The plaintiffs may continue their challenge to the DHS’ authority to establish both STEM Optional Practical Training (OPT) and standard post-completion OPT, the District Court in Washington Alliance of Technology Workers v. DHS held on July 1, 2019. The Washington Alliance of Technology Workers (WashTech) has been fighting for practical training for students on various … Continue Reading
President Donald Trump announced that the Administration will not be proceeding with any further census litigation. The 2020 Decennial Census, which is already being printed, will be sent out without a citizenship question. Nevertheless, President Trump does want to obtain statistics on the number of residents in the country who are and are not U.S. … Continue Reading
Courts’ deference to agency interpretations of their own statutes and regulations has been a mainstay of administrative law. The Chevron Doctrine has since 1984 provided that courts should put a “thumb-on-the-scales in favor of the government’s view of the meaning of [a] statute . . .” as long as the interpretation is reasonable. A similar … Continue Reading
DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipients have been in limbo and at the center of various political debates ever since President Donald Trump attempted to end the program in 2017. Put in place by the Obama Administration in 2012, DACA protects from deportation individuals who were brought to the United States by their parents … Continue Reading
The Commerce Department cannot include a citizenship question in the census – at least for now – according to the Supreme Court. In Department of Commerce et al. v. New York et al., the Court, in a 5-4 decision written by Chief Justice Roberts, said the question could not be in the census because the … Continue Reading
In Mosleh et al. v. Pompeo et al. in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, Chief Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill ordered the Administration to show that delays in granting travel ban waivers to Yemeni relatives of U.S. citizens are “reasonable.” He opined that the government’s description of the process was “inadequate” and … Continue Reading
The Trump Administration has been stepping up the collection of data in general and more specifically from visa applicants and travelers. Here are a few new policies: A pilot program has been instituted at the border that would include DNA testing and fingerprinting of children under age 14. USCIS is collecting biometric data from most … Continue Reading
The “Dreamers” have received another reprieve from the U.S. Supreme Court. DACA litigation has been in the news since September 2017, when then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the DACA program would be terminated. In response to that announcement, multiple lawsuits were filed in federal courts in California, New York, Maryland, Texas, and the District of … Continue Reading
Volume “impact litigation” in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia may lead to details of the basis of alleged, unannounced, new USCIS policies regarding the H-1B visa program. Attorneys are alleging that USCIS is using new policies to adjudicate H-1B petitions, without properly completing the required notice-and-comment procedures for administrative rule changes … Continue Reading
On August 8, 2018, DHS issued a new policy that announced that foreign students would begin accumulating “unlawful presence” if any violation of status had occurred, whether known to the student or not. On May 3, 2019, in Guilford College et al. v. DHS, Judge Loretta C. Biggs in the U.S. District Court for the Middle … Continue Reading
President Donald Trump has extended the wind-down period for termination of Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) status for beneficiaries from Liberia from March 31, 2019, to March 30, 2020. DED, like Temporary Protected Status (TPS), allows individuals from certain nations to remain in the United States, despite being otherwise removable, because of civil or political strife … Continue Reading
In 2016, a married gay couple in Canada became parents of twins using a surrogate mother. One father is a U.S. citizen, the other an Israeli citizen. The two fathers made a decision to contribute one embryo each to the surrogate mother so the twins would be biologically related to each of them. However, that … Continue Reading
Please see our legal update on the issue of whether the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) preempts states from using information in Form I-9 to prosecute a person under state law.… Continue Reading
The 2020 decennial census is scheduled to begin on April 1, 2020, but several cases challenging the Administration’s decision to include a citizenship question in the census are putting the Administration’s June 30, 2019, “go to print” deadline at risk. The question asks, “Is this person a citizen of the United States?” The case that … Continue Reading
Hondurans and Nepalis in the U.S. in Temporary Protected Status (TPS) just got a break. TPS for beneficiaries from Nepal was set to terminate on June 24, 2019. TPS for beneficiaries from Honduras was set to terminate on January 5, 2020. On March 12, 2019, the Administration entered into an agreement with the plaintiffs challenging … Continue Reading
TPS employment authorization has been extended automatically until January 2, 2020, for beneficiaries from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan. In October 2018, a preliminary injunction was issued in Ramos v. Nielsen, preventing implementation of the Administration’s decision to terminate TPS for the four countries. At that time, DHS announced that if the injunction were … Continue Reading
DHS has made the first move to rescind the H-4 EAD Rule: sending the proposed rule to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. The H-4 EAD Rule provides work authorization for spouses of certain H-1B workers who are in the green card process. OMB review is the first step before publication in … Continue Reading
The Department of Commerce has been enjoined by a federal judge from including the citizenship question in the upcoming Census. The case began on March 26, 2018, when Secretary of Commerce Wilbur L. Ross, Jr., announced that he would reinstate a citizenship question in the Decennial 2020 Census. In 1960, out of a fear that the … Continue Reading
Is it possible that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program might be the key to ending the government shutdown? A DACA-for-border-funding compromise that was taken off the table a year ago is again being talked about by some lawmakers. Here is an update on where DACA stands. On September 5, 2017, then-Attorney General … Continue Reading
The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has added Immigration Voice, a group that represents high-skilled foreign nationals, to defend the H-4 EAD Rule. Save Jobs USA v. United States Department of Homeland Security. The H-4 EAD Rule provides work authorization for spouses of certain H-1B workers who are in the green card process. … Continue Reading
Following Judge Edward Chen’s preliminary injunction blocking the termination of TPS status for beneficiaries from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan, the DHS has issued guidance regarding its compliance with that Order. TPS status for beneficiaries from the four countries will continue so long as the preliminary injunction remains in effect. According to DHS, if … Continue Reading
California Federal Judge Edward M. Chen has issued a nationwide preliminary injunction in Ramos v. Nielsen, preventing the Administration from implementing its decisions to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan, pending final resolution of the case. This may be particularly good news for Sudanese TPS beneficiaries whose status is scheduled … Continue Reading
The uncertainty regarding the rescission of the H-4 EAD Rule continues to drag on and the plaintiffs in Save Jobs USA v. United States Department of Homeland Security are getting tired of waiting. Save Jobs, a group of technology workers who claim to have been displaced by foreign nationals, initially challenged the H-4 EAD Rule … Continue Reading
Temporary Protected Status (TPS) may be an endangered species. Having terminated TPS for Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone during the past year, the Trump Administration has turned its attention elsewhere. There are currently ten remaining countries whose citizens are eligible for TPS. Of those, six will be terminated over the next 18 months. The Trump … Continue Reading
