With all the controversial attention on immigration lately – on things like the border wall, court decisions on travel bans and sanctuary cities, and Congress’s failure to act on a solution for Dreamers – it is sometimes easy to get caught up in the politics, to become discouraged, and to forget that progress is still being made on a daily, case-by-case basis.
It is true that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently revised the agency’s mission statement to remove any reference to our being a nation of immigrants. It is also true that the USCIS announcement regarding the new mission statement also stated that USCIS will no longer consider applicants and petitioners to be “customers,” and will cease referring to them as such. And it is true that this change in USCIS’s attitude toward petitioners and applicants for immigration benefits makes it harder for us as immigration lawyers when we argue our clients’ cases with USCIS, and when necessary on appeal.
However, we continue to zealously advocate for our clients as we live out our own mission statement. Foster’s mission is to champion each client’s goals and objectives by providing the highest-quality, value-added immigration solutions in an environment which promotes excellence, integrity, service and community.
As we remain true to our own mission statement, case-by-case we continue to see successes large and small. The important thing is to acknowledge today’s challenges and face them head-on.
The Administration is pursuing ever stricter adjudication standards, so we up our game to counter with even more evidence, and when necessary we appeal bad decisions.
The Administration has announced there will be more H-1B and L-1 site visits and I-9 inspections, so we work with clients to conduct proactive audits and mitigation in order to be prepared for government visitors if and when they arrive.
The Administration is changing rules and interpretations relating to legal immigration, so we update our processes and guidance for clients to address new eligibility requirements or restrictions.
We don’t take these changes lightly, but we adjust and move forward because the truth is, although immigration may be more difficult now, we are still filing petitions and receiving approvals on a daily basis as we keep on keepin’ on.