Michael H. Neifach

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President Barack Obama’s executive order expanding Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) eligibility and work authorization met a another roadblock when a federal District Court threatened to sanction the Secretary of Homeland Security and senior DHS officials for issuing three-year Employment Authorization Documents (EADs). The court previously enjoined implementation of expanded DACA, including issuance of…

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans, heard arguments on July 10 as to whether a preliminary injunction on the implementation of President Barack Obama’s executive actions to defer deportation and grant work authorization to certain undocumented individuals presently in the U.S. should be overturned. The programs were enjoined by…

With the upcoming potential lapse in funding of the Department of Homeland Security, employers may encounter worksite compliance issues because the E-Verify program may be unavailable at the end of the day on February 27th. Should this happen, employers will not be able to create E-Verify cases to determine the eligibility of their employees to…

A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C.,   has rejected U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services’ determination that “inherent knowledge a person gains as a result of his or her upbringing, family and community traditions, and overall assimilation to one’s native culture necessarily falls into the realm of general knowledge” and therefore cannot not considered “specialized knowledge”…

With comprehensive immigration reform legislation no longer a realistic possibility for the foreseeable future, the focus of advocates for reform has shifted to executive actions the President may take unilaterally to implement immigration policy changes.

The President reportedly  is considering broad use of executive action, potentially granting relief to up to 5 to 6 million…

The Department of Justice is investigating and fining employers who require specific documentation from employees during the I-9 employment eligibility verification process.  DOJ’s Office of Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC) often relies on statistics showing a large proportion of employees presenting specific documentation during the I-9 process to determine whether to…

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued new memoranda of understanding (MOUs) for E-Verify browser users and Web Services users and developers. The MOUs set out responsibilities for the user and the government regarding the online employment eligibility database. The MOUs became effective for new users on December 8, 2013, and will become…

As previously reported, over the past several weeks, a number of U.S. consulates were temporarily closed due to security concerns creating processing delays for U.S. visa applicants.  Consular posts in 20 cities, including all three posts processing visas in Saudi Arabia, were closed from August 5 through August 10 in conjunction with a worldwide travel…

The Senate’s immigration bill, S. 744, just voted out of the Judiciary Committee and sent for a vote by the full Senate, greatly increases potential penalties for employment verification related violations.   Under S. 744, the civil fine for a first offense of knowingly hiring or continuing to employ an undocumented worker ranges from $3,500 –

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On April 9, 2013, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a notice in the Federal Register clarifying the date by which the new Form I-9 must be used instead of prior versions of the form.  Employers are advised that they must use the new Form I-9 beginning on May 7 or they will be…