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Category: Immigration To The USA

Deportation

Defenses Against Removal And ICE Hold

May 13, 2013

Author: New York Deportation attorney Alena Shautsova

You just learned that your loved one was arrested and ICE put a hold on him/her. What do you need to do?

The first thing to do would be to consult with Criminal defense and Immigration attorneys. Very often, when an undocumented person or a permanent resident get arrested for criminal charges, the immigration authorities file an Immigration detainer: a document stating that upon release from the State or Federal custody, the person should be held up to 48 hours for ICE to come and take the person into their custody as they have a reason to believe the person is removable from the US. Most of the time, the basis for removal will be the pending criminal charges, which if come true (if the person is convicted or pleads guilty to them) will also become a problem under immigration laws. (See INA 212 and INA 237 for the list of offences that may render a person inadmissible or deportable).
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Immigration To The USA

Amendments to Immigration Reform Bill

May 8, 2013

Today, American Immigration Lawyers Association published a list of amendments to Immigration Reform Bill filed by different senators.

You can view the list HERE.

Initially, the Immigration Reform bill was introduced by a group of eight senators (the “Gang of Eight”) and contained revolutionary proposals such as provisional waiver status, changes to asylum regulations, changes in employment and family immigration areas.
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Immigration To The USA

Homeland Security Secretary Weighs in on New Immigration Bill

May 3, 2013

Author: immigration lawyer Alena Shautsova

While the new proposed immigration bill comes under evaluation for its ability to
address national security, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano testified
before a State Judiciary Committee hearing about the bill’s merits. According to a
Fox news report, Napolitano stated that the bill offered “significant improvements”
for tracking immigrants and encouraging immigrant interaction with law enforcement
on reporting crimes and coming forth as witnesses.
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Immigration To The USA

How to Get Citizenship

April 15, 2013

How to get citizenship is a question of many immigrants. The immigration reform drafters are also discussing paths for citizenship for undocumented workers. However, no matter what they will decide, to get citizenship, one have to first obtain a green card or permanent resident status. Provided, of course, the laws will not be drastically changed in the nearest future.

The only way to get citizenship without obtaining permanent resident status first, is by being born on the US territory or by being born to or being adopted by the US citizens (provided other conditions for automatic citizenship are met).
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Immigration To The USA

Provisional Waiver of Unlawful Presence I-601A

April 12, 2013

In March, 2013,  USCIS started accepting applications for Provisional Waiver of Unlawful Presence, I-601A. The waiver can help those who are related to the U.S. citizens, and who came to the country illegally or overstayed their visas. In particular, the wavier can help former K-1 holders, former C1/D holders; EWI-s.

The provisional waiver cannot help those who have other inadmissibility issues such as criminal convictions, prior illegal entries, or claims of U.S. citizenship.
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Deportation

Facing Deportation, Detained or Released?

April 3, 2013

When Facing Deportation, What Determines Whether You Are Detained or Released?

Author: Deportation lawyer Alena Shautsova

The Department of Homeland Security (DOHS) weighs two main factors when deciding whether to detain or release an immigrant who faces deportation: flight risk and risk to the community. The most heavily weighed factor is risk to the community, which aligns with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) memorandum that addresses prosecutorial discretion and the focus on deporting immigrant criminals over immigrants with other violations. Those immigrants with aggravated felonies are top priority for detainment. ICE has limitations on how many immigrants it can detain, because it has 34,000 detention beds nationwide. Recent sequestration budget cuts resulted in ICE releasing detainees.
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