Immigration Scams

No one ever calls me on my home line. I am not sure why I even have one. But sure enough one Saturday morning my home phone was ringing. As always, I ignored it. Probably a sales call, I thought. Ten minutes later the phone rang again so I glanced at the caller ID. It was a US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) number. Why was Immigration calling my home number? I wondered. When I answered, the person said he was “Kevin Smith” with USCIS.  He said there was a security flag on my file which could result in my citizenship being revoked. I panicked for a moment. I had received my US citizenship last year. How could this have happened? What did Bri, my superstar of a paralegal, fill in on the forms? Had I mistakenly checked the wrong box and admitted I was a terrorist, Nazi sympathizer, or polygamist? The officer said he could correct the problem but needed to check some information at which point he asked for several key items to “verify my identity,” including my social security number. This was when the alarm bells really started going off. When I refused to give him the information “Kevin” became belligerent and threatening. The calmer I became, the angrier he became. I told him he would have to send me his requests in writing, as is normal for USCIS when they have a question or concern about my file and then I hung up.

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Immigration Impact: "High-Tech Immigrant Entrepreneurs are Crucial to Local Economies"

Immigration Impact examines a report by the Kauffman Foundation on the impact of high-tech immigrant entrepreneurs on local economics:

Specifically, the report emphasizes the importance of “open and culturally diverse” environments in fostering high-tech entrepreneurship in metropolitan areas.  This is true for both immigrants and the U.S.-born. However, the study found that “higher ethnic diversity and a larger share of the foreign-born population are crucial factors in attracting or fostering immigrant high-tech entrepreneurship on the metropolitan level.”

Moreover, Dane Stangler, vice president of Research & Policy at the Kauffman Foundation, notes: "'Because immigrants are far more likely to start businesses – particularly high-tech companies – than are the native-born, their importance in the U.S. economy is increasing[.]" Not surprising then that some cities have strategies to attract such entrepreneurs.

The report is titled "Lessons for U.S. Metro Areas: Characteristics and Clustering of High-Tech Immigrant Entrepreneurs" and is viewable along with white paper here.

Men's Journal: "The Interpreters We Left Behind"

Janis Shinwari, an Afghan interpreter who worked for many dangerous years as a translator for American forces and who saved "at least five American lives," struggled for years to get an immigrant visa to the US, even though he qualified for the special immigrant visa for Afghans and was in hiding because of the death threats. Paul Solotaroff in Men's Journal reports on Shinwari's plight (his immigrant visa was approved, revoked, and then approved, and now he is in the US) along with other interpreters and fixers who risked their lives to help American forces and now face death threats in their home country and incredible difficulties in obtaining the Congressional-approved immigrant visas for Afghans who worked for the US government. Shinwari says of his fellow interpreters: "'They have two options: America or die, because the people there, they think we are traitors[.]"

(via Longreads)

Do I Need an Immigration Attorney?

Many people ask themselves this question when considering applying for work visas, Green Cards, or other immigration benefits. At first glance the immigration forms and instructions on the US Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) website seem relatively straightforward. Some even may have heard stories from friends or colleagues who successfully applied without hiring a lawyer. In this post, we consider different kinds of immigration benefits (along with more complicated deportation cases) and the reasons why one may wish to hire an attorney to assist them in the process.

Of course, as a lawyer working for a boutique immigration law firm, I’m biased; however, I also write from the perspective of a lawyer who has seen what happens when applicants attempt to apply pro se (without legal representation) for cases that are far from as simple as they seem. In a separate future post, we will discuss the dangers of hiring an “Immigration Consultant” or “Notario” and also the unique ethical obligations of attorneys.

First, let’s be clear: There is no legal requirement to be represented by a lawyer in immigration petitions and applications. A petition or application filed pro se will not automatically be rejected by a USCIS Service Center simply because it was not prepared by an attorney. Such petitions or applications will be subject to the same review and adjudication process that others filed by attorneys go through.

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An Irishman in New York (sort of)

St. Patrick’s Day. The feast day of the patron saint of Ireland. A day to honor Irish culture and heritage. As an Irishman (sort of, well, Irish last name), this year I decided to check out a few ways that New York City celebrates.

The big one, of course, is the parade. The first march was on March 17, 1762, fourteen years before the Declaration of Independence, and is what organizers claim the “country’s oldest and proudest Irish tradition.” I arrive on Fifth Avenue across from the Metropolitan Museum a little after 11am last Monday. It’s mostly deserted, except for a few police officers on the corners, a young couple with dyed green hair holding each other, and a few other bystanders trying to keep warm. The parade is coming north from downtown, but I have time. I should have stopped for a Guinness (not a sponsor).

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Seattle Times: "Guest: What’s behind the hunger strike at Northwest Detention Center"

Dan Berger, who teaches ethnic studies at the University of Washington Bothell, and Angélica Cházaro, an immigrant-rights attorney, examine the hunger strike at the Northwest Detention Center involving more than 700 people:

In a public statement, the hunger strikers demanded an end to deportations and the separation of families. They also demanded better food, medical care and wages for work inside the facility (they currently receive just $1 a day for their labor), and an end to exorbitant commissary prices. Detainees pay $8.95 for a bottle of shampoo and $1 for a single plastic plate.

The hunger strike, which has spread to a Texas center, began on March 7 and as of yesterday reportedly has two participants left. It has resulted in a planned visit by US Rep. Adam Smith, who said in a statement he was "very concerned with the reported hunger strike" and is continuing to push for "answers and closely monitor the situation," though detainees released recently said "nothing had changed."

Department of Homeland Security spokesman Andrew Munoz said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "respected the right of detainees to register their opinions about their treatment." He went on:

'While we continue to work with Congress to enact commonsense immigration reform, ICE remains committed to sensible, effective immigration enforcement that focuses on its priorities, including convicted criminals and those apprehended at the border while attempting to unlawfully enter the United States[.]'

The hunger strike comes at a time when President Obama has ordered a review of deportation policies.

The Northwest Detention Center as well as the facility in Texas are run by the GEO Group, who claim to be the "world's leading provider of correctional and detention management and community reentry services" and whose "political-action committee has given more than $100,000 to state, local and federal candidates so far in the 2014 cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics."

No information on the hunger strike is on the GEO Group website as far as we can tell, but they did have a quarterly cash dividend of $0.57 per share.

UPDATE: Hunger strike reportedly resumed at the Northwest Detention Center.

USA TODAY: "Study: Work visas being denied at a higher rate"

US Citizenship & Immigration Services is denying L-1B specialized knowledge petitions at a higher rate, increasing nearly five-fold in the past six years, according to a report (here in PDF) by the National Foundation for American Policy, a non-partisan organization dedicated to public policy research on trade, immigration, and education. The report notes:

While as recently as FY 2006 the denial rate for L-1B petitions was 6 percent, the denial rate for L-1B petitions rose to 34 percent in FY 2013, after rising to 30 percent in FY 2012 – a more than five-fold increase in the rate of denials despite no new regulation changing the adjudication standard...Time consuming Requests for Evidence (RFE) from adjudicators for L-1B petitions also continued at a high level – 46 percent in FY 2013. That means in 2013 about half of petitions to transfer in employees with specialized knowledge were either denied or delayed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services adjudicators.

USA Today reports that Stuart Anderson, the executive director of the foundation and former head of policy and counselor to the Commissioner of the INS (now USCIS), said the denial increase lines up with the country's recession, noting: "'Some people may have had the impression that by keeping companies from transferring in employees that that somehow was going to promote American jobs[.]'"

Steven Camarota, director of research for the Center for Immigration Studies, which supports lower levels of immigration ("low-immigration, pro-immigrant," they state), notes that L-1A approvals for international managers and executives has increased which "'is a clear indication that getting them is not very hard,'" and that as a consequence "'more and more companies are trying to take advantage of the program at a time of record rates of joblessness and stagnate wages for U.S.-born workers and legal immigrants already here.'"