name and address like pay stubs, utility bills and other mail. Tanya and her children must show USCIS that approval is warranted[14] by requesting exercise of favorable discretion on humanitarian grounds, including the need to keep the family together. Any additional information, like the therapy that Tanya, Rose and the other children in the family are receiving to recover from the trauma they suffered because of this crime, any long standing community relationships that the family has built which serves as their support system and any activities that demonstrates participation in their local community as part of daily life like church or voluntary service are all relevant pieces of evidence that will help USCIS grant LPR status to Tanya and her children.[15]

With the law in place for undocumented crime victims to receive relief, the key issue remains outreach and assistance to the families and beneficiaries of this relief. Community-based agencies and legal aid agencies work in tandem with law enforcement and domestic violence services agencies to connect those who qualify for this help with those of us who can help them. In Tanya’s case the pieces fell together for her to free her child from the years of victimization. However, there remain many barriers that prevent other families and individuals from being helped.

One major barrier is the lack of adequate legal assistance to reach all those who qualify for help. The Legal Services Corporation in its 2012 Pro Bono Task force report found that almost 50% of the population that needs legal assistance is unable to get help because the current legal services agencies lack resources to assist all who qualify.

Studies show that the service provided to victims of crime contributes to public safety enhancement helps children and families and allows for victims of crime to receive protections under the law.   The availability of legal services for victims has likewise been shown to significantly reduce the likelihood that an individual woman is battered. Moreover, statistics from the Board of Immigration Appeals show that about 41% of litigants lack legal representation.

If you are an individual who can give to low income, unserved communities, if you speak a language other than English, if you are a lawyer who has spare time to help (Bay Area Legal Aid always welcomes pro bono volunteers), if you are looking for a resolution to make as you enter the New Year, this is your chance to consider a worthy cause, a deserving population and a satisfying deed. As a career legal aid lawyer, I am an advocate at heart, so I am reaching out to ask for help for families who are silently suffering, who can get help and who can turn around their life. The happiest moments of my job are when clients show appreciation for our work, show us results like a job or a school admission because they were able to break free from the cycle of oppression or violence or when they say their last resort, us, turned out to be the one they should have come to in the first place.

[1] It was later amended by the Violence Against Women Act, 2005, the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, 2008 and the Violence Against Women Act, 2013.

[2] See generally: http://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/victims-human-trafficking-other-crimes/victims-criminal-activity-u-nonimmigrant-status/victims-criminal-activity-u-nonimmigrant-status . Also see, Bay Area Legal Aid: Immigration Relief for Victims of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Other Serious Crimes: U Visa, VAWA & I-751 Waivers MANUAL (January 2011). Page 10-11.

[3] See Generally Sally Konoshita, et all, The U visa: Obtaining Status for Immigrant victims of crime, Immigration Legal Resource Center, 4th Ed., 2014, 1-1.

[4] There are many qualifying crimes covered by this relief, this post uses sexual assault as an example to illustrate the benefit. See for example http://www.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/u-visa-illegal-immigrants-become-legal-residents-via-crime-victimization/Content?oid=2180863

[5] http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2013/05/08/1980161/study-fearing-deportation-latinos-dont-report-crimes/ See also http://newamericamedia.org/2014/05/nashville-immigrants-too-scared-to-call-the-police.php

[6] http://newamericamedia.org/2014/05/nashville-immigrants-too-scared-to-call-the-police.php

[7] Find out more about Bay Area Legal Aid as well as how to volunteer as a pro bono attorney or donate to our work at www.baylegal.org.  Assistance and information are also available from the Office of the USCIS Ombudsman.  The Ombudsman, Maria Odom, serves as Chair of the Department of Homeland Security’s Blue Campaign, a unified effort to combat human trafficking.  In collaboration with law enforcement, government, and non-governmental partners, the Blue Campaign works to educate the public about how traffickers operate, where help is available to victims, and the importance of a victim-centered approach to combating human trafficking.

[8] See Generally INA § 101(a)(15)(U); INA § 214(p) and regulations found at 8 CFR §§ 212.17, 214.14 . See also In re Petitioner (name redacted), No. EAC 09 080 50515, 2010 WL 4088659 (Administrative Appeals Unit, March 3, 2010) for specifics on evidence of the direct and immediate harm that the petitioner has suffered as a result of the qualifying crime.

[9] The certification must be obtained on the I-918B form that the practitioner or petitioner must complete and send to the certifying agency. It is always best practice to approach the agency and determine their preferences for issuing a certification, including what additional documentation they might require to be able to certify favorably. Keep in mind however that you should only disclose information that your client has issued a release for, in order to ensure you are not violating any attorney-client privilege.

[10] INA § 101 (a)(15)(U)(ii).

[11] Tanya and her children entered the U.S. without inspection and therefore had to submit an additional request to the USCIS to seek relief and pardon for having entered without papers using the form I-192. Being low income, USCIS approved the family for a fee waiver of any filing fee associated with this waiver; there is no fee for the U visa application or fingerprinting.

[12] 8 C.F.R. § 274a.12 (a)(19-20). The principle applicant does not have to submit a separate request for the employment authorization but the derivatives can submit I-765 for this concurrently with their U derivative petitions.

[13] 8 CFR § 245.24

[14] 8 CFR § 245.24 (10)

[15] See also 8 CFR § 245.24 (11) which contains information on how to address adverse factors, if any, that may prevent favorable discretion, including pleading extreme hardship and exceptional circumstances.
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Let's Hope That's What it Means: Does Executive Initiative Really Provide for Early Adjustment of Status?

12/15/2014

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by Cyrus D. Mehta, ABIL Lawyer and Gary Endelman
The Insightful Immigration Blog


Most of the commentary and attention on the recent blizzard of White House and DHS memoranda on immigration reform quite properly fell on executive initiatives to bring the undocumented and their parents in from the shadows.  This is what the Administration clearly cares most about for logical political reasons. The White House perception, rightly or wrongly, is that the ever growing Hispanic constituency that the President wants to win over simply is not deeply concerned with having a more rational legal immigration system. Yet, there are a variety of positive steps that DHS Secretary Johnson outlined which do offer real benefits to workers and employers alike who know suffer from the sclerotic effects of chronic visa backlogs. The most promising innovation is the anticipated ability for the beneficiaries of approved I-140 petitions to apply for adjustment of status even in the absence of current priority dates. That, we all enthused, was something to rally round.

Now that we have had a chance to exhale, a nagging doubt clouds this emerging optimism: Is early adjustment of status really what is contemplated?  While White House briefings and talking points certainly suggested this was the case, a stubborn yet deliberate reading of the various memoranda uncovers no explicit mention of early adjustment, only an intention to foster clarity, predictability, and transferability once the USCIS has approved an employment-based immigrant visa petition, Form I-140. DHS Secretary Johnson offers only the following:
“ I direct that USCIS carefully consider  other regulatory  or policy changes  to better assist and provide stability to the beneficiaries of approved employment-based immigrant  visa petitions. Specifically, USCIS should consider amending its regulations to ensure that approved, long-standing visa petitions remain valid in certain cases where they seek to change jobs or employers.”
Some doubting voices now raise up the possibility that the next step after I-140 approval will fall short of I-485 submission, perhaps only going so far as to allow for the granting of advance parole travel permission and issuance of employment authorization documents. We do not know if such doubts are justified but write now to explain why, if true, this is a very bad idea especially if it is offered without early I-485 submission as an alternative.

Let’s start with the reasons why allowing for early adjustment of status makes sense. We acknowledge that INA § 245(a) (3) only allows the filing of an I-485 application when the visa is “immediately available” to the applicant. What may be less well known, though no less important, is the fact that the INA itself offers no clue as to what “visa availability” means. While it has always been linked to the monthly State Department Visa Bulletin, this is not the only definition that can be employed. Therefore, we propose a way for USCIS to allow for an I-485 filing before the priority date becomes current, and still be faithful to § 245(a)(3).

The only regulation that defines visa availability is 8 C.F.R. § 245.1(g) (1), which provides:

An alien is ineligible for the benefits of section 245 of the Act unless an immigrant visa is immediately available to him or her at the time the application is filed. If the applicant is a preference alien, the current Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs Visa Bulletin will be consulted to determine whether an immigrant visa is immediately available. An immigrant visa is considered available for accepting and processing the application Form I-485 [if] the preference category applicant has a priority date on the waiting list which is earlier than the date shown in the Bulletin (or the Bulletin shows that numbers for visa applicants in his or her category are current). An immigrant visa is also considered immediately available if the applicant establishes eligibility for the benefits of Public Law 101-238. Information concerning the immediate availability of an immigrant visa may be obtained at any Service office.

Under 8 C.F.R. § 245.1(g)(1), why must visa availability be based solely on whether one has a priority date on the waiting list which is earlier shown in the Visa Bulletin? Why can’t “immediately available” be re-defined based on a qualifying or provisional date? We are all so accustomed to paying obeisance to the holy grail of “priority date” that we understandably overlook the fact that this all-important gatekeeper is nowhere defined. Given the collapse of the priority date system, an organizing  principle that was never designed to accommodate the level of demand that we have now and will likely continue to experience,  all of us must get used to thinking of it more as a journey than a concrete point in time. The adjustment application would only be approved when the provisional date becomes current, but the new definition of immediately available visa can encompass a continuum: a provisional date that leads to a final date, which is only when the foreign national can be granted lawful permanent resident status but the provisional date will still allow a filing as both provisional and final dates will fall under the new regulatory definition of immediately available. During this period, the I-485 application is properly filed under INA §245(a)(3) through the new definition of immediately available through the qualifying or provisional date.

We acknowledge that certain categories like the India EB-3 may have no visa availability whatsoever. Still, the State Department can reserve one visa in the India EB-3 like the proverbial Thanksgiving turkey, as we have proposed previously. Just like one turkey every Thanksgiving is pardoned by the President and not consumed, similarly one visa can also be left intact rather than consumed by the alien beneficiary. So long as there is one visa kept available, our proposal to allow for an I-485 filing through a provisional filing date would be consistent with INA §245(a)(3).

We propose the following amendments to 8 C.F.R. § 245.1(g)(1), shown here in bold, that would expand the definition of visa availability:

An alien is ineligible for the benefits of section 245 of the Act unless an immigrant visa is immediately available to him or her at the time the application is filed. If the applicant is a preference alien, the current Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs Visa Bulletin will be consulted to determine whether an immigrant visa is immediately available. An immigrant visa is considered available for accepting and processing the application Form I-485 [if] the preference category applicant has a priority date on the waiting list which is earlier than the date shown in the Bulletin (or the Bulletin shows that numbers for visa applicants in his or her category are current) (“current priority date”). An immigrant visa is also considered available for provisional submission of the application Form I-485 based on a provisional priority date without reference to current priority date. No provisional submission can be undertaken absent prior approval of the visa petition and only if visas in the preference category have not been exhausted in the fiscal year. Final adjudication only occurs when there is a current priority date. An immigrant visa is also considered immediately available if the applicant establishes eligibility for the benefits of Public Law 101-238. Information concerning the immediate availability of an immigrant visa may be obtained at any Service office.

Allowing early adjustment of status with companion work authorization, travel permission, and AC 21-like adjustment portability  will make possible the green card on a provisional basis in all but name. However, this is not all. The most important benefit may be the freezing of children’s ages under the formula created by the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA). If the White House will only grant EAD and Parole to I-140 beneficiaries, but stop short of allowing adjustment, then, on a massive scale, their children will turn 21, thereby aging out, long before the magic time for I-485 submission ever arrives.  This is because Section 3 of the CSPA only speaks of freezing the child’s age when the petition has been approved and the visa number has become available. Also,  the child must seek to acquire lawful permanent resident status within one year following petition approval and visa availability. Since Matter of O.Vazquez, absent extraordinary circumstances, only the filing of the I-485 can do that. Under the current definition of visa availability, joined at the hip to the Visa Bulletin, they have no hope. Only through a modified definition coupled with the notion of provisional adjustment can they retain the CSPA age. This is why invocation of early adjustments themselves, not merely EAD and Parole, to beneficiaries of I-140 petitions is so manifestly necessary. However, precisely as in the INA, the CSPA contains no definition of visa availability. A change in the applicable regulatory meaning along the lines we suggest will apply to CSPA and prevent the children of I-140 beneficiaries from aging out.  Granting the EAD and advance parole will sadly have no such effect.  Only early adjustment can do that. This is especially relevant now since the Supreme Court in Scialabba v. Cuellar De Osorio substantially narrowed the utility of priority date retention. The redefinition of visa availability that we propose not only provides the legal underpinning for early adjustment of status but also allows the children of I-140 petition beneficiaries to derive a priceless immigration benefit through this family relationship that would otherwise be lost. Given the importance of preserving the age of a child under the CSPA, why only restrict early I-485 filings to beneficiaries of I-140 petitions? Our proposed redefinition of visa availability ought to also apply uniformly to beneficiaries of family based I-130 petitions too.

It is entirely possible that the White House may realize all of this and more. We would be most happy to be rendered redundant. The best advice is that which is entirely unnecessary. Yet, unless and until we see it in writing, perhaps the time for celebration should be postponed.
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Justice, Justice Shall Thou Pursue: Why the Lawsuit Against the Immigration Accountability Executive Action is a Waste of Time and Money

12/7/2014

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by Cyrus D. Mehta, ABIL Lawyer and Gary Endelman
The Insightful Immigration Blog


For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me
Matthew 25:35

A lawsuit was expected as soon as President Obama dramatically announced that his immigration executive actions could impact more than 5 million people. It is already here. On December 3, 2014, Texas took the lead with 18 other states in a lawsuit against the United States asserting that the President’s unilateral Immigration Accountability Executive Actions are unconstitutional.  The coalition of states in addition to Texas include Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

T
he complaint essentially alleges that the DHS directive violates the President’s constitutional duty to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed” under Article II, §3, Cl. 5 of the United States Constitution. Another basis for the complaint is that under the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 553, the President’s executive action is akin to a rule, which needs to be promulgated through notice-and-comment rulemaking. The complaint also cites APA, 5 U.S.C. § 706, which gives a federal court power to set aside an agency action that is, among other things, arbitrary or capricious, contrary to constitutional right or in excess of statutory authority.  But it reads more like a white-hot tabloid, and instead of providing a forceful legal basis, loudly proclaims in bombastic fashion several prior utterances of President Obama claiming that he could never bypass Congress. Here are two out of many examples:
“I am president, I am not king. I can’t do these things just by myself…[T]here’s a limit to the discretion that I can show because I am obliged to execute the law…I can’t just make the laws up by myself.”

“[I]f in fact I could solve all these problems without passing laws in Congress, then I would do so. But we’re also a nation of laws. That’s part of our tradition. And so the easy way out is to try to yell and pretend like I can do something by violating our laws. And what I’m proposing is the harder path, which is to use our democratic processes to achieve the same goal."
The President still went ahead and changed the law himself despite his many previous assertions that he could not, according to the complaint, as if that can be a legal basis to challenge the actions. Interestingly, the President consistent with these prior utterances of his still insists even after November 20, 2014 that only Congress can change the law and bring on meaningful reform.  The centerpiece of the President’s executive actions is to broaden deferred action, which has always been deployed by the Executive Branch. The November 20, 2014 announcement defers the deportation of people who were in unlawful status as of the date of the announcement, and who were also the parents of US citizen or permanent resident children, provided they were in the United States before January 1, 2010. The previous Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program has been expanded to include those who came to the United States when they were below 16 years prior to January 1, 2010 instead of January 15, 2007. The previous age limit of 31 that was imposed in the June 15, 2012 announcement has been lifted. Eligible people who are a non-priority for enforcement purposes can apply for deferred action, and obtain employment and travel authorization.

The lawsuit is a waste of time and taxpayers money. The authors have argued in A Time for Honest Truth: A Passionate Defense of President Obama’s Executive Actions that the President clearly has the legal authority to exercise discretion with respect to prioritizing on whom to enforce the law against, especially when Congress has not provided sufficient funding to deport 12 million undocumented people all at once. Even the conservative establishment refers to those who desire to deport 12 million as the “boxcar” crowd.  The truth is that deferred action is neither recent nor revolutionary. Widows of US citizens have been granted this benefit. Battered immigrants have sought and obtained refuge there.  Never has the size of a vulnerable population been a valid reason to say no. Even if the law suit alleges that the President does not have authority, now is a good time to remind critics about Justice Jackson’s famous concurrent opinion in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579, 635 (1952), which held that the President may act within a “twilight zone” in which he may have concurrent authority with Congress. Unlike Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. v. Sawyer, where the Supreme Court held that the President could not seize a steel mill to resolve a labor dispute without Congressional authorization, the executive branch under the recent immigration actions is well acting within Congressional authorization. In his famous concurring opinion, Justice Jackson reminded us that, however meritorious, separation of powers itself was not without limit: “While the Constitution diffuses power the better to secure liberty, it also contemplates that practice will integrate the dispersed powers into a workable government. It enjoins upon its branches separateness but interdependence, autonomy but reciprocity.” Id. at 635. Although President Truman did not have authorization to seize the mill to prosecute the Korean War, Justice Jackson laid a three-pronged test to determine whether the President violated the Separation of Powers clause. First, where the President has express or implied authorization by Congress, his authority would be at its maximum. Second, where the President acts in the absence of congressional authority or a denial of authority, the President may still act constitutionally within a “twilight zone” in which he may have concurrent authority with Congress, or in which its distribution is uncertain. Under the second prong, Congressional inertia may enable, if not invite, measures of independent presidential authority. Finally, under the third prong, where the President acts in a way that is incompatible with an express or implied will of Congress, the President’s power is at its lowest and is vulnerable to being unconstitutional.

Through the Immigration Accountability Executive Actions, the President is likely acting under either prong one or two of Justice Jackson’s tripartite test. INA Section 103(a)(1) charges the DHS Secretary with the administration and enforcement of the INA. This implies that the DHS can decide when to and when not to remove an alien..”  INA § 212(d)(5), which Congress also enacted, authorizes the Executive to grant interim benefits for “urgent humanitarian reasons” or “significant public benefits.”  Parole can also be used to allow promising entrepreneurs to come to the United States and establish startups, although this and many other actions to help businesses have not been attacked in the law suit. Moreover, INA § 274A(h)(3)(B) provides authority to the Executive to grant employment authorization. Even if such authority is implied and not express, Congress has not overtly prohibited its exertion but displayed a passive acquiescence that reinforces its constitutional legitimacy. Operating in Justice Jackson’s “twilight zone,” such constructive ambiguity creates the opportunity for reform through executive initiative. In terms of employment authorization issuance, Congress has rarely spoken on this except via INA § 274A(h)(3)(B), so that many instances of employment authorization issuance are purely an act of executive discretion justified by that one statutory provision. Furthermore, INA § 103(3) confers powers on the Secretary of Homeland Security to “establish such regulations, prescribe such forms or bonds, reports, entries and other papers; issue such instructions; and perform such other acts as he deems necessary for carrying out his authority under the provisions of this Act.”

We reproduce the very penetrating and insightful comments of our esteemed colleague Jose R. Perez, who is a partner at Foster:

It’s my hope that Federal Judge Andy Hanen in Brownsville, TX, will do the right thing and dismiss this lawsuit based on:

    #1: Lack of subject matter jurisdiction since the alleged cause of action is a ‘political question’ or a dogfight between the executive & legislative branches as there is no case or controversy for an Article III Court to decide;

    #2: The plaintiffs lack ‘standing’ since the states have NOT suffered a palpable injury suffered and the ‘alleged injury’ is baseless and at best highly speculative since no undocumented alien has benefited from the executive actions of November 20, 2014; and

    #3: Once implemented, the executive actions do NOT circumvent Congress or usurp our Constitution since President Obama has the executive authority under Article II of the U.S. Constitution and the statutory authority under the INA to grant deferred action based on law enforcement priorities as an act of prosecutorial discretion. This is an presidents have done so. [ My family and I came to the U.S. as ‘parolees’ based on President Johnson’s exercise of discretion that allowed approx. 1 Million Cubans to be paroled and to eventually benefit from the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966, a very open-ended and most favorable statute.]

We wish to double down on these sage comments concerning lack of state standing to bring this lawsuit for they are its Achilles heel.  This is not a case where a federal agency like the Environmental Protection Agency has declined a request by an affected state actor to regulate the emission of toxic greenhouse gas emissions whose presence in our air and water present a clear and present danger of environmental catastrophe.. For this reason, the holding by the Supreme Court that the State of Massachusetts did have requisite Article III standing to sue the EPA is fundamentally inapposite both in logic and law. Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, 549 U.S. 497 (2007). Undocumented immigrants who work long hours at low pay doing the hard and dirty jobs on which we all depend but are loath to perform are not the cause or harbinger of global warming. Whatever grievances Texas and her sister states have , the proper forum for their expression and resolution in our system of governance is the Congress not the courts.  See Lajan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 576 (1992).

Courts are loath to review any non-enforcement decisions taken by federal authorities. See,e.g., Lincoln v. Vigil, 508 U.S. 182, 191-92 (1993). Arizona v. United States, 132 S.Ct. 2492, 2499 (2012),   articulated the true reason why: “[a] principal feature of the removal system is the broad discretion exercised by immigration officials…Federal officials, as an initial matter, must decide whether it makes sense to pursue removal at all…” The decision by President to order ICE to focus its enforcement activities on designated priorities is a policy judgment which the courts have neither the time nor inclination to second guess:
This Court has recognized on several occasions over many years that an agency's decision not to prosecute or enforce, whether through civil or criminal process, is a decision generally committed to an agency's absolute discretion. See United States v. Batchelder, 442 U. S. 114, 123-124 (1979); United States v. Nixon, 418 U. S. 683, 693 (1974); Vaca v. Sipes, 386 U. S. 171, 182 (1967); Confiscation Cases, 7 Wall. 454 (1869). This recognition of the existence of discretion is attributable in no small part to the general unsuitability for judicial review of agency decisions to refuse enforcement.
Heckler v. Chaney, 470  U.S. 821, 8311 (1985)

The Constitution neither allows nor encourages any of the state litigants in this extra-constitutional litigation to micromanage the enforcement or implementation of current immigration law or regulation. That is up to the President and those federal agencies to whom he delegates his authority: “An agency has broad discretion to choose how best to marshal its limited resources and personnel to carry out its delegated responsibilities.” Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, 467 U.S. 837, 842-845 (1984). Under the oft-quoted Chevron doctrine, federal courts will pay deference to the regulatory interpretation of the agency charged with executing the laws of the United States when there is ambiguity in the statute. The courts will intrude only when the agency’s interpretation is manifestly irrational or clearly erroneous. Similarly,  the Supreme Court in Nat’l Cable & Telecomm. Ass’n v. Brand X Internet Servs., 545 US 967 (2005),while affirming Chevron, held that, if there is an ambiguous statute requiring agency deference under Chevron, the agency’s understanding will also trump a judicial exegesis of the same statute.  There is simply no case or controversy here for the federal courts to settle. None of these Plaintiffs identify or present  such a “ personal stake in the outcome of the controversy as to assure the concrete adverseness which sharpens the presentation of issues upon which the court so largely depends for illumination.” Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, 204 (1962). Where is their standing then one wonders? In all of the hyperbolic protestations that suffuse this complaint, where rhetoric often masquerades as reality,  one looks in vain for any allegation or evidence that any of the state complainants can “ show that it has suffered a concrete and particularized injury that is fairly traceable to thte defendant and that a favorable decision will likely redress that injury.” Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560-561 (1992).

Still, one should not be too sanguine about Judge Hanen doing the right thing who will hear this case in the United District Court for the Southern district of Texas,   Division. In US v. Nava-Martinez, a case that involved a human trafficker who sought to smuggle an El Salvadorian girl into the United States, Judge Hanen chastised the DHS for completing the crime by delivering the minor to the custody of the parent,  even though the DHS was obliged to unify the child under the 1997 Flores v. Reno, CV-85-4544-RJK, settlement agreement. Judge Hanen equated this policy to “taking illegal drugs or weapons that it had seized from smugglers and delivering them to the criminals who initially solicited their illegal importation/exportation.” Id. at 10. The plaintiffs have cleverly cited Nava-Martinez in their complaint as an example of DHS laxity encouraging illegal migrants, and also disingenuously conflated the surge of unaccompanied minors this summer with the President’s previous DACA program, even though it has been well documented that these children may have come to the US for other legitimate reasons, such as fleeing horrific gang persecution in countries such as Honduras, el Salvador and Guatemala. . A December 5, 2014 NY Times article confirms this:
At the National Immigrant Justice Center in Chicago, lawyers interviewed 3,956 migrant children this year. Lisa Koop, associate director of legal services there, said the number of children who had heard of the 2012 program was “in the single digits.”

“It is clear that DACA was not a driving force behind the migration,” Ms. Koop said. “What we heard time and again was that violence in Central America and the need for safe haven was what prompted these children to undertake the journey north.”
Even if Judge Hanen does not rule the way we think he should, it is hoped that the Fifth Circuit will swiftly reverse him. Indeed, the Fifth Circuit has recently recognized the supremacy of federal immigration law over state law as well as federal discretion in enforcing immigration law. In Villas at Parkside Partners v. Farmers Branch, 726 F.3d 524 (5th Cir. 2013), the Fifth Circuit struck down a local housing ordinance on preemption grounds because it conflicted with federal law regarding the ability of aliens not lawfully present in the United States to remain in the US. The Fifth Circuit also noted that the federal government could exercise discretion:
Whereas the Supreme Court has made clear that there are "significant complexities involved in [making] . . . the determination whether a person is removable," and the decision is "entrusted to the discretion of the Federal Government," Arizona, 132 S. Ct. at 2506; see also Plyler, 457 U.S. at 236 (Blackmun, J., concurring) ("[T]he structure of the immigration statutes makes it impossible for the State to determine which aliens are entitled to residence, and which eventually will be deported."), the Ordinance allows state courts to assess the legality of a non-citizen's presence absent a "preclusive" federal determination, opening the door to conflicting state and federal rulings on the question.
The creation of law by federal agencies in the implementation of executive initiative has become the norm rather than the exception in our system of governance , if for no other reason than that the sheer multiplicity of issues, as well as their dense complexity, defy traditional compromise or consensus which are the very hallmarks of Congressional deliberation. Despite the assertion in Article I of the Constitution that “ All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States,” it is far from novel to acknowledge as we must that independent federal regulatory agencies also exercise legislative powers. As Justice White noted in his dissent in INS v Chadha, 462 U.S. 919, 947 (1983) (White,J., dissenting) after reviewing prior cases upholding broad delegations of legislative power:
These cases establish that by virtue of congressional delegation, legislative power can be exercised by independent agencies and Executive departments without passage of new legislation. For some time, the sheer amount of law- the substantive rules that regulate private conduct and direct the operation of government- made by the agencies has far outnumbered the lawmaking engaged in by Congress through the traditional process. There is no question that agency rulemaking is lawmaking in any functional or realistic sense of the term.
Immigration has historically been linked to foreign policy. Indeed, a core reason for the plenary federal power over immigration is precisely because it implicates real and genuine foreign policy concerns. This is another reason why the Executive enjoys wide, though not unchecked, discretion to effect changes in immigration procedures through sua sponte regulation. Indeed, it is perhaps only a modest exaggeration to maintain that the INA could not be administered in any other way.  The President’s executive action does not displace Congress as the primary architect of federal immigration policy but rather is in aid of the legislative function and, as such, is in harmony with the constitutional injunction to diversify authority. The President is not divorced from lawmaking; that is the very reason why the Framers provided an executive veto power. If the President had no role in lawmaking, why give such a weapon to limit congressional prerogative? Once we accept the fact that the Executive is a junior partner in lawmaking, then the President’s executive actions become a strong but unremarkable expression of this well-settled constitutional concept. To suggest that the President is powerless to act simply because only Congress can modify the INA is to isolate one co-equal branch of our national government from another beyond what the Constitution suggests or requires. This is not what the Framers had in mind:
Yet it is also clear from the provisions of the Constitution itself, and from the Federalist Papers, that the Constitution by no means contemplates total separation of each of these three essential branches of government…The mean who met in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787 were practical statesmen, experienced in politics, who viewed the principle of separation of powers as a vital check against tyranny. But they likewise saw that a hermetic sealing off of the three branches of Government from one another would preclude the establishment of a Nation capable of governing itself effectively.

Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1, 121 (1976)
Not only is it appropriate for the President to direct the formulation of immigration policy on technical issues of surpassing importance, this is the way it must be; this is what the Constitution expects. The decision by President Obama to do now what he had been reluctant or unwilling to do earlier suggests not a reversal of position or a grab for imperial power but  a willingness to change, to grow, to embrace solutions that meet the exigencies of an ever-changing challenge stubbornly resistant to what has been tried before and failed. We are reminded of what President Lincoln wrote to Albert G. Hodges on April 4, 1864 : “I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me." In  perhaps the most famous judicial exposition of the need for pragmatic presidential initiative, we end our advocacy in confident reliance upon the still cogent observations of Chief Justice John Marshall in McCulloch v. Maryland:
To have prescribed the means by which government should, in all future time, execute its powers, would have been to change, entirely, the character of the instrument, and give it the properties of a legal code. It would have been an unwise attempt to provide, by immutable rules, for exigencies which, if foreseen at all, must have been seen dimly, and which can be best provided for as they occur

17 U. S. 316 (1819)
The President’s proposals do nothing to inhibit or prevent Congress from enacting amendments to the INA. He has not attempted to supplant Congress when it comes to the exercise of the legislative function over which in alone enjoys plenary power.  President Obama has acted solely in furtherance of what the Congress has already done to give America the immigration policy that it needs and deserves, one that is more effective and adaptable to the exigencies of the moment so that both the nation and the immigrants who have sacrificed all to write the next great chapter in the American story can benefit in full measure.
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Worksite Harmony and the President's Executive Actions: It's All About Immigration Timing

12/3/2014

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by Angelo Paparelli, Past ABIL President
Nation of Immigrators
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“Politics at bottom is not all that complicated. It’s all about timing.” Mark McKinnon

Facing a recalcitrant House of Representatives controlled by Republicans, President Obama made an historic announcement on November 20th outlining an array of executive actions he would take to fix as much as he could of our broken immigration system.

Understandably, public and media attention since then has focused on the four to five million people who soon may come out from hiding in plain sight. Parents of citizens and permanent residents, and an expanded class of DREAMers, will be given deferred action and work and travel permits. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is now preparing to accept and decide a flood of new applications, all of which will be funded by user fees. But this won’t happen for up to six months.

Meantime, a dispute has arisen among Republicans about whether Congress has the power to prohibit USCIS from processing deferred action cases by starving the agency of funds. The House Appropriations Committee maintained in a statement that the Congress is powerless to prevent USCIS from financing the cost of implementing the deferred action program and according benefits through user fees:

The primary agency for implementing the President’s new immigration executive order is the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). This agency is entirely self-funded through the fees it collects on various immigration applications. Congress does not appropriate funds for any of its operations, including the issuance of immigration status or work permits, with the exception of the ‘E-Verify’ program. Therefore, the Appropriations process cannot be used to ‘de-fund’ the agency. The agency has the ability to continue to collect and use fees to continue current operations, and to expand operations as under a new Executive Order, without needing legislative approval by the Appropriations Committee or the Congress, even under a continuing resolution or a government shutdown.
Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) disagrees and is reportedly brandishing a Congressional Research Service (CRS) opinion letter described, but not released, by the far right blog, Breitbart, which suggests that Congress can bar appropriated funds, including user fees, from being deployed in a way that contravenes a statute. The actual CRS report, available here, provides:
A fee-funded agency or activity typically refers to one in which the amounts appropriated by Congress for that agency or activity are derived from fees collected from some external source. Importantly, amounts received as fees by federal agencies must still be appropriated by Congress to that agency in order to be available for obligation or expenditure by the agency. In some cases, this appropriation is provided through the annual appropriations process. In other instances, it is an appropriation that has been enacted independently of the annual appropriations process (such as a permanent appropriation in an authorizing act). In either case, the funds available to the agency through fee collections would be subject to the same potential restrictions imposed by Congress on the use of its appropriations as any other type of appropriated funds. (Footnote omitted; emphasis added.)
The CRS report did not mention, however, that the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) already contains “a permanent appropriation in an authorizing act,” INA § 286(m), 8 U.S. Code § 1356(m), which states in relevant part:
Immigration examinations fee account.–Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, all adjudication fees as are designated by the Attorney General in regulations shall be deposited as offsetting receipts into a separate account entitled “Immigration Examinations Fee Account” in the Treasury of the United States, whether collected directly by the Attorney General or through clerks of courts: Provided, however, . . . That fees for providing adjudication and naturalization services may be set at a level that will ensure recovery of the full costs of providing all such services, including the costs of similar services provided without charge to asylum applicants or other immigrants. Such fees may also be set at a level that will recover any additional costs associated with the administration of the fees collected. (Emphasis added.)
According to a former senior Executive Branch official who helped me confirm the government’s interpretation of INA § 286(m), this provision has historically been construed as a “permanent, indefinite appropriation” of funds for USCIS to operate its adjudication functions through user fees. This is confirmed by the White House and USCIS in guidance offered during the 2013 government shutdown. The requirement in INA § 286(m) that “adjudication fees” be designated “in regulations” by the Attorney General (now USCIS, since the passage of the Homeland Security Act) is satisfied by regulations found at 8 CFR § 103.7 (b)(1)(i)(C)(Biometric Fee of $85), 8 CFR § 103.7 (b)(1)(M)(3)(Application for Advance Parole [international travel permission] fee of $360), 8 CFR § 103.7 (b)(1)(HH)(Application for an Employment Authorization Document fee of $380), and 8 CFR §274a.12(c)(14) (allowing issuance of an Employment Authorization Document to persons granted deferred action).

So as USCIS readies itself to accept a flood of new applications for deferred action, and work and travel permits, the agency has already announced that the affected class would not be allowed to file their applications until later in 2015, and must wait even longer before final action is taken:
Q4: How long will applicants have to wait for a decision on their application?

A4: The timeframe for completing this new pending workload depends on a variety of factors. USCIS will be working to process applications as expeditiously as possible while maintaining program integrity and customer service. Our aim is to complete all applications received by the end of next year before the end of 2016, consistent with our target processing time of completing review of applications within approximately one year of receipt. In addition, USCIS will provide each applicant with notification of receipt of their application within 60 days of receiving it. (Emphasis added.)
Another executive action approved by the White House — one that can be implemented relatively quickly — is the formation of an “Interagency Working Group for the Consistent Enforcement of Federal Labor, Employment and Immigration Laws.” Headed by the Labor Department, the group will include the National Labor Relations Board, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security. Presumably, the Justice Department’s role will be filled by the Office of Special Counsel for Unfair Immigration Related Employment Practices, and Homeland Security’s participation will likely be led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its unit, Homeland Security Investigations.

Unlike the newly-announced but slow-to-arrive immigration benefits for the undocumented, the working group can conceivably be up and running and start enforcing immigration and employment law sanctions at America’s worksites as quickly as the ink is dry on any updates to cross-memoranda of understanding (MOUs) between and among the group’s members, such as the December 7, 2011 Revised Memorandum of Understanding between the Departments of Homeland Security and Labor Concerning Enforcement Activities at Worksites and the MOU between DOJ and the NLRB.

There’s an obvious problem, however, with the slow grant of work permits to the undocumented and the much quicker enforcement of worksite violations. The President did not announce a deferral of enforcement of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 — the Reagan era law and later amendments which sanction businesses that employ workers whom the employer knows lack employment authorization (IRCA’s § 101) or who commit unlawful acts of immigration-related discrimination (IRCA’s § 102).  It did not even issue a memo similar to the agency guidance offered in 2001 which gave employers a hint of modest relief when sponsoring undocumented workers for labor certification to gain “245(i)” benefits under the LIFE Act. Thus, employers are still at risk if they become aware that any undocumented workers are planning to apply, or have applied, for benefits under the new executive actions on immigration.

Imagine the scene at the company lunchroom. A group of obviously jovial workers are huddled together at a table filling out USCIS applications for benefits under the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) or DAPA (Deferred Action for Parental Accountability) program. Bert Busybody, the director of HR, walks by and asks them why they are so gleeful. In unison, they reply, “because President Obama is allowing us to work legally.” Arguably, these workers must now be terminated from employment since Bert, as a supervisory representative of the employer, seems to have actual knowledge of the workers’ unauthorized status.

This type of worksite disharmony can be avoided if USCIS and the Homeland Security Department take appropriate action right away.  As my colleague, Tony Weigel, has suggested to me, the Secretary of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson,  has authority to resolve this dilemma and allow interim employment authorization while USCIS adjudicates applications for deferred action and three-year work permits.  The Secretary could merely hold that the issuance by USCIS of a receipt for a non-frivolous (meaning “patently without substance”) request for deferred action and work permission would constitute an interim document of employment authorization (say, with only six months’ validity) and a List C document for I-9 purposes under the following regulation:
8 C.F.R. §  274a.12(a) Aliens authorized employment incident to status. Pursuant to the statutory or regulatory reference cited, the following classes of aliens are authorized to be employed in the United States without restrictions as to location or type of employment as a condition of their admission or subsequent change to one of the indicated classes. Any alien who is within a class of aliens described in paragraphs . . . (a)(10)-(a)(15) . . . of this section, and who seeks to be employed in the United States, must apply to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for a document evidencing such employment authorization. USCIS may, in its discretion, determine the validity period assigned to any document issued evidencing an alien’s authorization to work in the United States. . . . .

8 C.F.R. § 274a.12(a)(11) An alien whose enforced departure from the United States has been deferred in accordance with a directive from the President of the United States to the Secretary. Employment is authorized for the period of time and under the conditions established by the Secretary pursuant to the Presidential directive.
There is abundant precedent for such a flexible approach in situations where the government is not in a position to grant work authorization quickly.  For example, because USCIS cannot speedily confer new grants of employment authorization to certain beneficiaries, e.g., holders of Temporary Protected Status (whose work permits are extended merely by publication of a notice in the Federal Register [see Form M-274, "Handbook for Employers," pp. 13-14]), and conditional permanent residents who are allowed to work based on issuance of a receipt while awaiting an adjudication of a petition requesting the removal of conditions on residence under the marriage-based green card provisions or the EB-5 immigrant investor category.

If this flexible solution is adopted, the only remaining problem is the gap period from now until the date when USCIS is ready to allow filing of new immigration-benefits requests by the undocumented who believe they qualify under President Obama’s executive actions.  The solution can be found in an embrace of the President’s sentiments espoused on November 20th:
Scripture tells us that we shall not oppress a stranger, for we know the heart of a stranger — we were strangers once, too. My fellow Americans, we are and always will be a nation of immigrants. We were strangers once, too.
Thus, under the same abundant legal authority for prosecutorial discretion that the White House Office of Legal Counsel and a bevy of legal scholars confirmed, the Secretary of Homeland Security should announce a temporary, six-month deferral of enforcement of employer sanctions arising under IRCA § 101 (INA § 274A; 8 U.S. Code § 1324a)  – the provision punishing I-9 paperwork violations and the employment of persons whom the employer knows lack work permission — with exceptions for human traffickers and felonious harborers under INA § 274 (8 U.S. Code § 1324a) .

Having spoken so eloquently about “the determination of immigrant fathers [and presumably, mothers] who worked two or three jobs without taking a dime from the government, and at risk any moment of losing it all, just to build a better life for their kids,” the President should take the next step and offer real-world, flexible solutions to IRCA-induced workplace disharmony, measures that would avoid financially endangering families by government-mandated terminations of employment as they prepare to “come out of the shadows and get right with the law.”
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