United States DOL has advised AILA of that the iCERT system will be taken out of service on Tuesday, August 25, from approximately 5:00 AM to 11:00 AM EDT for system upgrades. DOL will be adding many new features to the application in order to better serve our needs.
Salient features in the new release include:
• The ability to Withdraw Certified LCAs on-line
We all know that the nation’s immigrant detention system is a mess. This consists of a collection of public and private facilities that have been widely criticized in recent years, including in two lawsuits that alleged poor conditions in a San Diego detention center. Also, abuse of detainees as well as corruption cases.
Expected to take from three to five years, the reform is intended to bring more order to a “disjointed” detention network of roughly 350 facilities that is heavily dependent on contractors. The effort will be overseen by a new Office of Detention Policy and Planning, headed by former Arizona corrections official Dora Schriro.
More immediate changes will include assigning federal detention managers to work in 23 facilities that Morton called the agency’s most significant, which house more than 40 percent of the detainee population. ICE officials would not say if the agency’s detention center in Otay Mesa, one of its larger contract facilities and the subject of two 2007 lawsuits over detention conditions, would be among them. We hope the above referenced changes will bring a much needed reform.
A brief note to thank the brave men and women of the Armed Forces, and remember those who have lost their lives defending liberty.
Have a safe and happy Memorial Day!
From to time to time, we update our readers on the recent changes and updates coming from the local Immigration office. San Diego has 2 main locations, one in Chula Vista, and the other in Downtown San Diego. Once a month, the American Immigration Lawyers Association local chapter meet, with the government reps and receive updates on recent policy changes. Here are some of the questions discussed:
1. How long is a file held at the District Office after an adjustment or naturalization appointment? There have been reports of files sent to the National Records Center when a naturalization appointment was rescheduled by USCIS or when an applicanUattorney timely rescheduled an appointment If this occurs will the rescheduled appointment be delayed?
Approvals are promptly shipped to the National Records Center or Federal
The Texas Border Sheriff’s Coalition (TBSC) has installed video cameras mostly on private properties on the Texas border and made the streaming video on its BlueServo.net website. People can register on the site for free as “Virtual Texas Deputies” to monitor the live video and anonymously report suspicious activities via e-mail to border sheriffs.
Thousands of people are now virtual Border Patrol agents — and they’re on the lookout for drug smugglers and illegal immigrants.
On Blueservo’s Web site, each camera focuses on an area that’s known for illegal crossing. Next to a real-time view of a grassy meadow is the message: “Look for individuals on foot carrying backpacks.” A shot of a border highway says, “If you see movement from the right to the left, please report this activity.”
In the past 4 weeks we have seen a strange and concerning trend from the California Service Center. Denials of Tourist visa extensions as well as student visa requests. Normally, the Service must issue a request for evidence or at least a notice of intent to deny, in order to allow the applicant an opportunity to explain. This trend looks like a a pattern to deny all such cases. Why are they doing this, we are still waiting to find out. The American Immigration Association Lawyers are reporting many denials of I-539s (COS from H-1B to B-1/B-2 or B-1/B-2 extensions) without RFEs (request for evidence) or NOIDs from the California Service Center since early January.
We ask readers to report such denials so we can forward this information to our association liason unit. AILA is collecting this for informational purposes to present to the Service Center, so we can stop this practice once and for all. Please email us your comments.
Another evidence that the Immigration debate is heating up here in San Diego and across the nation. For the first time, Border Patrol agents formally sealed off access on the U.S. side to the plaza, for years a popular meeting place on the U.S.-Mexico border for families to visit through the fence.
The Department of Homeland Security announced late last year that it will prohibit all public access to the park where a secondary wall is under construction. Since then, the plaza has become a symbolic touchstone for those who debate border enforcement policies.
A phalanx of Border Patrol agents in off-road vehicles blocked access to the plaza entrance, causing demonstrators on both sides of the issue to gather below the bluff.
The U.S. military will begin recruiting skilled immigrants living in this country with temporary visas, offering them the chance to become U.S. citizens in as little as six months.
Immigrants who are permanent residents, with documents commonly known as green cards, have long been eligible to enlist. The new effort, for the first time since the Vietnam War, will open the armed forces to temporary immigrants if they’ve lived in the United States for a minimum of two years, and have not left from more than 90 days during that time.
In recent years, as U.S. forces faced combat in two wars and recruiters struggled to meet goals for the all-volunteer military, thousands of legal immigrants with temporary visas who tried to enlist were turned away because they lacked permanent green cards, recruiting officers said. Recruiters’ work became easier in the past.
President Obama began his first full day in office by reading the note left by former President Bush. We hope that new President will take a different path in his presidency. We know the economy is important, the war must be addressed, but Immigration reform must be a priority. Can Obama push for Immigration reform?
Even though the U.S. president is considered to be one of the most powerful leaders of the world, no U.S. president can legislate or pass a law (except in emergency circumstances as an interim measure). Enacting law is the task of the legislature, or the U.S. Congress. The president can make his viewpoint known and members of his party in the U.S. Senate or the U.S. House of Representatives may support his position, introducing bills that are often hotly debated. Once the the bill is passed by both the Senate and the House, the president then can sign the bill into law. What Obama can do, is make sure that Immigration reform will remain a key priority until such reform actually is passed. Good Luck President!!!
Today is Christmas Eve, I wanted to wish all the best for those who celebrate. I wanted to reference an excellent article by Ali Noorani, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum, a non-partisan, non-profit advocacy organization in Washington. His comments were featured today at the La Prensa San Diego Website.
Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff claimed credit for “reversing” illegal immigration, but the credit should more accurately fall to those in the Bush Administration who let the economy and our financial regulatory agencies collapse during the President’s tenure. As we have often said, the best way to slow immigration to the United States is to dry up all the pesky economic opportunity that has run rampant in this country for so long. The Bush Administration is well on its way to making sure there is no excess opportunity or economic security milling about. But we’re sure that President Bush, had he watched Secretary Chertoff’s press conference, would shout a hardy “Heck of a job, Cherty!”
True, massive investments in border barriers, increases in detention bed space, and a huge expansion in Homeland Security personnel have put more enforcement resources on display. However, to say that these resources have contributed significantly to a decrease in legal or illegal immigration – a phenomenon we have observed since the economy began slowing in 2001 – is like saying there is less rain because people buy umbrellas. Despite conspicuous and record-setting immigration raids, new strategies to streamline the deportation of immigrant workers with minimal judicial oversight, and continued bureaucratic barriers to legal immigration, the Chertoff claim to making significant progress in controlling legal or illegal immigration stretches the definition of causality.
Visa Lawyer Blog