Behind the push to attract immigrants is also another hard hitting factor that many U.S. cities have been struggling with for a number of years since the beginning of the latest depression cycle: the ever increasing depopulation of industrial cities. According to Audrey Singer, a Brookings Institution senior fellow, two things start to happen after attracting immigrants: the population increases and there is an uptick in economic activity.

Instead of being viewed as unwelcome aliens that take jobs away from American citizens, these programs view immigration as a dynamic, driving force that holds the key to a better economy and a thriving city. In a manner of speaking, they hold the keys to the city, and are the recipe for revival in desperate times. It is a refreshing change of opinion and begs the question: if American cities are implementing their own alternative to immigration reform, then what is to happen with reform on the grander scale?
Therein lies a can of worms that politicians do not wish to touch. Perhaps the best way to move forward into the future is embrace the concept of global cities. It has been done before, and with success. Now is the time for a recurrence to help America get back on its feet. While it may be a different approach and a contentious one, it is the present reality. When reality calls, it is time to answer, adapt, adjust and move forward.

Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is immigration law firm in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinfox.com/.

Technology professionals have unparalleled access to a tech-reliant American audience. Still seeing enormous growth, tech companies have the money to make things happen — spending millions on ads, lobbying conservatives, mounting hackathons and more. Unfortunately, they have still run into the same roadblocks that have stalled immigration reform for decades.

To date, there have been no results. Even Mark Zuckerberg and his colleagues have been unable to spark real action in Congress.
Joe Green, Zuckerberg’s former Harvard roommate and the president of FWD.us, postulated the goal of ensuring the success of America by passing immigration reform. Green believes that lobby groups need to work through politics to succeed.

The group raised an enormous amount of capital (more than $50 million) and attracted well-known names to publicly back immigration reform. A large part of the funds raised went to media buys and other targeted campaigns involving TV and radio. FWD.us dropped more than $5 million during the lead-up to last year’s Senate vote, which did end with the passage of an immigration bill.

FWD.us launched well, but it garnered negative media attention with an ad campaign that eventually alienated a good part of the tech community. Since the bill passage last year, everything has stalled — both Green’s efforts and immigration reform itself.

As the Congressional election approaches, legislation has put on hold and immigration reform set to the side. No amount of money raised by outsiders wanting change can cure indifference fueled by political divisiveness. Polarization is a dangerous and detrimental thing. So far, even the strongest of U.S. industries have been unable to overcome it.

Sally Odell - Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinfox.com/.

While immigration reform is still being debated, mauled, massaged, ignored and reviled, with the light at the end of the tunnel being an immigration reform bill, maybe this year, there are still some hot-to-trot voters that think the idea is an anathema. Consider the latest news from a Florida dairy farmer, unable to use a guest-worker program because his operation is year-round. Cows don’t just need to be milked for about four months. Consequently, he and other farmers in the same or similar boat, vocally support immigration reform.

The minute his story hit the news wire he was inundated with nasty emails, calls and faxes from people around the country suggesting they were insulted by his comments and that he had no inkling about immigration. Some suggested he use the H-2A guest-worker program, a clear indication they did not read his full story, that a dairy needs year-round workers.

On the contrary, it appears that those with that opinion are the ones that do not grasp the nature of how immigration reform could positively affect agriculture, and get milk into their fridges across the U.S. In short, immigration reform and agriculture are inextricably linked —- you cannot have one without the other, not if you want your produce, in edible and beverage form, to hit the marketplace and be reasonably priced.

The Florida farmer who spoke out about immigration reform and his growing uncertainty about the wishy-washy Republicans, did not expect to be a target of ill formed and not so righteous wrath. He is uncertain how the negative comments will benefit anyone, let alone be a benefit to obtaining a workable immigration reform bill that would address that nation’s needs, and those of waiting illegal immigrants.

One thing is patently clear: the typical American voter seems to have no real clue how immigration currently affects the U.S. or how it could affect the U.S. in the future, should a reform bill be introduced into law. That being said, he does get why Republicans run, hide, duck and divert the issue as much as they can, as no one likes being the target of such blind and uninformed hatred.

If this level of anger exists in the general public over a farmer that needs year round workers and the current system does not work for him, what will happen if the politicians do cobble together an immigration reform bill? The results might be explosive.

Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is immigration law firm in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinfox.com/.

Word from the Hill indicates politicians are actually working on something relating to immigration reform. Are they getting along while doing it? Not according to the media, or those who are close to the situation but not allowed to comment, because they don’t have the authority. Notice that they are commenting anyway. In a nutshell, a bipartisan group in the House is making noise that they are close to wrapping up work on a comprehensive immigration reform bill, a bill that would include a path to citizenship for the close to 13 million illegal people living in the U.S.

The fly in the ointment is what to do or how to handle temporary laborers that arrive to do seasonal work in the fields. While no one is specifically explaining what the issue is relating to temporary workers, many aides and media speculation has it that a finished product is very close. Consider this, though. The House is working on a bill and the Senate is working on a broad immigration bill. What are the chances bipartisan agreement will continue when each faction has their own version of a bill? If the party’s track records are any indication, it might be touch and go, at which point, immigration reform may end up as wallpaper once again.

Nonetheless, those watching the process of give, take, haggle and revise are relatively confident a deal will be reached. At this point, it’s often in the best interests of groups that are holding their breath for immigration reform to become reality, to remain silent on their hopes and just wait. Too many things can get in the way of a deal.

The Senate indicates they would like to introduce their bill in April, for debate in either June or July. If all goes well, and that is a big “if,” Senate debate would deal with it in June or July. The House hopes to pass their version of a bill sometime this year. There are a lot of ifs, maybes, and hopes in this mixture. However, the good thing is that the parties are mostly getting their acts together to do something about immigration reform.

This is not a topic that too many people or politicians agree on, and given the contentious nature of immigration reform, there is a huge chance the proposals on either side of the House could go off the rails. Of course what started the process is Obama’s stunning election win. It made Republicans sit up and take notice that their hard-nosed attitude about immigration, securing the border and sourcing skilled workers was archaic, and punitive, not to mention walking a thin line when it came to violating human rights.

One more possible hold-up to immigration reform is the split personality syndrome many Republicans still hold on to when it comes to giving illegal aliens that live in the U.S. already a path to citizenship (despite the fact they are already citizens in all the ways that count, like paying taxes). They are reluctant to grant citizenship, as they feel it would reward them for breaking the law and trigger a new wave of illegal residents. Hold on for the ride that might become a rollercoaster this year.

Sally Odell - Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinfox.com/.

This year, for a fee, the government and even some airlines are helping to ease that pain.

The U.S. government (and some foreign governments as well, like Holland) has introduced the Global Entry Program. U.S. citizens over the age of 14 can pay a fee of $100 (valid for 5 years) and enroll in the program. They have to enter their data in the following website:

https://goes-app.cbp.dhs.gov/

After the completion of the process, there will be a one-time CBP interview.

However, once it’s complete, you do not need to stand in any immigration line. There are kiosks in most major airports. The traveler has to scan in their passport at airport kiosks, and zoom down to luggage claim.

Similarly, in Houston IAH, international travelers who are U.S. citizens and have no checked luggage can go through the lines used by pilots and flight attendants for faster processing.

This process can be used by anyone, but because of the lengthy process to get into the program, it is probably feasible for frequent business travelers only. The travelers also get expedited check-in kiosks at other participating countries, as well. As more countries sign on, the price may come down.

There is a chance that this may simply become a requirement for foreign travel in the future. It will save money on personnel for countries participating in this program. Additionally, some airlines are also letting passengers cut in line for boarding the plane or for checking in for a fee. Both American and Southwest airlines are going to be offering this perk for a fee ranging from $10 to $50 per ticket.

This will be the future of travel, in a world increasingly short for time. But then, in this world, will there even be time for vacations?

Annie Banerjee, J.D.
281-242-9139

To learn more, visit http://www.visatous.com.

When aliens seeking work in the U.S. qualify as an outstanding professor or researcher, they also qualify for First Employment Based Preference (or EB-1, for short). Usually an employer would sponsor the person to hold a tenure track or a permanent position, for example. If an employer does not sponsor an alien, he or she may still qualify under EB-1 if the person holds “Extraordinary Ability”, or under the Second Employment Based Preference (EB-2) for National Interest Waivers (NIW).

“The difference between Extraordinary Ability and National Interest Waivers is that the requirements are higher for Extraordinary Ability. Generally, the higher the preference, the shorter time to get permanent residency,” said Annie Banerjee from the Law Offices of Annie Banerjee.

Extraordinary Ability Aliens must meet at least three requirements, one more requirement than Extraordinary Aliens must meet. The requirements are: The alien must have nationally or internationally recognized prizes and be members of an association that requires outstanding achievements. The alien should have substantial publications in major journals and should list all publications. Also, others should have cited your work in a publication. It would help if you had participated in a panel or have judged the qualifications of others in a peer review. Also weighing heavily is evidence of original scientific or artistic contributions such as patents or copyrights. Lastly, evidence of earning a high salary would also be one of the requirements.

For National Interest Waivers, one must have a master’s degree or higher and must meet all three of the following qualifications: Work must be of substantial intrinsic merit. For example, it can not an esoteric field of law. Secondly, the scope of the work is national and not merely local; it must appear in national journals, for example. Lastly, the work benefits the national interest to a “substantially greater degree than would an available U.S. worker having the same minimum qualifications.” This means that it significantly exceeds the norm in some way. It must establish that there is no need to protect normal U.S. workers through a labor certification process.

Banerjee also stresses the importance of reference letters. “Reference letters from professors or researchers in the field is always very useful for all the categories,” Banerjee said.

To learn more, visit http://www.visatous.com.

The program, Secure Communities, allows U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) to examine detainee fingerprints sent from local law enforcement agencies. ICE searches for a fingerprint match in the Department of Homeland Security databases, which contains data on both lawful and unlawful foreign nationals. ICE then makes a determination whether to initiate removal proceedings.

Opponents of the program argue that it is open to abuse because an individual’s immigration history is investigated regardless of the crime.

“This leaves the door open to a pretext arrest of a person whom the police believe looks like an illegal immigrant,” said Dallas-based immigration attorney Stewart Rabinowitz of Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, P.C. “If the police are correct, ICE will detain and remove the person and there will never be trial on the charges prompting the arrest. Police only need to allege the commission of a crime – regardless of probable cause.”There are no safeguards in place to prevent this from happening, as ICE does not monitor local law enforcement agencies for procedural or civil rights violations.

Proponents of the program cite the removal of large numbers of foreign nationals from the United States and frequently look no further. But the Department of Homeland Security and ICE set annual priorities, and chief among them is the removal of dangerous, criminal aliens from the United States.

Measured by the number of dangerous criminals removed, ICE’s own statistics reveal that Secure Communities has been ineffective. From October 2009 to August 2010, only 16 percent of people deported were found to have committed serious crimes. “The program is supposed to protect the U.S. from people who pose a danger to public safety, but it ends up doing much more than that. It deports people who pose no threat, while dangerous criminal aliens still remain at large,” Rabinowitz said. “Secure Communities as an unchecked federal program enables racial profiling.”

And the Department of Homeland Security has told those localities that have decided to no longer participate in Secure Communities because of its perceived adverse affects on police-community relations that localities cannot opt out of the program.

ICE plans to extend the program to every state in the U.S. by next year, and hopes to be in all 3,100 state and local jails by 2013.

To learn more about Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, P.C., call 1.972.233.6200 or visit http://www.rabinowitzrabinowitz.com.

Republicans on a committee dealing with this issue are arguing that illegal immigrants take jobs away from the unemployed. Democrats argue that if unemployed Americans wanted those agricultural jobs, they’d already be working in them. The fact that they are not sends an interesting message to the politicians who have yet to acknowledge that migrant workers are what keep the country’s produce moving.

Sometimes there are issues that are best left alone, unless the government wants to poke about and make things worse. The burning issue in relation to immigrants working in agricultural jobs is that their presence means Americans don’t have that work. While that is true on the surface, the question then becomes where are the Americans who will work this kind of job?

On one side of the fence is a group that thinks allowing low skilled guest workers to take jobs from poor whites, black and legal Hispanics is counterintuitive. On the other side of the fence is the faction that says some agricultural jobs are not a good fit for unemployed people. These days it would seem that the issue is having work and paying the bills, not whether or not the job is a good fit. If this is to say that some people don’t like toiling in the fields, then why would they think the American taxpayers should pick up their living expenses in the form of welfare?

Evidently, most of the agricultural jobs are seasonal, which means workers would have to move where the work is located. Wages are also considered to be very low for the number of hours required. Also at issue is that migrant farm laborers have fewer rights than other laborers.

These three factors are essentially a turnoff for American workers. That said, a job is a job and if someone does not have one, but there is work to be had, it’s hardly acceptable to not take work because it’s not attractive. Today’s economy dictates that people need to do what they can to get food on the table and keep a roof over their heads.

The ultimate hitch with this Rubik’s cube of a problem is that without enough migrant workers to pull the product out of the field, agricultural production could stop, growers lose crops and farms go out of business. Since the nation relies of farms for food, this would be a crisis of major proportions. Right now, the legal method to let migrant workers into America is extremely slow. Many argue that Visa reform is critical.

Workers in the fields now are under a shaky H-2A guest worker program, which is highly unreliable. This leaves employers with the choice of taking that slow route when they need workers immediately, or taking documents that look good from migrant workers who may be here illegally, or hiring Americans, if any chose to apply.

The number of workers needed to keep the wheels of agriculture turning in the U.S. is 2 million and only 5,000 visas are earmarked each year for migrant workers. Where is the remainder of workers to come from? This is the conundrum yet to be solved.

To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com

“Applying for Permanent Residency can be a daunting lengthy process; therefore, it is helpful to know how many employment-based permanent residency categories there are and which closely describes you,” said Annie Banerjee of The Law Offices of Annie Banerjee, a Houston-based immigration lawyer.

There are five categories under employment-based green cards. Note that there are labor certification requirements for all categories except EB-1 and EB-5, which go directly to 1-480 (Visa Petition status) or the 1-485 (Adjustment of Status).

(Employment Based) EB-1 is generally for L-1A managers, outstanding professors or researchers and extraordinary ability aliens. They do not require labor certification like the others but they have high standards and requirements to meet and would only need to file I-140 and I-485.

With an EB-2, a labor certification is required and is for the beneficiary who holds an advanced degree – a minimum of a master’s degree. He or she would have to meet the Exceptional Ability requirements.

EB-3 holders are usually members of a profession holding at least a bachelor’s degree. They would also need a labor certification and EB-4s are reserved for religious workers.

Investors need an EB-5. Although there is no labor certification required, they must at least invest $1 million in cities – or $500,000 in “targeted employment” – and employ at least 10 full-time U.S. employees.

A qualified immigration law office can guide skillful aliens through the application process and advise them of the steps and requirements they would need for an employment based permanent residency Green Card.

To learn more, visit http://www.visatous.com.

People use social networking websites for numerous reasons – to keep in touch with family across long distances, to search for romantic partners and sometimes even to find completely new friends based on similar interests. Many users choose to connect with people they do not know in the outside world to enhance the amount of virtual “friends” they have to appear more popular. On most social networks, this means that the new “friend” can see all of the user’s private information, as well as any correspondence the user has with close friends or family.

“Connecting to people you don’t actually know is a terrible idea,” said Dallas-based immigration attorney Stewart Rabinowitz of the firm Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz. “There is nothing wrong with creating a private profile to stay in contact with close friends and family, but allowing total strangers to view personal information is a mistake.”

When a user posts information on a social networking site, it creates a public record and timeline of his or her activities. Users can set privacy settings to strict levels on most sites, allowing only friends to view this information. However, privacy settings are worthless when a user connects to strangers.

“People who post personal information on social networking websites and become friends with mass amounts of people they do not know could potentially be opening themselves up to easy surveillance,” Rabinowitz said. “The government knows these sites exist. There are documented cases where law enforcement officials and immigration officers tracked social networking users and used the information they posted against them in court.”

The process of creating a social networking profile is simple on most sites. The user often needs only to submit an e-mail address and a password to create an individual page. The user can then post whatever personal information and photographs he or she wants, even if the information is untrue or the photographs are of someone else.

That someone else could be a spammer, a data thief or even an agent from the Fraud Detection and National Security office, which recently issued a memo that said, “Social Networking gives FDNS an opportunity to reveal fraud by browsing these sites to see if petitioners and beneficiaries are in a valid relationship or are attempting to deceive [the U.S. Bureau of Citizen and Immigration Services] about their relationship.”

“The attractive girl from California who sent you that friend request because she saw you both like the beach might actually be someone who wants to track what you post. Use your discretion. Set privacy levels to the strictest settings, post as little personal information as possible and only connect to people you actually know. You never know who could be trying to access your information,” Rabinowitz said.

To learn more about Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, P.C., call 1.972.233.6200 or visit http://www.rabinowitzrabinowitz.com.

When the DREAM Act was defeated, the president went on TV to talk about immigration reform as he knows it. He was asked if he would use administrative powers to take care of the outrageous abuses of the immigration system. This is lieu of a direct path to citizenship via a stalled CIR Bill. The answer was interesting, because Obama said it was hard to do administratively.

This was an interesting stance, as it’s fairly well known that putting a stop to mass deportations would be easy to do administratively. There isn’t a law anywhere on the books that says or directs the Department of Homeland Security to obsessively strive for record breaking deportation numbers, which is what is happening right now. The fact is if the administration wanted to stop what some regard as an obscene practice, they could. Period. Throw in an election and things inexplicably change.

What’s going on right now, in the face of a November election, is that deportation numbers are at an all time high and CIR is nowhere to be seen. In other words, nothing is being done about reform, unless it deals with enforcement.

It’s not politically correct to be seen supporting CIR, not when animosity in the country over this proposed bill is so high. Those supporting CIR may face a rough road during their campaign for re-election, which accounts for why so many politicians have seemingly changed sides and flip-flopped over this issue. The voters aren’t stupid. Many Latinos will be voting with their feet in the election by staying home or casting their ballot for the other guy.

A quick look back at this year so far shows no DREAM Act passed and no CIR. What does the government have to recommend it for re-election based on these two issues besides stepped up enforcement, which is not going over well. Dangling the carrot of passing the CIR after the election isn’t getting the response the politicians thought it would. In fact, in many states, the fate of the incumbents may lie in the balance based on their stance on CIR.

There is still no direct path to citizenship and seems that there isn’t one on its way. That does not bode well for the millions of immigrants who need to know what their status is or isn’t. Dangling a carrot in front of desperate people who are fed up with waiting isn’t a good tactic. The election may bring the nation some surprises.

To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com

On Aug. 25, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano visited Piegan, Sweetgrass, Sunburst, and Havre, Montana, with Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Alan Bersin to tour CBP operations and meet with state and local officials, law enforcement personnel, and private sector stakeholders regarding DHS’s efforts to secure the northern border.

“We have made critical security enhancements along our northern border, investing in additional personnel, technology, and infrastructure to meet the security and operational requirements of our post-9/11 world,” Napolitano said. “DHS is committed to working closely with our federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement partners with the citizens of Montana to protect the border while facilitating legal trade and travel.”

State of the art technologies now put in place at Piegan and Sweetgrass ports of entry include thermal camera systems and Mobile Surveillance Systems. A roundtable discussion was held in Sunburst, Montana involving federal, state, local, tribal, and Canadian law enforcement to discuss potential methods of combating transnational crime and illicit drug smuggling along the northern border. DHS expects to have more than 2,200 Border Patrol agents along the northern border by the end of 2010 – a 700 percent increase since Sept. 11, 2001 – in addition to the approximately 5,800 CBP officers already stationed in northern border states.

“While more stringent security and safeguards are expected in the wake of the events which so traumatized Americans nine years ago, especially since several of the nineteen hijackers of jet planes were known to have entered the United States via Canadian routes to wreak their havoc, I question if the right questions are being asked when security and safeguards are being formulated, let alone being implemented. Are we as a nation simply being reactive or truly proactive – in the primarily enforcement-focused measures being taken, repetitively and continually, during the years since?” asked Dallas-based immigration attorney Stewart Rabinowitz, of the firm Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz.

Rabinowitz wonders about immigration patterns, scrutiny and leeway being granted or denied, and about excess concern with U.S.-Canada trade interactions, as individuals are too often lost in the paranoiac shuffle, or worse, subject to CBP abuses committed in the name of enhanced security. “These may have far reaching consequences too,” Rabinowitz said.

To learn more about Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, P.C., call 1.972.233.6200 or visit http://www.rabinowitzrabinowitz.com.

The annual inflow of unauthorized immigrants – sometimes referred to in the mainstream media as “illegal immigrants,” or in an even less favorable light as “illegals” – was nearly two-thirds smaller in the March 2007 to March 2009 period than it had been from March 2000 to March 2005, according to new estimates by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center.

This sharp decline has contributed to an overall reduction of 8 percent in the number of unauthorized immigrants currently living in the United States – to 11.1 million in March 2009 from a peak of 12 million in March 2007, according to the estimates. The decrease represents the first significant reversal in the growth of this population over the past two decades.

“You would think that this would be a major news story, and be getting a lot of attention from the U.S. media,” said Dallas-based immigration attorney Stewart Rabinowitz of the firm Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz. “But for some reason, the opposite message – that unauthorized immigration is out of control and continues to increase at unprecedented rates – is what anti-immigration voices in the media trumpet and what even so-called ‘moderate’ voices acquiesce to. Unfortunately, the reasons for this are best explained as political and part of an agenda.”

The Pew Hispanic Center’s analysis also finds that the most marked decline in the population of unauthorized immigrants has been among those who come from Latin American countries other than Mexico. From 2007 to 2009, the size of this group from the Caribbean, Central America and South America decreased 22 percent.

“Often some of the anti-immigration pundits and commentators will exaggerate and use hyperbole to say that next to Mexico, many other dark-skinned persons from points further south are sneaking in across the U.S.-Mexican border, although they will use language a bit more toned down than that, and they make their intent well-known,” Rabinowitz said. “What they are saying on talk radio tends to be thinly veiled.”

Lack of a factual basis fails to deter anti-immigration voices. The Pew Center’s analysis also noted that the inflow of Mexican unauthorized immigrants peaked at 7 million in 2007 and has since leveled off.

To learn more about Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, P.C., call 1.972.233.6200 or visit http://www.rabinowitzrabinowitz.com.

The only one thing that remains a given – as far as it can be, that is – is the fact that the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act 2009 has been tabled. That should mean that the subcommittees working on it, citizenship, refugees, international law, border security and immigration, should really enact it. But Bill HR4321 languishes on the table.

Politics has once again reared its ugly head and the fate of millions of immigrants hangs in limbo, while petty differences of opinion hold up a major bill that could change the lives of those involved. The premise behind this bill is a good one, and that is, if the system can be fixed by working together to find a complete and equitable solution that keeps the border secure, enforces the law and acknowledges the mixed heritage of Americans, it would be a win-win situation for all. It would ultimately mean that immigration would be driven by what is in the best economic interests of the nation and the American worker.

This sounds fine in theory. This sounds fine in debate. This sounds fine in a bill. However, that’s as far as it’s gotten – sounding fine. No one can seem to get it implemented due to politics. To accomplish comprehensive immigration reform, the political parties need to work together to make it happen for the people who elected them. That’s not happening because no one can agree on how to make it happen without stepping on a whole lot of toes.

This has been going on for too long. No wonder things are up in the air and comprehensive immigration reform is only proceeding on the enforcement front. It’s the easiest area to do something visible in. It’s rather obvious that the only way something will give is to shove politics to the side and get comprehensive immigration reform handled.

To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com

It’s amazing how people coin various terms when they’re trying to make a point about something. The new term, “anchor babies,” likely would never have surfaced had it not been for the call for a reassessment of the 14th Amendment. Some feel that it wrongly protects the children of undocumented immigrants.

The whole debate started to heat up after U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham described the “drop and leave” tactics that he said seems to be growing in popularity with pregnant illegal aliens. It involves the mother coming to the U.S. for one reason – to have a child there. Doing that means the baby is granted American citizenship, which is an “anchor” that parents may use later for legal residency.

The interesting thing about Graham’s remarks is that at one time he (and John McCain) was an insistent promoter of comprehensive immigration reform. He wanted to find a way to offer undocumented and illegal aliens a legal way to become citizens.

Graham and a cadre of others have suddenly shuffled their political position to attacking the citizenship clause in the Constitution. It’s a typical political move, but disturbing nonetheless. It makes one wonder why anyone would believe what a politician says and brings new meaning to that old saying that actions speak louder than words. Likely, if voters paid more attention to political action in an election year than words, our representation in government may be totally different than what it is today.

This debate, in part, centers on the practice of a country granting birthright citizenship. The U.S. is one of 33 countries that allow this, despite what many hear on the news. The practice is called jus soli.

It is now not just a term used in discussions about comprehensive immigration reform, as it’s also raising its head when it comes to terrorist organizations and well-to-do birth tourists. Some politicians and pundits are arguing that terrorists are utilizing jus soli to plant babies who will grow up to become legal American terrorists. Does this kind of dire warning ring true? This is something many people need to decide for themselves. Frankly, when it comes to pre-election shenanigans, this type of scare tactic is pretty familiar as a diversion. Yes, illegal aliens do have their babies in the U.S., but to suggest they drop and leave to sabotage the country might be somewhat of a leap.

Look to the U.S. Supreme Court as being the final arbiter in this debate. The facts can’t be changed and this is the law. The court has dealt with the wording of the 14th Amendment on numerous occasions, and the law says that for the U.S. to change a birthright citizenship policy, the 14th Amendment must be changed or past Supreme Court decisions must be overturned. This isn’t likely going to happen any time soon. So, once again, comprehensive immigration reform becomes a tempest in a teapot over an issue that’s not really relevant to the big picture. And this is likely due to the upcoming November elections.

To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has removed Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection from its definition of communicable disease of public health significance. Prior to this final rule, aliens with HIV infection were considered to have a communicable disease of public health significance and were thus inadmissible to the United States. While HIV infection is a serious health condition, the CDC has determined that it is not a communicable disease that is a significant public health risk for introduction, transmission, and spread to the U.S. population through casual contact.

As background, beginning in 1952, the language of the immigration statutes mandated that aliens “who are afflicted with any dangerous contagious disease” are ineligible to receive a visa and therefore are excluded from admission into the United States. In April 1986, prior to the recent developments in medicine and epidemiologic principles concerning HIV infection, HHS published a proposed rule to include acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) as a dangerous contagious disease. Also during this time, HHS separately published a proposed rule to substitute HIV infection for AIDS on the list of dangerous contagious diseases. While this proposed rule was pending public comment, Congress added HIV infection to the list of dangerous contagious diseases. Accordingly and immediately, aliens infected with HIV became ineligible to receive visas and were excluded from admission into the United States.

In recognition of both medical advances and CDC’s re-evaluation of HIV’s health impact on the U.S. population, in the summer of 2008, Congress amended the immigration statutes on HIV infection returning to the Secretary of HHS the discretion for determining whether HIV infection should remain in the definition of communicable disease of public health significance, discretion which the Secretary recently exercised by removing HIV infection from the definition of communicable disease of public health significance.

Stewart Rabinowitz is President of Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, P.C. Mr. Rabinowitz is Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. To contact a Dallas immigration lawyer or Dallas immigration attorney visit Rabinowitzrabinowitz.com.

Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) started rounding up and arresting 50 people named in 27 federal indictments on August 11, 2009. All were part of a scheme based in Cincinnati, Ohio, to arrange fraudulent marriages with the intent of evading U.S. immigration laws. The participants in the questionable activity included 23 foreign nationals and 27 U.S. citizens who they had married under false pretenses, although all fifty were known to be in cooperation with each other.

Thirty-three individuals were immediately taken into federal custody.

A federal grand jury had returned the indictments on August 5. Marriage fraud is a crime involving falsely written statements or false representations that is increasingly involved with immigration paperwork and has been diligently prosecuted under the Bush and Obama Administrations. Each of the crimes is punishable by up to five years imprisonment. Those individuals who are in the United States without lawful status face deportation.

According to ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton, “Marriage fraud poses a major vulnerability that must not go unchallenged. The significant number of indictments handed down today as a result of Operation Honeymoon’s Over should send the unambiguous message that ICE will not tolerate the exploitation of our country’s immigration system. Whether you are marrying one person under false pretenses or various people, or facilitating the fraud, know this – you will be found, arrested, and held accountable for your actions.”

The U.S. investigation unraveled a scheme intended to arrange marriages between Eastern European aliens and U.S. citizens. Fees were paid by the Eastern Europeans to U.S. citizens and to conspiracy organizers to arrange the marriages. Those perpetrating the fraud created false documents indicating that the marriages were legal, documents that were then presented to U.S. immigration officials.

Operation Honeymoon’s Over was part of an investigation which had been ongoing since early 2008.
In 2008, ICE made 238 criminal arrests related to marriage fraud schemes and obtained 198 convictions.

Stewart Rabinowitz is President of Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, P.C. Mr. Rabinowitz is Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. To contact a Dallas immigration lawyer or Dallas immigration attorney visit Rabinowitzrabinowitz.com

An H-1B is a nonimmigrant classification used by an immigrant who will be employed temporarily in a specialty occupation or as a “fashion model” of distinguished merit and ability. Applicants with skills of a more specialized nature, such as architecture, engineering, mathematics, physical sciences, social sciences, medicine and health, education, business specialties, accounting, law, theology, and the arts generally qualify for the H-1B visa. The majority of these require a minimum of a four year bachelor’s degree or the equivalent field related experience.

Also the beneficiary of the H-1B visa can have the intent to immigrate permanently to the United States. With this “dual intent” you can apply for adjustment of status or take the steps necessary to the Lawful Permanent Resident Status without nullifying the H-1B status.

As of August 7th, 2009, approximately 44,900 of the 65,000 H-1B cap-subject petitions have been received by the United States Citizen and Immigration Service and count toward the H-1B cap. USCIS continues to accept both cap-subject petitions and advanced degree petitions until a sufficient number of petitions have been received to reach the statutory limits. “There is still time to apply,” says Houston-area immigration lawyer Annie Banerjee, “the cap has a long way to go.”

Under current law, an alien can be in H-1B status for a maximum of six years at a time. After that period, they must remain outside the nation’s borders for a minimum of one year. “The principal exception relates to certain aliens working on Department of Defense projects,” Ms. Banerjee explains, “they can remain for up to ten years.” Then there’s the extension. “Certain aliens can get an extension of their H-1B status beyond the 6-year maximum period when at least a year has passed since the filing of any application for labor certification Form ETA 750, the one that is required or used by the alien to obtain status as an EB immigrant,” she adds.

But the real caveats occur when an alien’s circumstances change. “As long as they keep their job, providing H-1B services to a U.S. employer, all is well,” says Banerjee. “They have to be truthful. If an alien is working in some other specialty occupation other than the one they petitioned for, that would be a status violation.”

Contact the Law Offices of Annie Banerjee or to learn more about Houston immigration lawyer, immigration lawyer in Houston, Houston immigration attorney, visit their information filled web site at Visatous.com

The Department of Labor (DOL) publicly states that the new incarnation of iCERT is a boon to immigration attorneys and their beleaguered staffs. If only this were true. Some users of the newest system express a degree of frustration hitherto never expressed. It’s been called a bureaucratic quagmire. Here’s why.

Various attorneys and employers report that the DOL requests copies of the underlying wage surveys and proceeds to deny the associated labor condition application (LCA) if the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) deems the wage survey does not comply with specified wage criteria in the regulations. Samples of some obvious inaccuracies include incomplete regulation forms, a wage that is lower than the minimum wage rate, an offered wage that is lower than the stated prevailing wage rate and the employer’s debarment from filing LCAs or similar errors. Determining whether a prevailing wage source is appropriate clearly falls outside the scope of ETA authorized review of the ETA 9035. While employers are required to use alternate wage surveys that comply with the standards set forth at 655.731 (b) (3) (iii), there is no authorization in the regulation for ETA to screen or approve the alternate wage survey prior to certifying the LCA. The seven day mandatory processing time does not include any exceptions or extensions for further review of supporting materials of an LCA.

Another issue is iCERT denials for lack of FEIN, or because FEIN is represented as a social security number. Several employers and attorneys have reported denials of iCERT LCAs when a valid FEIN is submitted, but DOL does not recognize it as being valid.

Several instances of PERM denials have based on the appropriateness of newspaper listings have been reported. Under the new iCERT system, it is difficult to discover any clarifications that may be relevant to these denials.

If these obvious glitches weren’t enough, even communication channels with DOL employees regarding iCERT questions have often been lacking. A report of legal staffers being unable to contact the appropriate officials has led to strident accusations of iCERT having already metamorphosed into a bureaucratic quagmire. Where will the madness end?

A. Banerjee is a Houston immigration lawyer in Texas. Before selecting an immigration lawyer in Houston Texas, contact the Law Offices of Annie Banerjee or to learn more about Houston immigration lawyer, immigration lawyer in Houston, Houston immigration attorney, visit their information filled web site at Visatous.com.

The recent confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court was a politically-charged test to the Obama Administration’s influence. Her confirmation was soundly approved – but along partisan lines.Conservative bloggers had decried the idea of a Hispanic woman being appointed, while interest groups often uttered misrepresentations concerning Ms. Sotomayor’s positions, especially those concerned with immigration issues. But what were her views on immigration as legislated from the Appeals Court bench?

Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Judiciary’s immigration subcommittee, assigned his staff to analyze how Ms. Sotomayor voted in 955 immigration cases in which she participated during her judicial career, with a special focus on cases that involved foreigners trying to win asylum claims in order to remain in the United States. The Schumer-led inquiry led to some intriguing results. Of the 848 asylum cases in which Sotomayor has taken part, she sided with the foreigner over the government in 144 of them, or 17% of the cases. That percentage was virtually identical to that of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, of which she was a member, during the two-year window studied. Such a percentage, though significant, was not excessive, and well within the judicial mainstream.

While the idea that the recent election of Barack Obama has triggered a “post-racial” United States is greatly exaggerated beneath an avalanche of media hype, the idea that Sonia Sotomayor is racially biased due in large measure to her ethnicity and gender is blatant hyperbole, a sort of pandering to those who would send America back to their own brand of intolerance. Still, where are we now in a 2009 still-racialized nation?
Persistent inequalities exist in a so-called multi-cultural society, euphemisms such as “hate crimes” destroy lives and children of various “people of color” heritages including denizens from various Latin American cultures attend substandard and underfinanced schools within a thousand urbanized ghettos.

The Republican-right wing sees none of this in their fantasia version of America. Listening to right-wing voices during the Sotomayor nominating process was reminiscent of talk radio “hate jocks” spewing a stream of fixed ideology rhetoric, whether it happened to be expressed in the manner of Tom Tancredo, Rush Limbaugh, or Newt Gingrich. Judge Sotomayor’s mistake, in their view, was that she affirmed her social experience as a “Latina” woman. But in their respective opinions, affirming any kind of fair-mindedness in real terms is the gravest sin of all.

A. Banerjee is a Houston immigration lawyer in Texas. Before selecting an immigration lawyer in Houston Texas, contact the Law Offices of Annie Banerjee or to learn more about Houston immigration lawyer, immigration lawyer in Houston, Houston immigration attorney, visit their information filled web site at Visatous.com.

In order to understand why these changes were made, it would help to understand a bit more about the WHTI. “The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative basically says that all travelers to and from Canada, Bermuda, the Caribbean and Mexico, who didn’t previously need passports, now need passports or other documents that proves who they are and their country of origin (citizenship) in order to enter and leave the U.S.,” said Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.

This measure was brought into being as a joint initiative of the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State after 9/11 in order to address what the U.S. viewed as a major security problem – vulnerable borders. As of June 1, 2009, U.S. citizens, including children, had to start presenting passports, etc., when coming into the U.S. by air. “Other documents may include a NEXUS card, U.S. military ID and travel orders, a passport or U.S. Merchant Marine documents,” indicated Odell.

U.S. citizens coming in by land or seaports now need WHTI compliant documents that in most cases are a U.S. passport, a trusted traveler card (NEXUS, SENTRI or FAST), a passport card or enhanced driver’s license. The idea behind NEXUS is that it is for low risk, pre-approved travelers into the U.S. and Canada. SENTRI cards allow expedited travel to approved members between the U.S. and Mexican border, and FAST refers to a truck driver card that lets drivers avoid lineups at the border.

If a person is in the category of lawful permanent resident, then after the 1st of June, 2009, if travelling by air, all residents, including children must offer a passport or other proper travel documents. “For land and sea travel they may still use Form I-551 permanent resident card,” added Odell.

If a traveler happens to be from another country and arriving by air, they must have a passport or other proper documentation. “Since these travelers hold a non-U.S. passport or visa, US-VISIT biometric procedures apply. Biometrics simply means a person’s unique physical characteristics, like fingerprints, are collected and used for automated recognition,” outlined Odell. A fingerprint cannot be forged and instantly identifies a person.

The rules and regulations are quite extensive, and for a complete understanding of how they may apply to certain individuals, it is best to consult with a highly skilled immigration attorney such as Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.

To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

It really would be in everyone’s best interests if dual nationality couples wanting a visa for their partner to come to the U.S., filed for the I-129F petition with the assistance of a highly skilled immigration attorney. It would mean an error free process without the possible delays often likely when people attempt to file on their own. The delays are usually the result of not fully knowing or understanding current immigration rules and regulations, which seem to change daily.

If a couple still wishes to try to file on their own, it would be a good idea to be as well prepared as possible in advance of dealing with U.S. Immigration, as this will save potential difficulties later in the process. “The first thing anyone would need to know is the correct service center to file petitions. If a petition is filed in the wrong center, this has the potential to lead to delays,” indicated Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.

Documentation is a major part of any petition and it must be correctly filled out or there will be even more difficulties.” Make sure all the documents that are required are submitted with the petition, as this will save Immigration from sending out a Request for Evidence,” added Odell. If everything they need is included, this speeds up the process.

“If there are documents that require translation, make sure there is a translation attached to the petition,” outlined Odell. Don’t think twice about the necessity of this, just do it, as failure to offer one may wind up receiving a request for further evidence or something called a 221G, which is a refusal by the U.S. Embassy to issue a visa without more information.

Keep in close touch with the other person so that both parties know precisely where things are in relation to the application for a visa. If there is no communication, or sporadic communication with sparse details, this will further slow the whole process down.

This should go without saying, however it seems to be an issue often enough that it needs to be mentioned. Do not under any circumstances lie to the federal government about your reasons for wanting to immigrate to the U.S. In other words, don’t apply for a tourist visa for a potential spouse and then wonder why you are not able to get married using that particular visa. Tourist visas are for people who come to visit and have no intentions of staying.

The bottom line is, that in order to make certain the proper documents are filed in a timely manner, it is best to consult with a knowledgeable immigration attorney who will make this process a lot easier than going it alone. One such knowledgeable attorney is Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.

To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

We all know or are at least aware of the 670 miles of fencing that will go along the southern border to deflect the entry of illegal immigrants, vehicles and drugs. While we have not yet hit the complete installation of the 670 miles, it appears to be well under way with the end in sight within a year. Border Patrol officers have been increased and their numbers will be even higher over the year. In fact there are now 16,690 agents with the total to hit about 18,000 later on.

Add into this ever-increasing force Project 28 (P-28) and the combination of watchful technology and more agents should work even more effectively to deal with those trying to cross the border illegally. This system has been in place since 2007 and is responsible for apprehending over 3,500 illegal aliens.

It appears that security already in place is doing its job and the apprehension rates are beginning to decline. The question becomes, is the rate declining because of the stepped up security or because of the desperate economy the nation faces? This is an interesting question when put into the perspective of the federal government’s commitment of $775 million to enhance border security. This is largely to finance an unmanned aircraft system and support the installation of over 10,000 ground sensors.
The government is of the opinion that their crackdown has made a difference in the number of cross border apprehensions. They cite some interesting figures that indicate that may be the case. For instance, the Border Patrol indicated a 20% decline on the southern border for 2007. In 2008 the figures showed a 17% decline on the southwest border.

As further evidence of their border security success, the feds also point out remittances to the Bank of Mexico fell dramatically in the first four months of 2009 – down 2.4% from last year. This is supposed to indicate that apprehending illegal workers has made the rates drop.

While this may be an interesting theory, and there may be a nugget of truth in it, it would appear the real reason for the decline in apprehensions is fewer people are trying to go over the border, as opposed to more being caught. Why would this be?

It you spend any time online reading financial information about the economy and the recession, you will immediately know that the U.S. started showing distinct signs of being in economic distress in 2007. Think the housing market boom and things of that nature. The economy was bright and booming, but if you correctly read the signals – whatever goes up, must come down, and down the economy came.
Who in their right mind would try to illegally cross a border to find a job in an economy where those who already live there are losing their jobs, where companies are going out of business daily and where bankruptcies are higher than ever? The obvious answer to that would be not many, and this would explain the decline in border apprehensions. When the economy revives, look to the border once again.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

The problem with the existing immigration system is that it is broken beyond the ability of band-aids. It really needs a good revamping from the ground up, but whether there is the political will and ability to accomplish that is the real question. In the meantime, the system limps along and does the best it can subject to the vociferous criticisms of those in the system, those who need to use the system, and those (such as immigration lawyers) who have to work with the existing system.

Comprehensive immigration reform looked like it might actually be accomplished, in bits and pieces, in 2007. You may remember the storm on the Hill about this proposed reform. Unfortunately, the serious flaws in the system are still there, as the reforms never got much further than the “table.” Oddly, the changes everyone did seem to agree upon, which were roughly 85% of the total proposed, were not passed. And so it sits on the shelf – waiting.

Is now a better time? Or better yet, is “now” the time? There are definitely still many issues that desperately need to be addressed, such as worker shortages, border security, visa policy, and worker verification systems. These problems are not going away and the longer they are left, the worse they will become.

What’s more disturbing, is the fact that since the big boys in Washington are not doing much about implementing needed reform, the powers that be in other local governments are making up the rules as they go along. While it is an attempt to “fix” the system as best as possible, it creates quite the conundrum. With ad hoc, “do it because we need it” kind of rules, it causes endless problems with constitutionality. It is also ending up with one rule or regulation contradicting another one. Obviously, these rules would be hard to apply with any degree of fairness.

It seems that many of the proposed “new” solutions may not be that effective for long standing problems. Some of the new systems contemplated have not necessarily been tested, which means any kinks or errors will need to be sorted out on the fly. And speaking of fly, one of the systems, the No Fly list, is a definite cause for concern in many respects including due process and civil liberties. It has an undeniable potential for discrimination on many levels.

Is the time now? If it is, there are still some very significant issues that need to be addressed. Whether they will be addressed at this time is anyone’s guess. We can only hope for reform, as we have hoped for it before.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

By law, a non-immigrant loses their status when they lose their job. Generally the CIS will give a 1 month grace period for the worker to find another employer sponsor. If this fails to happen, the worker should immediately file for a visitor’s or student visa or return to their home country. A visitor’s visa may be necessary to extend one’s stay to be able to settle financial affairs here. One should file the Form I-539 and explain the situation, and show sufficient resources in the U.S. to stay here.

If applying for a student visa, one must actually study. Simply registering is not sufficient. Schools benefit from a culturally diverse student population, and students benefit from the education.

By converting to a student or visitor’s visa or leaving the U.S., one effectively puts on hold any time remaining of an issued 6 year period on the H-1B visa, and can go back to H-1B status at any time once a new sponsor is found. A non-immigrant worker does not have to enter the H-1B lottery again. According to Houston-based immigration lawyer Annie Banerjee, “By filing for a conversion to the visitor or student visa, or by leaving the U.S., they actually stop the running of the 6-year H-1B clock and preserve the remaining time.”

Houston-based immigration lawyer, Annie Banerjee, is quick to stress another point. “Whatever one does, they have to be careful not to accrue illegal presence. If one has a 6 month illegal presence, they are barred for 3 years, and if the illegal presence is 1 year or more, there is a 10 year bar. These penalties are just not worth the risk.”

On the plus side, there are plenty of H-1B visas available. As of July 3, 2009, the CIS had received only 45,000 applications for their 65,000 per year quota of H-1B visas. Jobs are scarce and that is true especially for non-immigrants, so for those lucky enough to find an employer sponsor, unlike in previous years, there is no lottery.

To learn more about Houston immigration lawyer, immigration lawyer in Houston, Houston immigration attorney, visit their information filled web site at Visatous.com.

Losing a job is never easy. Few people enjoy being laid off or fired. During this shallow Depression that the U.S. has been mired in since the fall of 2007, millions of U.S. citizens have lost their jobs, or are referred to as “underemployed.” Employees living in the United States who are here on non-immigrant visas like H-1B and L-1 face a peculiar and daunting situation. If they are laid off or lose their job, they not only lose their job, they lose their sponsor. Once they are unemployed, they are forced to obtain a new employer to sponsor them in this country within just 30 days, which is actually an unofficial grace period. They are allowed to convert to a visitor or student visa, but U.S. authorities have been increasingly denying the applications of such changed classifications for unemployed workers.

“I had a client who’d been employed for an oil company for 25 years in Saudi Arabia, and subsequently for an additional year in the U.S. Abruptly, he was laid off. Because he is an Indian national, his only option was to return to India. His house must be sold, and the current real estate market guarantees a substantial loss. An even more insidious cost to his sudden forced departure from the U.S. involves the plights of his teenaged children and their educational and social needs. The school system in India will seem foreign to them,” asserts immigration lawyer Annie Banerjee.

By U.S. law, non-immigrants lose their status when they are let go from their jobs. The CIS is now extremely stringent with foreign-born workers overstaying their visas and remaining in the country illegally. But with harsh circumstances they are forced to deal with, those workers initially granted H-1B and L-1 visas who lose their jobs, and hence their U.S. sponsor, adversity beckons in many ways.

To learn more about Houston immigration lawyer, immigration lawyer in Houston, Houston immigration attorney, visit their information filled web site at Visatous.com.

A native and citizen of Ecuador who had lied about a previous conviction and incarceration was denied continued residence in the United States despite his recent marriage to a U.S. citizen. José Enríque Peralta filed a series of petitions before the court culminating in the May 28, 2009, decision. It was a convoluted route to eventual deportation for Mr. Peralta.

The last step on his journey was actually a request for judicial review of the final order of The Board of Immigration Appeals dated July 24, 2008, which had denied his second motion to reopen removal proceedings.

Mr. Peralta’s personal saga began a decade earlier, when he entered the United States illegally. In July of 2003, he obtained lawful permanent resident status based on his marriage to a U.S. citizen. The Department of Homeland Security later learned that when he’d applied for permanent resident status, he’d neglected to disclose, either on his application or at his interview, that he’d been convicted on January 8, 2002, of assault and battery, and received an 18-month prison sentence. On that basis, DHS charged that the petitioner was subject to removal under 8 U.S.C. § 1227 (a) (1) (A).

The judge ruled from the bench that the petitioner had knowingly and willfully furnished false information in connection with his application. He appealed that decision, and that appeal was affirmed by the BIA, although Peralta did not seek judicial review of the BIA’s decision. On December 22, 2005, well after the period for seeking judicial review had expired, he filed another motion to reopen the removal proceedings based on his pending I-130 visa petition noting he had divorced his first American wife in the spring of 2005, and married another woman (also a U.S. citizen) on August 20, 2005.

The next year when the previous motion was reviewed, he again stated that he’d never been convicted of a crime. This statement by itself justified the motion’s denial.

Several motions later, the final May 28, 2009, outcome was all but certain. Mr. Peralta was last known to be living in a suburb of Quito, Ecuador.

A. Banerjee is a Houston immigration lawyer in Texas. Before selecting an immigration lawyer in Houston Texas, contact the Law Offices of Annie Banerjee or to learn more about Houston immigration lawyer, immigration lawyer in Houston, Houston immigration attorney, visit their information filled web site at Visatous.com.

U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Butler County Sheriff’s Office fined a Monroe Ohio doughnut factory $40,000 for violations of immigration laws on July 7, 2009. The Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corporation might have been fined an even greater amount if they hadn’t reached a settlement.

ICE conducted an I-9 Inspection of Krispy Kreme after receiving an anonymous tip through the Butler County Sheriff’s Office that revealed dozens of illegal aliens were employed at their doughnut factory only a few miles from Cincinnati at their Lawton Avenue plant in Monroe. The company had employed 25 unauthorized workers locally and in some cases was lacking required paperwork.

The Krispy Kreme plant is approximately 26,000 square feet and employs 90 people. It has been in operation since 1998 and produces all varieties of cake and yeast doughnuts.

Employers are required to complete and retain a form I-9 for each individual they hire for employment in the United States. This form requires employers to review and record an individual’s identity documents and determine whether the documents appear to be genuine and related to the individual.

The audit also revealed violations to the Immigration and Nationality Act. In September 2007, ICE issued a notice of intent to fine and the fine was settled on July 7, 2009.

As part of the settlement, the company is revising its immigration compliance program and has agreed to begin implementing new procedures to prevent future violations of federal immigration laws.

In April 2009, ICE implemented a new comprehensive strategy to reduce the demand for illegal employment and protect employment opportunities for the nation’s lawful workforce. Under this strategy ICE is focusing its resources on the auditing and investigation of employers suspected of cultivating illegal workplaces by knowingly employing illegal workers. During the last week of June 2009, ICE announced as part of this initiative 652 businesses throughout the U.S. would be audited to determine their compliance.

The Obama Administration is expected to focus on business owners who are violators. In Butler County, employers were previously warned by posted billboards strategically located throughout the area that it was illegal to hire illegal immigrants.

A. Banerjee is a Houston immigration lawyer in Texas. Before selecting an immigration lawyer in Houston Texas, contact the Law Offices of Annie Banerjee or to learn more about Houston immigration lawyer, immigration lawyer in Houston, Houston immigration attorney, visit their information filled web site at Visatous.com.

There are literally thousands of people who cross our borders daily that are ill with anything from a cold to N1H1 flu and from TB to Hepatitis. How do we stop them, either at the border or from crossing over illegally? These are the burning questions today in US immigration law. Stopping those legally crossing and turning them back won’t make much difference if they get it into their heads that they want to come to the US no matter what.

The thing is that even if a legal immigrant is denied US citizenship, there is nothing stopping them from coming into the country illegally. “And it’s darn certain that even border fences, checks, videos and other deterrents aren’t really working, even if there is the fear of getting caught,” said Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida. It doesn’t seem to matter if what they are doing is illegal; the need to provide for their families at home is a major driving factor in most cross border apprehensions.

“The problem however, lies not just with illegal or legal immigrants that are ill crossing our borders; this also extends to immigrants from third world countries. If they’re sick and immigrate to the US, how do we know they are ill until the symptoms manifest themselves?” added Odell. These types of questions always lurk in the minds of legislators, law enforcement and health officials when it comes to making decisions about the rules and regulations pertaining to immigration – from any country.

The bottom line is that there are still human rights issues at play, and whether we like it or not they need to be addressed equitably. “If we become too “exclusive” (meaning in this instance to exclude) in our immigration policies, we run the very real risk of being regarded as a country that subscribes to racial discrimination,” commented Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.
It’s a fine line to walk, and many immigration lawyers shudder to think what the future may hold.

Immigration laws definitely need far better health screening rules and procedures. No one would argue that point. Where the argument hits the fan is when politicians advocate for tighter borders (e.g. the fence between the southern states and Mexico) and even stricter border checks, etc. The real question underlying all of this great debate is: “What about human rights issues?”

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“When an immigrant from a third world country wishes to be considered for residency in the US, it’s often the case that their personal records, due to the turmoil in their home country, are incomplete,” commented Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.

The problem with this, aside from the obvious lack of facts, is if the person has an existing criminal record, that’s the last thing they are going to voluntarily reveal to the authorities in the US. “Why would they want to mess up a chance at relocating to the land of opportunity, as opposed to the oppressive regime they may be currently living under?” said Odell.

Obviously, this is a problem for determining if the applicant is of “good moral character” and other specifications that need to be met prior to being approved for entry. The interesting thing is that our current immigration system was originally designed to keep out certain types of wrong doers or just plain bad people from becoming a part of America’s melting pot.

“If there are no records, or incomplete records, this means we have no way of knowing if they are violent, have taken part in criminal activities, if they have spent time in jail and if so for what crime, or any other specifics that may be used to assess the viability of their application for immigrant status in the US,” explained Odell.

To say that this has the potential to be an embarrassing political problem at some point would be fairly accurate, for if the US Immigrations officials make the mistake of assessing someone as being acceptable without proper records and something terrible happens, it’s media circus time.

The solution appears to be that European countries are working to electronically synchronize their criminal records and allow them to be viewed by those who need to know in other nations – say the United States. “This will increase the chances of fugitives being apprehended, weed out fraudulent business individuals, immediately identify career criminals, murderers and even child molesters,” outlined Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.

Of course, this kind of an intelligence system would work both ways in order for our authorities to enjoy the advantages of reciprocity. While reciprocity is nice, it will need to come with a dash of discretion and the ability to interpret not only the plain, stark language of various records, but realize the motivation behind some of them and make exceptions.

For instance, in some countries, those who are oppressed and fight back are jailed and receive a criminal record for wanting to make life better for their fellow countrymen and women. This is hardly to be classified as a ” crime” in the most usually accepted sense of the word.

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Every day we read the paper, there is another story about the problems of illegal immigration or other dire news relating to this convoluted system. It’s not much wonder when the rules keep changing like a kaleidoscope, that things aren’t working all that well for either those that run this complicated system, or those that are trying to work within this archaic system.

Is the system broken? Most definitely it is and this isn’t much of a shock either when you look at the horrendous documentation to be admitted to the US as an authorized immigrant. Knowing that the system lacks something to be desired, and takes forever and a day to get through (meaning sometimes years) more immigrants are willing to take the chance of sneaking over the border and just getting on with their lives.

Speak to immigrants waiting for approval to get into the US and you’ll likely hear a whole litany of things what would make a natural citizen cringe. The rules, regulations, addendums and constant changes make trying to get legal status in the US a real hit and miss proposition. Why then are we wondering that the influx of illegal immigrants seems to be higher than it has ever been?

It’s quite obvious that immigrants want to live in the US because America truly is the land of unlimited opportunities – if you can even get approved, meet all the requirements, live an exemplary life, don’t commit a crime, learn all about the civil government and pass your citizenship test. Not asking much are we?

Unfortunately, to say that the immigration system is botched would be an understatement. Take a good look at how jammed packed the immigration courts happen to be. Qualified, decent people that would do our country credit are getting lost in a vast behemoth of a system whose good days are few and far between. In the meantime, almost 30 million people have felt the need to sneak over the border. The immigration system definitely needs to be fixed.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

Over the last decade or so, there has been a significant increase in the severity of immigration paybacks if an immigrant has been convicted of a criminal offense. The problem is, it’s not just the fact that the immigrant may have been convicted, the consequences may happen anyway even if they were NOT arrested or convicted, but perhaps charged for criminal conduct.

Due to the severe nature of the immigration fallout on the other side of this equation, criminal defense attorneys need to not just reduce time in custody, but work to avoid deportation when any sentence is completed. Although attorneys in California are required to tell their immigration clients about the real aftermath of certain defense strategies, this often doesn’t happen. This of course winds up putting the immigrant behind the proverbial eight ball.

The interesting question is why immigrants don’t get a deportation defense along with their criminal defense. This most often relates to the attorney not considering that type of work to be included in criminal defense proceedings. On the other side of the coin, there are zealous criminal defense lawyers who have a special skill in attempting to mitigate possible deportation and also reducing time in custody.

If you happen to have a record of criminal conduct, make sure you are aware of the precise immigration spin-off of that record before filing an application with USCIC or traveling. By traveling or applying to USCIC, you will bring your record to the attention of the government and this could result in a rather drastic outcome.

There are a variety of areas affected by a history of criminal conduct, including your inability to now be able to say you have “good moral character,” a requirement for obtaining permission to immigrate to the US. Criminal conduct will also prevent you from being approved for naturalization, and bar you from being able to qualify for certain relief forms from deportation in immigration court.

The above sanctions may not seem too great, and admittedly, are on the lesser end of the range of consequences for criminal conduct. Be aware however that things like being charged or even accused of an aggravated felony may result in quick expulsion.

If you think you can just come back into the US after expulsion (without authorization) for this type of felony, think again, as you may face up to 20-years in federal prison if prosecuted. Lately, state attorneys are paying more attention to dealing with and prosecuting cases of this nature.

In all instances, if you have a history of criminal conduct, consult with a highly skilled immigration lawyer to find out where you stand with regard to the immigration process. Better to know that now, than find out the hard way later.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

H-1B visas have always been controversial among certain segments of the U.S. population. But right-wing and anti-immigrant talk shows, blogs, and other venues have been ratcheting up the rhetoric lately. “It makes me sad to consider that these views still exist,” says Houston-area immigration lawyer Annie Banerjee, “especially in America.”

In particular, Banerjee decries some of the claptrap she’s been hearing about H-1B workers legitimately awarded visas permitting them to work in this country. “They are generating myths, misinformation, and outright falsehoods,” asserts Ms. Banerjee.

“They like to say that H-1B workers are stealing jobs from legitimate American workers, by which they imply in code that U.S. workers born and raised here are denied opportunities. It’s just not true,” Ms. Banerjee says.

H-1B visas are issued to temporary, nonimmigrant workers in specialty occupations. These occupations require special skills, the theoretical and practical application of highly specialized knowledge that most workers don’t possess. “Most H-1B workers have exceptional educational backgrounds and are relatively rare individuals in the workplace,” Ms. Banerjee explains, “It’s not fair to say that the jobs they’re being hired for can be performed by most workers.”

Another charge about H-1B workers that rankles Ms. Banerjee is the characterization of these visa holders as “cheap labor.”

“This is a related bit of irresponsible talk that serves to obscure what’s really true.” In fact, employers are required to pay an H-1B employee the higher of either the “prevailing wage” or “actual wage” paid to similarly employed Americans, but must also pay about $6,000 in legal and government fees for each H-1B hire, plus an additional $12,000 to sponsor an H-1B worker for permanent U.S. residence.

“People generally opposed to immigration say the damndest things,” Ms. Banerjee concludes, “and usually when applied with a broad brush their rhetoric tends to consist of myths, misinformation, and outright falsehoods.”

To learn more about Houston immigration lawyer, immigration lawyer in Houston, Houston immigration attorney, visit their information filled web site at Visatous.com.

Houston-area immigration lawyer Annie Banerjee is pleased, bordering on elated, in respect to President Barack Obama’s choice of Judge Sonia Sotomayor as his much touted U.S. Supreme Court nominee. “She’s Hispanic and she’s a woman, and so the Supreme Court finally gets to have those perspectives. That’s praiseworthy,” asserts Banerjee. But is the link between Sotomayor’s selection as a Presidential nominee and significant immigration reform really that clear? Of the latter, Ms. Banerjee is not so sure.

“It does place immigration reform on the President’s plate,” she says, “but it may have been as much a shrewd move calculated to stymie right-wing Republicans enamored with anti-immigration rhetoric that won’t work in the long-term to as an immigration reform catalyst. In fact, I’m already seeing a backlash against Sotomayor that is quite disturbing in the sense of empowering a kind of anti-Hispanic racism.”

Ms. Banerjee is not alone in her misgivings. According to some of her colleagues at the American Immigration Lawyer’s Association (AILA), it’s already been noted that the Tancredo wing of the Republican party is pulling out all the stops to block any reintroduction of the McCain-Kennedy immigration bill because that legislation provides a clear path to citizenship for in excess of 10 million illegals currently residing in the U.S. If the McCain-Kennedy bill were truly perceived as bipartisan and managed to be enacted into law, it would spell big trouble in the public opinion landscape for opponents of more permissive immigration. “It would be a vast improvement,” asserts Banerjee, “but the opposition has been somewhat mobilized by Sotomayor’s nomination. Some of the accusations against her, especially insinuations about La Raza, are intended to incite racist sentiments even as these baseless allegations – such as the charge that La Raza is similar if not identical to a Latino KKK, is bandied about. I think it’s horrible.”

But immigration reform is definitely needed. “While one nominee to the Supreme Court won’t balance the misery that’s been hatched against the legal and undocumented Latino community by focused race-based immigration enforcement policies, it’s a beginning. Perhaps I find myself cautiously optimistic,” Banerjee concludes.

To learn more about Houston immigration lawyer, immigration lawyer in Houston, Houston immigration attorney, visit their information filled web site at Visatous.com.

It’s almost ironic. Deathtown became a death knell for a scheduled May 30th anti-immigrant rally celebrating the acquittal of two young men involved in the killing of Luis Ramirez. The reason for the cancellation was poetic if not quite ironic: the invited main speaker was an avowed neo-Nazi and white supremacist. Although a conflict with the borough’s Keilbasi Festival also figured into the equation, organizer and Shenandoah native Joe Miller expressed in the local newspaper that he and other members of his group, Americans for Legal Immigration, worried about what invited speaker John de Nugent might say when speaking at their rally. “I guess we were concerned about his political views, and about him being a white supremacist, or whatever they called him,” Miller said.

John de Nugent took issue with the label “white supremacist” and described himself as a “white nationalist” on his website.

Miller had feared embarrassment for his group of upstanding Americans and found more than enough potential for it when several items gave him pause. For instance, on de Nugent’s home page, a photo of Ben Bernanke was identified with the caption: Ben Bernanke, the Jew who controls all U.S. money in a nation that is 98% non-Jewish. Do you know your real masters? These leaders of the J-Team, the Jewish power-brokers, run the USA regime of fear – and tell their puppets – Bush, the Slick-living Obamanation and Cain – what to say and what never to discuss in public about their power and crimes.

“Our group has never been anti-Jewish,” protested Miller in defending ALI. “It’s just the Mexican illegals that we’re against.” He had to set the record straight. ALI was only attempting to capitalize on anti-Mexican immigrant hatred and has “nothing against Jews.” Added Miller about Ramirez, victim of a small mob who was put to death by persons unknown for no reason; that was made abundantly evident in the Pennsylvania courtroom where the trial of two young white men, valued members of the community, took place, “These things happen.” He could have added, “Especially in Deathtown.”

A. Banerjee is a Houston immigration lawyer in Texas. Before selecting an immigration lawyer in Houston Texas, contact the Law Offices of Annie Banerjee or to learn more about Houston immigration lawyer, immigration lawyer in Houston, Houston immigration attorney, visit their information filled web site at Visatous.com.

Now that the old LCA system is to remain operational until the end of June, there is supposed to be enough time for a seamless transition. Immigration attorneys and other paralegals are being urged to get up to speed with the iCert system ASAP so that accounts can be set-up and any straggler LCAs can be filed using the nouveau form de jour ETA-9035. Technical issues are being fielded by an iCert “help desk” at OFLC.Portal@dol.gov. It all sounds so wondrous, like the glitches have gone the way of the gander.

In fact, some earlier bugs have been remedied due to careful scrutiny by an array of attorneys and their minions. DOL had proclaimed as of 8th May that certified LCAs now have validity dates and signature, the tricky NAICS button is behaving by allowing for scroll down and perhaps the cows have come home. But all is far from well.

On the 13th of May, less than a week later, unspecified glitches delayed the mandatory use of iCert for LCA filings as the DOL was forced to renege on its earlier optimism. On the ides of April, the Department of Labor Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) had begun implementing iCert for LCA and PERM filings. The new system had required employers or attorneys to create a user account, from which a cascade of LCAs and PERM applications were supposed to emanate. Functionality for PERM was expected by 1st September 2009 while functionality for LCAs was considered imminent. It didn’t happen.

While the DOL’s iCert Visa Portal User Guide celebrates several decided improvements in system efficiency such as a single one-stop portal or “entry point,” a central repository for OFLC immigration related content, and a common search engine, implementation of iCert has been anything but a seamless transition. Excuses have already begun leaking out of DOL in reference to iCert. LCA processing “may take longer” than it does in the current electronic agency. A full seven-day period may even be reinstated by the agency, as employers are being urged to “take these longer processing times into account.”

A. Banerjee is a Houston immigration lawyer in Texas. Before selecting an immigration lawyer in Houston Texas, contact the Law Offices of Annie Banerjee or to learn more about Houston immigration lawyer, immigration lawyer in Houston, Houston immigration attorney, visit their information filled web site at Visatous.com.

On May 5, 2009, a day celebrated around the world as Cinco de Mayo, the USCIS kept counting H-1B petitions received as the H-1B cap was approached. “They continue to pour in,” says Ms. Banerjee, “As of May 4, 2009, somewhere in the neighborhood of 45,000 H-1B cap-subject petitions and about 20,000 petitions qualifying for the advanced degree cap exemption had been filed.” Meanwhile, USCIS continues to accept advanced degree petitions. Experience has shown that not all received petitions are approvable.

Explains Ms Banerjee, “These numbers appear identical to the previous week, on April 27th, when the statement released by USCIS was exactly the same. But it is progress as compared to the 20th of April, when the number of USCIS-received H-1B cap-subject petitions was a thousand less, about 44,000, and the relevant number was a thousand less than that, about 43,000, as of April 13th. “It really is a bureaucracy, and this demonstrates that the process is slowly if inexorably playing itself out. But there still is time to get some of the eligible petitions submitted.”

“Remember that a lot of issues are involved with H-1B petitions,” Ms. Banerjee asserts, “Petitions get rejected for a laundry list of reasons, with fraud or malfeasance being only the most visible of those reasons. What you have to keep in mind is that the cap of 65,000 for all the H-1B petitions has to eventually be accepted, unless they aren’t submitted in the first place. You have to think positively when it comes to H-1Bs.”

If you still plan to submit a petition, you must first evaluate your situation aggressively, fill out all your accompanying paperwork, submit to whatever procedures are required, and then just go for it, Ms. Banerjee adds. Concludes Ms. Banerjee, “If you do it right, your petition might be just as valid as any others submitted. But you have to give yourself a chance.”

To learn more about Houston immigration lawyer, immigration lawyer in Houston, Houston immigration attorney, visit their information filled web site at Visatous.com.

Keeping your Green Card (and permanent residency status) can get dicey if you leave the United States to live elsewhere for more than six months. “A presumption comes into play that you do not want to live permanently in the United States, and therefore have abandoned your Permanent Residency Status,” explains Houston-area immigration lawyer Annie Banerjee. This may not be true. Perhaps you plan on returning, and your departure is intended to be temporary. But if you do plan on coming back to the U.S. to live, your reentry permit becomes all important.

“You’ll need to file the Reentry Permit (Form I-131) before you leave the United States,” Ms. Banerjee explains. It doesn’t end there. There is the matter of getting fingerprinted, so it is advisable to file at least a month or two prior to departure. Adds Ms. Banerjee, “You’ll also need a cover letter which includes the valid reason why you are leaving. Too often, people forget filing the I-131 before they leave, or else omit a cover letter, or worse, both.”

The reentry permit can be mailed to you or can be picked up at the U.S. Consulate near the foreign country that you are in. You can always come back and file the reentry permit again, for a two-year extension, but this act requires a valid excuse. “For instance, it’s usually not a big deal if a U.S. business transfers you to their foreign location, or if you leave to study in another country,” Ms. Banerjee explains. But if you are merely working for a foreign company in their office in your home country, you probably will not get the reentry permit. “I’ve seen cases of green cards having to be forfeited under such circumstances,” asserts M. Banerjee. Merely using the Reentry Permit is no guarantee of prolonging continuous residency requirements in support of citizenship status. “Any perceived misuse of a Reentry Permit is a surefire way to delay citizenship,” Ms. Banerjee concludes. If such a perception is allowed to establish itself in the bureaucracy of CIS, a myriad of problems can arise with the murky status. Omitting any of the steps involved with Reentry Permits can surely jeopardize what might be intended in good faith.

To learn more about Houston immigration lawyer, immigration lawyer in Houston, Houston immigration attorney, visit their information filled web site at Visatous.com.

As it stands, all aspects of immigration policy are regulated by the legislative and executive branches of the U.S. government as a basic attribute of sovereignty. Known as the “plenary power doctrine,” this system has been affirmed by the courts on numerous occasions since the 19th Century. But a movement is afoot to erode political-branch control over immigration in favor of something else – a judge-administered system grounded on the premise that foreigners have a “right” to immigrate as an implicit idea.

The U.S. Constitution is mum on immigration matters, providing no direction. The only mention of immigration in the hallowed document merely mentions that Congress should hold the power of “naturalization.” From that vague mention, the legislative and executive branches have been continually evolving immigration law into the consequential “plenary power” mentioned at the outset. The primary effect of this plenary power has been to exclude and deport aliens or deny certain benefits according to political, social, economic, and a myriad of other considerations, typically without any nay-saying from the judicial branch. It doesn’t seem quite fair, but justifications have included the political question doctrine, in which cases the Federal courts almost always refuse to hear cases that involve policy questions “best resolved” by elected officials.

Other justifications have included arguments stressing lack of capacity, uniformity, efficiency (from a resource perspective, a court-run immigration system would be problematic), the premise that immigration enforcement is not punishment, and last but not least, historical precedent – an argument which was once used to support human slavery as a time-honored institution. Recent challenges to the “plenary power doctrine” have surfaced as a result of an increased judicial focus on individual rights, a willingness of courts to dissect or rewrite statutes (what some have decried as ‘legislating from the bench’) and the aggrandizement of power by certain individuals, elected or otherwise.

Simultaneously, open-border immigration attorneys have been diligently searching for an argument that would erase decades of Supreme Court precedent and remove regulation completely from the U.S. immigration equation. Again, if they are somehow successful in their quest, should the power to decide who should be welcomed into the U.S., who should stay, and who should go, be given exclusively to judges? Would such a change lead to more abuses or be inherently more just?

A. Banerjee is a Houston immigration lawyer in Texas. Before selecting an immigration lawyer in Houston Texas, contact the Law Offices of Annie Banerjee or to learn more about Houston immigration lawyer, immigration lawyer in Houston, Houston immigration attorney, visit their information filled web site at Visatous.com.

They call it “Swine Flu” because the strain was correctly associated with pig farming. In fact, the strain of H1N1 that has received so much press coverage in recent weeks, actually originated on a California-based pig farm, although the huge corporate farm in question was jointly owned by American and Mexican partners. The seriousness of the strain’s prevalence should not be minimized. According to a Centers for Disease Control website updated as of May 5, 2009, 403 cases of the flu have been reported in humans, with one confirmed death.

Despite the facts, a trough-full of conservative talk show hosts have managed to blame the recent epidemic on the influx of “Mexican illegals and other immigrants” into the U.S. Some of the most egregious comments emerged from the gob of WTKK-FM Boston-based conservative talk show host Jay Severin, who was indeed suspended for such comments as, “So now, in addition to venereal disease and the other leading exports of Mexico – women with mustaches and VD – now we have swine flu.” He further described Mexicans as the “world’s lowest of primitives.” Explained Severin, “When we are the magnet for primitives around the world, and it’s not the primitives’ fault by the way, I’m not blaming them for being primitives, I’m merely observing they’re primitive.” Severin’s lips kept up the racist banter. “It’s millions of leeches from a primitive country come here to leech off you and, with it, they are ruining the schools, the hospitals, and a lot of life in America.”

While Severin was suspended from his talk show, he should have been fired outright. Unfortunately, to many Americans, such rhetoric is not only considered clever and accurate, but is often instrumental in shaping immigration policies by lawmakers who may be in agreement with the sentiments expressed. If Severin had uttered similar comments against African-Americans or Americans of Jewish descent, he almost certainly would have been fired. But immigrants not currently in favor, such as Mexican nationals or people from Muslim countries, are considered “fair game.”

A. Banerjee is a Houston immigration lawyer in Texas. Before selecting an immigration lawyer in Houston Texas, contact the Law Offices of Annie Banerjee or to learn more about Houston immigration lawyer, immigration lawyer in Houston, Houston immigration attorney, visit their information filled web site at Visatous.com.

An immigrant visa lets an individual live and work in the U.S. on a permanent basis. The non-immigrant visa is for those who only visit the country on a temporary basis; e.g. tourists, professionals, medical patients and students.

The green card is a pretty important piece of documentation for people whose greatest wish is to live and work in the United States. It’s so important, that it’s no small wonder that when people apply for a green card, they tend to make some glaring errors.

“While making mistakes is understandable, it will also tend to delay the processing of the green card application,” indicated Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida. In fact, the U.S. Immigration Services are very stringent about how the applications are filled out, to the point that they have been known to delay or deny applicants.

The most common mistakes are in submitting applications that are not completed properly, meaning they may not have the required documentation, (birth certificate, marriage license, employer verifications) etc. “In order to process the application, all the documents asked for must be attached to the application. No documents, no approval,” said Odell.

A second common mistake is unsigned immigration forms. In the excitement and rush to submit the application, many people forget to sign their paperwork. This tends to happen more commonly when an applicant is filling out information on behalf of a dependent.

This brings up one other very common error, handing in documents in another language and not providing an English translation. “Those documents don’t have to be official, just accurately represent what the original document outlines, but in a foreign language,” explained Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.

Most immigration lawyers are very familiar with the error of applying in the wrong immigration category. This is just one reason why consulting a competent immigration attorney will assure people are applying in the right categories and meet the required criteria in those areas. “A good immigration attorney will also advise their client that immigration forms change frequently and it is best to pay close attention to what is being asked when applying for a green card,” added Odell.

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“Part of the problem with immigration myths is the fact that they have been perpetuated by the media who would seemingly prefer to discuss the bad and ugly side of immigration problems, without giving the same amount of air space to the good side,” said Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.
Frankly, politicians don’t help the debate much either with their partisan policies that fluctuate with every small breeze that blows through election land.

There are a wide variety of myths surrounding immigrants coming to the U.S., including one that says immigrants lower real estate values. This has no kernel of truth in it and in fact, the shape the housing market is in today is a direct result of low interest rates, very sloppy lending standards, and a craze to buy houses. “Once that warped market phenomenon hit its peak, it has been sliding into recession since then,” indicated Odell.

Another myth is that immigrants tend to bring disease to the country, particularly tuberculosis. “When dealing with this particular falsehood, it’s best to look at the World Health Organization statistics before jumping to wild conclusions,” commented Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.

The fact of the matter is that Mexico only has a rate of 13 people per 100,000 as compared to immigrants from Eastern Europe, Africa, the Indian sub-continent, Namibia, Botswana, Cambodia, the Philippines and Bangladesh that often have statistics showing up to 469 people per 100,000.

We need to be aware of what we are actually dealing with when we propagate myths about immigrants and offer them the dignity and respect they deserve for hard working people. “This goes to the heart of another myth that goes something along the lines of undocumented workers wanting citizenship benefits without waiting their turn in the immigration approval process,” outlined Odell.

The facts are that most undocumented workers are earning money to send back home to care for their families. They aren’t the least bit interested in owning property, voting or even running for election. They, just like millions of other Americans, pay sales taxes, property taxes and income taxes.

Furthermore these workers don’t ask for welfare, social security or Medicare benefits. “This is hardly an indication that they are not waiting their “turn” to become legal citizens, when in fact they are virtually already half way there in actions alone and are only asking for temporary renewable work permits that let them earn a living,” explained Odell.

To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

The lead contender may very well be immigration policies and their lack of clarity to name just one issue. However, in order to make any changes to existing polices, whether they happen to be in the health care arena, or in immigration, something has to be done about the economy. Interestingly enough, immigration and the economy are almost indistinguishable, as one drives the other, so fixing immigration may have ramifications on the economy.

In all likelihood, the immigration issue, given that it is such a political football, will remain a highly volatile issue waiting to blow up in some manner or another. If the current state of affairs affecting immigration is any indication of things to come for the future, immigration may take on a very ugly tone, very soon. The building of a border fence to keep illegal immigrants out of the country is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of an attempted resolution to the immigration difficulties facing this country.

The largest question on the minds of most immigration attorneys is what the current administration is going to do to deal with immigration and its twin conundrum, the economy. If Obama’s current leanings are any indication, he approves of more personnel and better security to monitor any border infractions. He supported more security at the borders, which is a highly inflammatory issue in immigration circles and legally.

On the other hand, he also supports the streamlining of the immigration mish mash that we currently deal with so it would allow more people to come to our country legally. A fine goal, but what about the ever present and dismal state of the economy that will suffer if the number of immigrants in the country is reduced? Also, how does Obama’s desire to let undocumented immigrants pay a fine, learn English and be allowed the opportunity to become a legal citizen fit into the overall scheme of things?

There are no answers to any of these questions right now, not without some water under the bridge that will let the pundits analyze what is happening. Frankly, right now, the first priority of the Obama administration is the economy – period. While all that is going on, lawmakers in southern border-states are lining up a veritable potpourri of penalties for hiring unauthorized workers. Most of the proposed penalties give immigration lawyers real problems, as the foundation of all legal dealings in the United States is fairness and justice for all.

The fact that some of the proposed penalties have the potential to be somewhat less than fair is the subject of another article. However, suffice it to say, that if immigration attorneys think they are busy now, if any of the proposed penalties for dealing with unauthorized workers being hired, etc., come to pass, they are about to get even busier defending basic human rights.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

The question in and around Houston is just how far are police officers supposed to go to help with immigration control? While this issue might not seem to be that important, it takes on critical importance when you consider that Houston cops also need to police the city. So, the question is then one of compromising their existing jobs and the citizenry of Houston to assist with immigration control.

Certainly this is a political issue first and foremost, but it also has the earmark of a manpower and budget issue – both areas that are difficult, if not impossible, to resolve and have everyone happy with the outcome. From the point of view of the Department of Homeland Security, their Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) department exists to perform immigration duties. Part of their raison d’être also happens to be the training of local authorities on what they are to do when dealing with immigration issues.

The training would also include access to their extensive database of ICE fingerprints. The method to their madness implies that by giving access to this vast database, local police would have a leg-up in discovering and deporting people who have entered the country illegally. This is all well and good in theory, but it may not live to see the light of day, as there are no local police forces enrolled in the ICE immigration-training program. The main reason is, any trainees would need to be away from their regular police jobs for up to five weeks.

The time away is a problem manpower wise, but the most pressing issue is the fact that while the police trainees are away from their regular jobs to get ICE trained, they are still being paid by the local police jurisdiction. There are six counties surrounding Houston and not one of them has a police member enrolled to take the training courses.

What is happening here is a very gradual, and not necessarily good, blurring of the lines between federal and local responsibilities for immigration. Who is to be responsible for what? Where are the lines? What happens if they are crossed? How will manpower be mustered to serve in both capacities, when there are too few cops and not enough money to pay them?

These are all issues that will directly impact on immigrants. If things weren’t bad enough now, with the current immigration policies changing just about daily, they are about to get worse if local law enforcement starts to act on behalf of the federal government. Legal issues surrounding immigration are difficult enough as it is without further uncertainties thrown into the mix.

The bottom line is that the immigration polices of the United States really need to be clearly spelled out in a fair and equitable manner. Those who face immigration difficulties need to be aware they should seek competent legal advice from a highly trained immigration attorney to assist them with any issues they may have.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

The H-1B visa, or specialty occupation work visa, is a non-immigrant temporary status given to individuals in a “specialty occupation” or profession. They need at least a Bachelor’s Degree in a field where the job is. Since 2007, Ms. Banerjee notes that many H-1B petitions were filed using FedEx or Express Mail by March 31st to reach New York or April 1st if the missives were enroute to California. Others were filed during the succeeding five days. The number of filings in 2009 was almost certainly less than in the preceding two years.

As of the 9th day of April, 2009, it was learned that H-1B numbers were still available, a fact that had been suspected but had been impossible to confirm. “As of this day, the 9th of April, 42,000 new H-1B cases have been filed out of a potential ceiling of 65,000. For the Master’s Cap, the CIS has received an additional 20,000 cases almost exhausting that cap. This means that the U.S. Master’s Cap is nearing capacity, but the ordinary quota is still far short of capacity,” Ms. Banerjee explains. It’s also important to remember that U.S. Master’s Degree holders can still file under the ordinary CAP.

This news about the H-1B is significant because it certainly means that an additional 23,000 new applications can still be approved, and H-1B remains a coveted status. “They still must fill the quota, that much is certain,” Ms. Banerjee says. On the last day, when the quota of applications is actually reached, a random lottery will be held for that day only, according to Ms. Banerjee. This is good news for people who have already filed; at least their applications for H-1B will be receive consideration. But concludes Ms. Banerjee, “Of course, approval is another matter.”

The recession has hit the government workers hard, not because they are losing their jobs or out of money. But the CIS seems to believe that every business is filing a false petition and therefore everything about the business must be scrutinized, according to Ms. Banerjee. “Under the kitchen sink types of evidentiary requests are becoming increasingly common, where Citizen and Immigration Service is demanding a potpourri of information from the company and then fishing for reasons to deny the case,” she explains. Ms. Banerjee files watertight cases and has yet to receive a denial while representing her clients. She researches each case diligently beforehand. If the business does not qualify, she does not take the case. Ms. Banerjee adds, “It’s not okay to take the client’s money and file knowing that the chance of a successful outcome is a low probability.”

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The process of deporting and stripping accused Nazi concentration camp guard, John Demjanjuk, began in 1974. In that year, the U.S. conflict in Vietnam was not yet over; Jimmy Carter was not yet president; the U.S.S.R. was still the U.S.S.R.; and Demjanjuk was from the Ukraine, which was not yet an independent country. For thirty-five years, this man personified evil to so many, (if the crimes attributed to him are true) remained in his comfortable home in suburban Cleveland with his family. Finally, in 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Demjanjuk’s deportation appeal, which might as well have been the death knell for his own death, being a peaceful one in what had become his familiar Ohio. Suddenly, the U.S. Justice system has provided an imprimatur to his deportation.

“My question was, and still is, why now?” asks Houston-area immigration lawyer Annie Banerjee.

It grew more perplexing in 2008. He didn’t leave last year. Ukraine didn’t want him back. In fact, no country wanted him. The 89-year-old appeared ready and able to resume his hum-drum life as an “immovable alien.” But Germany changed its mind because of a Munich prosecutor. Although he can’t be extradited there, if Germany issues “travel documents” to the U.S. indicating they will accept him as a deportee …

“In my work, I witness deportations on a hum-drum basis. Many have urgent reasons to stay in the U.S., risking torture or death if they are sent back to a hostile ‘homeland.’ Why don’t these people get to stay here as John Demjanjuk did for so long?” asks Annie Banerjee. She sagely concludes, “I guess none of them are considered immovable aliens.”

To learn more about Houston immigration lawyer, immigration lawyer in Houston, Houston immigration attorney, visit their information filled web site at Visatous.com.

“I hate the term ‘gulag’ when applied to American systems. It makes me wince just thinking about it,” asserts Houston area immigration lawyer, Bannerjee. While she considers Houston-area ICE-run facilities as being “reasonably adequate” in most cases, she couldn’t help voicing her opinion about some of the abuses being documented and discussed. Nina Bernstein’s riveting and provocative article entitled Immigrant Detainee Dies, and a Life is Buried Too, is grist for Banerjee’s mill. The article includes the latest list of deaths published by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) dated February 7, 2009, which notes 90 deaths of immigrants in custody since October 7, 2003. Bernstein’s article also confirms the death of Ahmad Tanveer, 43, a Pakistani national who died on September 9, 2005, in the Monmouth County Correctional Institute in Freehold, New Jersey, and the failure of ICE to be held accountable for the deaths of immigrant detainees in the labyrinth of detention facilities, which includes an underbelly of state and county jails. “People get lost in those places,” says Banerjee, “They get swallowed up.” Banerjee introduces another case of relevance, Mr. Hiului Ng, a Chinese national who technically succumbed to cancer at the Providence-based Rhode Island hospital’s sprawling complex in August 2008 while still incarcerated at the Donald Wyatt Detention Facility in nearby Central Falls, RI. “By the time authorities transported Mr. Ng to the hospital in Providence, it was far too late to save him,” Banerjee says. An investigation released about the circumstances of Ng’s demise substantiates Banerjee’s opinion. The report found that Mr. Ng was denied access to counsel and appropriate medical care, was subject to excessive force and verbal abuse, and that reports were tampered with to conceal relevant facts. “At least in this case, and probably in many others, abuse was tolerated and accountability was nowhere to be found,” says Banerjee. Banerjee, like KC Walker writing on the AILA Leadership Blog on April 7, 2009, believes that accountability begins with the enforcement of standards at ICE. “Notification of transfer should never be the responsibility of the detainee,” asserts Banerjee, as she made reference to Detainee Transfer Notification, one of the ICE’s favorite sticking points made in justification of some of their worst scenarios. “If nobody knows where a detainee is in the system, they can be at the mercy of ICE,” Banerjee concludes.

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Beware the Ides of March, especially if you’re a detainee being sheltered in a detention center or other facility under the auspices of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). According to studies published by the Human Rights Watch and the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center (FIAC), the ICE routinely delays, denies or provides low-quality medical care for detained immigrants in facilities nationwide. The poor care is often a consequence of unskilled or indifferent staff members at detention centers, overcrowding in facilities which is often deliberate, untenable levels of bureaucracy, language barriers, and limited services available to detainees. A Human Rights Watch study determined that detention centers were providing inadequate routine reproductive care for women because ICE’s health care system emphasizes emergency care and the treatment of conditions that might affect deportation status. According to testimony received by current and former detainees, ICE-employed medical staff members routinely violated their own standards in providing continuity of care, swift response to medical problems, explanation of services available to immigrants, medical screenings, and follow-up care.

These issues appear to be exacerbated because the ICE chooses to detain people who are elderly, have pre-existing health problems, or do not have criminal records. Asserted Cheryl Little, executive director of the FIAC, “ICE needlessly detains people with severe illnesses and those who pose no harm to U.S. communities. Doing so drives up ICE costs, even as the agency provides increasingly inadequate medical and mental health care to those in custody. Some detainees are held for months or years, but the average length of stay is about one month, 31 days.” Little also further characterized the ICE care received by immigrant detainees at many U.S. facilities as “poor and sometimes appalling.” The FIAC report, “Dying for Decent Care: Bad Medicine in Immigration Custody,” seemed eerily reminiscent of U.S. prison conditions in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. An unfortunate witness to the sometimes abysmal conditions was Marlene Jaggernauth, 43, who entered the United States 32 years ago as a lawful permanent resident from Trinidad. Arrested by ICE agents in 2003 because of an old shoplifting charge, Jaggernauth had been employed full-time at Florida Atlantic University as an administrative assistant. While detained at a Florida-area facility, she stated, “I saw a great deal of suffering and it was very heartbreaking,” she said, “We felt truly helpless and frightened. Often our requests for care would be ignored.”

A. Banerjee is a Houston immigration lawyer in Texas. Before selecting an immigration lawyer in Houston Texas, contact the Law Offices of Annie Banerjee or to learn more about Houston immigration lawyer, immigration lawyer in Houston, Houston immigration attorney, visit their information filled web site at Visatous.com.

Moving to a new country with a different culture, language, customs and very different laws may be quite the experience. It might also be quite the nightmare if a new immigrant runs afoul of the law while in the U.S. Being on the wrong side of the law in one’s own country of origin is bad enough, but to be in a new country where everything is strange is just horrendous; more so if immigrants find themselves mired in a legal system that says he or she needs to put up bail money.

What this process would result in is something called an immigration bond and while it is not the easiest thing in the world to understand, it is doable with the help of a highly qualified immigration attorney such as Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.

“An immigration bond is federal and immigrants are responsible for posting them if they have been detained and arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),” explained Odell. This isn’t the same thing as being arrested by a local police officer. “About the only thing that is the same in this bond process is the fact that the bond tells the courts the person will show up for court,” said Odell. That is where the similarities end.

If the immigrant chooses to post a cash bond, it goes right to the ICE, not the court or the local jail. The second major difference is that someone seeking an immigration bond must get one only through a bail bond company licensed to handle immigration bonds. There aren’t a lot of these particular companies floating around, so if a person is in hot water and needs an immigration bond, they need to do the relevant research fast. “We recommend they call us for assistance, rather than run the risk of dealing with a sham company,” added Odell.

Knowing where to go to get an immigration bond is just the tip of the iceberg, getting one becomes even more complicated when the person needing one doesn’t speak the language and has to try to figure out which offices are open and when they are open for business. For this reason and a few others (such as longer processing times) the costs for getting an immigration bond are higher, “In fact, “explained Odell, “they may be as much as 15% to 20 % of the bail amount.”

Everyone needs to know their rights when it comes to legal processes, and this is even more important when it comes to immigrants trying to work their way through the system from the other side of the fence. “This is why we would encourage all immigrants who are facing legal difficulties, and require an immigration bond, to contact us. We are able to advise them of their rights and assist them with the process,” commented Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.

To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

It would be safe to say that there are not many people who know what the immigration policy is for the U.S., and that would include immigration lawyers. It’s one of those things that are like a kaleidoscope; it changes with every twist and turn. For this reason alone people trying to immigrate to the U.S. should make it a point to consult with a competent immigration lawyer such as Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida, for up to the minute information.

It’s been said in the media that the immigration policies of a particular country reflect their attitudes toward immigration. Nothing could be truer when it comes to the U.S. immigration policies, which are at best confused ambivalence. On one hand we say we welcome immigrants, on the other we try to keep them out of the country with border fences. If this doesn’t send mixed messages then someone needs serious counseling.

Most immigration policies seem to be the result of political reaction to various situations. For instance, the reaction to the terrorism of 9/11 saw the borders slammed shut almost overnight. On the other hand, there are also social and economic conditions that drive immigration rules and regulations. The difficulty with any of these factors is no one is quite sure what rules apply in which situations any longer.

The face of immigration is about to change in the U.S. with the border fence erected along the United States/Mexico border. There will be more rules, more regulations and more hoops to jump through to successfully become a legal immigrant in the U.S. While the process itself may get more complicated and less human, legislators need to remember that they are still dealing with human beings who have certain rights. Treating them in an impersonal hands-off manner will do nothing to further the cause of basic human rights, nationalism or trust.

When faced with immigration issues, rather than try and run the gauntlet, seek advice from the highly trained immigration lawyers at of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.

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It’s sad, but very true that the U.S. Immigration system has so many loopholes, glitches, corruption, ridiculous policies, and incomprehensible rules and regulations that it takes a highly experienced immigration lawyer to sort things out. Imagine how an immigrant would feel trying to figure out this complex and constantly changing system just to live in the U.S.

No wonder immigrants hope to win the lottery – and we don’t mean the regular lottery where you win money – we mean the Diversity Visa Lottery that offers 55,000 permanent residency Visas to foreigners, so long as they follow all the rules and regulations. That might be tough since those seem to change on a daily basis. Nonetheless, this Visa would give the lucky one an opportunity to become a U.S. citizen after 3 to 5 years.

The major reason why so many immigrants like to enter their names in this lottery is because it is free, as opposed to hiring an immigration lawyer, which may be necessary later during their residency in the U.S. The operative word here is free, and if anyone charges a person for entering the lottery, it is a scam. Period.

All that is required to enter the Diversity Visa Lottery is filling out a form, usually in English, and that is it. Don’t worry if you happen to have a spouse and/or children, as they would receive a Visa as well, so long as their background check comes out OK.

This is how things usually work, mind you, it may be subject to change without notice, and it would not hurt if you contacted a qualified immigration lawyer to ask questions. Better to be safe than sorry. You are usually able to fill out Visa applications from early October to early December, and you may actually do this online.

So if you need help with translation, get a friend to assist you with filling out this form. It’s pretty straightforward and you only need the basics, such as name, address, phone number, SS number, etc.

You won’t know if you have won the lottery until May of the following year and you are only contacted by snail mail, or regular post. If you were successful, your Visa would then kick in the year following that.

In other words, if you apply in 2010 and if you are chosen in that year’s drawing, you would be advised in 2011, and your Visa would take effect in 2012. Then you would get a DV 2012 card when it was issued. Nothing like taking forever and a day to find out if you get a chance to live in the U.S. In all cases when faced with questions or concerns about the U.S. immigration process, contact a highly trained immigration lawyer, and make sure you are on the right side of the law. The first consultation is usually free.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

The fact that a great number of Americans seem to think illegal immigrants, or immigrants in general, are responsible for the rising crime rates is a pure myth. It has, in fact, been statistically proven that immigrants don’t affect the crime rate. We seem to be able to do that on our own without any outside help.

What do the statistics say? They indicate that violent crime has decreased roughly 34% and property crimes have decreased by about 26% during the same period of time when the illegal immigrant population increased to about 12 million people. This isn’t to say that immigrants don’t get involved in crime, but it does say that they are not the major source of increased crime rates. This is just a popular myth set into the American psyche and fanned into flames by the media.

The sad fact is that many political decisions happen to be based on myths like this one. For instance, the decision to erect a fence along the Texas/Mexico border, called the Secure Border Initiative, which is designed to keep illegal immigrants out. Unfortunately, it seems we don’t spend a lot of time looking at ourselves in the mirror and dealing with crime at home.

Speaking of myths, another one is that lower real estate values are caused by immigrants. You’ve no doubt heard expressions like, “There goes the neighborhood,” when referring to new foreign neighbors. The truth of the matter is that ups and downs in real estate value are normal, traditional and cyclical and are not tied to any group of people. What happened is interest rates were low (some say too low), bank lending got sloppy and people went hog-wild buying houses. This boom market peaked in 2006 and has been declining ever since.

Isn’t it time we took a good look at some of these prevalent myths and saw them for what they really are – just myths based on emotional responses to things people don’t know, don’t understand or don’t like. In reality, immigrants have nothing to do with higher crime, lower property values or an increased rate of disease in the U.S., nor do they take jobs that should go to U.S. workers. The fact is, that many U.S. workers are too lazy to take the jobs they are offered. It’s time we regarded immigrants as the valued citizens they really are and we should welcome them, not try to keep them out with fences.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

The restrictions under H-1B temporary visas can be vexing in the extreme. If the coveted status is initially gained for three years, in a remarkable feat of bureaucratic wizardry an additional six years can be gained by certain highly skilled workers. But is it possible to obtain yet another extension? Annie Banerjee describes a way it can be done. “If an employee has H-1B time remaining under the regulatory six-year limitation, the employer may file an H-1B extension petition pursuant to AC21 &106,” says Banerjee. But USCIS must make a determination in such cases, especially about the amount of time that may be granted to reach the six-year-limitation of stay, then make a subsequent determination as to whether a labor certification application or I-140 petition will have been pending at least 365 days (one year) at the conclusion of the initial six-year limitation period. “The one year extension will be granted if a labor certification is unexpired at the time the petition is filed, and if the labor certification or the I-140 petition was filed at least a year prior to the date the worker will exhaust 6 years of H-1B status, and — this is significant — if the extension certificate is otherwise approvable.”

“These extensions are very tricky,” asserts Banerjee, “especially what I’d refer to as the fine print regarding the certificate being otherwise approvable.” Skilled workers who are technically ‘aliens’ remain eligible under the Neufeld Memorandum from May 30, 2008, for a three-year H-1B extension beyond the sixth year. “But this is only true if the alien is the beneficiary of an approved I-140 petition and is ineligible to adjust their status or to apply for an immigrant visa abroad because no visa numbers are available at the time the H-1B extension petition is filed.” Banerjee mentions one other particular that might prove pertinent to such a extension petition. “If the priority date becomes current while the extension petition is pending, that can be fortuitous,” Banerjee explains, “In that case, the beneficiary should still be eligible for a three-year extension of H-1B status.”

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You filed your I-485 under the July 2007 Visa Bulletin. Six months have passed. Your employer is odious and you want to switch to a new job. Can you port your I-140 under AC21? Let’s examine your situation with questions I’ll pose and answer. Firstly, is your I-140 approved? If not, you’ll need to decide if your first employer who sponsored you has the ability to make you a valid job offer. If your first I-140 is approved, porting becomes much easier.

What? You’ve selected a new job? The new ported job has to be similar enough to be virtually identical. Both jobs, the one you’re leaving and the one you’re about to start, must have the same DOT code (for RIR or traditional cases) or SOC code (for PERM cases). The salary range offered in the underlying Labor certification must also be within a similar range. It is much better to have a copy of your original Labor certification and your I-140 approval or receipt notice.

What if my first employer, the odious one, withdraws the I-140? It’s not an issue if he/she does this at some point AFTER 6 months (180 days) past the filing date of the I-485.

Is it possible to port to a different geographical location? Yes.

Should the new employer have the ability to pay? Technically, the only factor that matters is whether the two employments are the same and similar.

What is the worst case scenario? If the I-140 Portability is denied for some reason, you can always retain the priority date of the old labor (original employment) for the adjustment under the umbrella of 8 C.F.R.204.5 (e). But you’d have to begin anew with a fresh PERM filing. The consequence of this is that if your 6 years of H-1B have ended, you might have to go back to your home country until you obtain your green card. If when you get there (your home country) you have been sentenced in absentia to live for a year in a large vat full of poisonous snakes, that would surely be a worst case scenario.

To learn more about Houston immigration lawyer, immigration lawyer in Houston, Houston immigration attorney, visit their information filled web site at Visatous.com.

Take heart, skilled foreign workers. If your temporary U.S. H-1B Visa has lost its appeal, there’s always Alberta. In fact, the immigration website for Albert, Canada, is advertising the province as an alternative, permanent home for workers frustrated by their temporary U.S. H-1B visas and their myriad of restrictions. Canadian employers might well be more welcoming than those in the United States even if workers aren’t granted temporary visas.

H-1B, the non-immigrant, temporary status given to individuals in a “specialty occupation or profession” is difficult to qualify for, and in the end, it’s temporary.

Aliens (persons from other countries, not extraterrestrials) seeking an H-1B visa need to have completed a Bachelor’s Degree program, and if they’re from India, Pakistan, or several Asian Rim nations, they’ll need a Masters Degree. H-1B applicants will require licenses if the profession they’re in requires one. The number of new H-1B’s granted in a fiscal year is “capped” at 65,000. Potential employers of an H-1B worker must deal with stringent Department of Labor restrictions and write a detailed recommendation letter for each H-1B skilled worker. If an employer hires a significant number (more than 51) of H-1B workers, the employer is classified as a “dependent” employer and ends up with an avalanche of red tape. Finally, if an employee is actually granted H-1B status, it’s only for three years (although in rare instances it can be renewed for an additional six).

In March 2008, the New York Times reported on the difficulty U.S. companies face in obtaining the elusive three-year H-1Bs to bring in adequate numbers of skilled workers. “In 2007, the (Department of Immigration) agency received enough petitions to cover the annual quota (capped at 65,000) on the first day applications were accepted. About half of the total petitions filed were rejected because the supply of visas had run out.”

Plenty of companies are complaining because they can’t get visas for all the highly educated skilled workers they want to acquire. Skilled foreign workers are even more frustrated. According to Jai B., a doctoral candidate from India’s Punjab region denied an H-1B visa on three separate occasions since April 2007, “The American system does not reward honesty in any way. The truth is, if we were able to leave our home country to come into the U.S. or any other nation, it is because we have a spirit of excellence and we are not quitters or narrow-minded. We want to be assets to the U.S. economy. Unfortunately, we are not regarded that way by U.S. officials.”

A. Banerjee is a Houston immigration lawyer in Texas. Before selecting an immigration lawyer in Houston Texas, contact the Law Offices of Annie Banerjee or to learn more about Houston immigration lawyer, immigration lawyer in Houston, Houston immigration attorney, visit their information filled web site at Visatous.com.

Chain migration is a term often implied in the case of Mexican immigrants and other Latin American countries, although not limited exclusively to those relatively-favored nations. Among Hispanic peoples, the idea of extended families has always been in vogue and entails great significance, as relatives by marriage, cousins, and siblings are all appreciated as “family,” an unofficial status that implies emotional charge ranging from affection to the contempt bred by familial intimacy that only a rule-breaking family member can engender. Although extended families are undergoing a revival of sorts in the currently dismal American economic climate, U.S. nuclear groups tend to be more isolated, with family ties often severed when the parents of children die, if not before this occurs.

In Mexico, Uncle Pedro and Aunt Elisa and Cousin Felicia, a third cousin by marriage to Cousin Narciso, tend to be equally treasured. The new life desired in the U.S. is something to be shared if at all feasible or possible, and so the phenomenon known as chain migration takes place. Unfortunately, in the political and economic climate that comprises the U.S. of 2009, this phenomenon is in jeopardy.

It’s just not permitted, whether or not it was ever encouraged, however tacitly. The excuse is current backlogs, but the reality is a loss of control over the persons being allowed to immigrate. The backlogs impose prohibitive waiting periods on citizens and green card holders attempting to petition for a family member, however close or distant.

According to the April 2009 Visa Bulletin, Mexican spouses and minor children of lawful permanent residents have a current estimated wait of greater than 7 years. For other countries less-favored than the closely-proximate Mexico, waiting times can approach the absurd: for instance, siblings of U.S. citizens from the Philippines must wait 22 years and 6 months.

A. Banerjee is a Houston immigration lawyer in Texas. Before selecting an immigration lawyer in Houston Texas, contact the Law Offices of Annie Banerjee or to learn more about Houston immigration lawyer, immigration lawyer in Houston, Houston immigration attorney, visit their information filled web site at Visatous.com.

Immigration lawyers specialize in immigration issues and are able to set the proper proceedings in motion to allow an illegal alien to attain legal status in the U.S. as a citizen. Knowing the immigration regulations in intimate detail are what Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A. has been trained to do over the course of many years.

While your reason to immigrate to the U.S. may have to do with family or perhaps a job, the reasons don’t really matter if the ultimate goal is to become a legal permanent resident. If a person is living here illegally, this is another matter entirely. Either way, Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A. in Miami and Orlando are able to discuss the available options, so an informed choice is possible. They are not there to judge their clients’ situation. They are there to ensure all the proper legal requirements are met for legal residency.

Getting the license that allows one to stay in the country permanently is a lot of work on the part of legal counsel. Ultimately, the best thing is to abide by the laws of the country one wants to work and live in legally. Doing this illegally is highly stressful and has ramifications no one really wants to consider – for instance deportation.

To obtain a license for permanent residency, consult with Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., as they specialize in immigration law and know how to handle any case that knocks on their door. They’re the best source of information and guidance when a person wants to become a legal U.S. resident. Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A. focus on the educational component of practicing immigration law as well, and that includes offering advice on the eligibility requirements and other of the seemingly hundreds of immigration rules and regulations.

The most important thing to note, and this is just the basic facts to get started with, is that there are four immigration options available: immigration through employment, through a family member, permanent resident status as a refugee and/or seeking asylum, and immigration through a diversity lottery. Of course each method has its pros and cons. Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A. in Miami and Orlando knows those pros and cons.

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It should come as no particular surprise that the building starts for the U.S. construction section are dismal, to say the least. This recession has put a complete kibosh on a great many projects and in the process put a lot of people out of work. The people out of work in the construction sector are a fairly high number of illegal aliens who had been making a living in this sector.

This isn’t to say that there isn’t some construction work available, as there is relating to infrastructure projects and rebuilding homes in the wake of natural disasters. However, many of those in the construction workforce that hailed from Mexico have had to consider giving up and making their way back home.

This of course is an interesting short-term solution to the immigration problem currently faced by the U.S. The numbers of illegal aliens, some 12,000,000, has never been higher. It appears there is some natural attrition going on, with people leaving of their own accord. Here is an interesting question: What will happen when the economy and the construction market make a come back?

This isn’t such a far-fetched idea either, as many economists are figuring the economy will start making a come back in the last quarter of 2009 or the first quarter of 2010. Some pessimists are holding out for early 2011 in terms of the resurgence of available jobs. With such a resurgence will come an influx of illegal aliens once again, and one wonders if the illegal immigration problems will be fixed by then. There’s a good chance they will not be anywhere close to being solved.

Just because all is fairly quiet on the illegal immigration scene with many immigrants choosing to go back home, doesn’t mean the long-term problem has gone away. It’s up to the politicians to do some fixing before the situation once again becomes desperate. Erecting a fence along the border between the U.S. and Mexico isn’t a solution. It’s merely viewed as a surmountable deterrent.

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Interesting that we thank immigrants for helping to make America what it is today, for helping to make it a great nation when they settled here, yet now we erect fences to try and keep immigrants out (The Secure Border Initiative) — but that’s another article. The point here is that immigration law and trends are based on the fluctuations in the immigration population. And of course, politics tend to play a large part in anything dealing with immigration.

Right now the biggest problem politically speaking is the estimated numbers of illegal immigrants in the U.S. – hence the reason for the erection of the fence along the Mexican/U.S. border. The numbers you hear will vary, but one estimate puts the number of illegal aliens in this nation at over 12,000,000. Of course it is not just illegal Mexicans living in the U.S., as there are immigrants from other countries.

History does have a way of repeating itself and immigration issues are certainly not something new. However, with the increasing numbers of illegal immigrants these days, the issue has taken on a new perspective, and that perspective deals with issues like incoming immigrants taking jobs that could go to other Americans. It goes far deeper than that, but that is just the tip of the iceberg.

You may recall the Reagan illegal immigrant amnesty program in the 80s that allowed 3,000,000 illegal immigrants to take a course to become legal citizens of the U.S. As you likely noticed, the numbers of illegal immigrants has climbed significantly and the debate centers on how to handle this kind of influx. It’s fair to say the debate actually “rages” on, as there has been no real solution identified. Suffice it to say that a fence along the border between the U.S./Mexico won’t help this debate any.

Is there really any viable solution to the number of illegal aliens in the United States? Hard question and one that is difficult to answer. Turfing illegal aliens out when they make a significant contribution to the overall economy tends to cause a pregnant pause.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

Many members of Congress are applauding the passage of President Barack H. Obama’s Economic Stimulus Package; even without much bipartisan support it is a landmark achievement and will benefit the country much more than doing nothing during this severe recession. “But at the risk of seeming like a naysayer, I don’t like everything about it,” Ms. Banerjee admits. Her bones of contention primarily rest with apparently misguided proposed immigration policy embedded in the massive bill.

Not everyone in Congress has been cheering the President on. Immigration is a home for naysayers, with few Republicans even voting for President Obama’s Stimulus Package in its entirety, let alone supporting any provision regarding immigration matters that smells liberal or progressive. Republicans and some Democrats from what used to be called “Red” states have not given up about leveraging the economic recession to promote insular, protectionist, “Pat Buchanan-like” policies. These politicians murmur that in order to regain our economic footing, immigrants must be denied admission and prevented from gaining employment in the United States (or else they must be removed if already here). An amendment to the Stimulus Bill, offered by Senators Sanders (Independent-Vermont) and Grassley (Republican-Iowa), is a caveat that Ms. Banerjee opposes. “The net effect of this amendment is that banks and other institutions receiving funding under the financial industry bailout program (passed during the waning days of the Bush Administration just a few months ago) will be virtually prevented from hiring any foreign nationals, or even extending the Visas of already employed foreign workers for a 2-year period,” she says, “In other words, if an employer wants to hire a new H-1B worker, they will assume the obligations of H-1B dependent employers. This is awful. With this provision hiding in the Bill, the stimulus is a lot less stimulating.” A second thought in Ms. Banerjee’s mind is the Kingston E-Verify amendment. “Even voluntary E-Verify has been beset with problems since it was introduced in 1997. I can just imagine what a mandatory E-Verify federal policy will mean, and what I’m imagining isn’t pretty.”

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Basic Pilot/E-Verify started out with good intentions, a bit like the Road to Perdition. The intent of the voluntary Internet-based program is to let employers electronically verify information workers present to prove their employment eligibility. This occurs by accessing information in cumbersome databases maintained by the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration. As of January 8th 2009, 106,814 employers were enrolled in Basic Pilot/E-Verify – slightly more than 1% of the approximately 7.4 million employers in the United States. That would be insignificant enough, but, adds Ms. Banerjee, “Only about half of the enrolled employers actually use the program.”

Still, Basic Pilot/E-Verify is often described as the “panacea” that will curb the hiring of unauthorized workers, according to Ms. Banerjee. “I see difficulties traceable to it every day, many problems that affect workers and businesses that administrators are hesitant to speak about,” she asserts, “It’s no magic bullet.” As a volunteer program that employers can choose to be involved in, its consequences have been relatively benign since 1997 when it was first implemented; but, as a mandatory requirement for employers, “I predict some real pitfalls,” Ms. Banerjee warns.

Even the benign results reported so far have been less than encouraging for making it mandatory, however benign the bureaucratic intentions might be. Numerous entities, including the Government Accountability Office, the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General, and a research firm under contract with the Department of Homeland Security, have determined Basic Pilot/E-Verify to have significant weaknesses. “It relies too much on government databases that have all kinds of error rates built in to them,” Ms. Banerjee asserts, “and sometimes it’s been proven that employers selectively interpret Basic Pilot/E-Verify to do bad things to good workers.” An example is Carmen, a U.S. citizen. She applied for a position with a temporary agency in California only to be turned away because E-Verify was unable to confirm her work authorization. “If this program is made mandatory, it might make the struggling economy even more of a struggle for everybody,” Ms. Banerjee concludes.

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It happened in Vacaville, a lazy California community known more for the occasional earthquake than for immigration raids; but, Mr. Tao Lin got caught. He broke the law, although the issue is a great deal more complex than is typically painted by Federal authorities.

A federal judge sentenced Rui Tao Lin, 53, the former owner of the King’s Buffet in Vacaville, on Friday February 6, 2009. Besides home confinement and probation, the judge also ordered Lin to pay $49,000 in criminal fines. In November 2008, Mr. Lin had pled guilty to employing undocumented workers and mail fraud.

In his guilty plea, Lin admitted that, from June 2006 until September 2008, he hired and assisted in the hiring of employees he knew were illegal aliens. The business hired at least 13 undocumented workers during that span. Only 2 of them were Hispanic. The King’s Buffet would contact an employment agency in Los Angeles to recruit Asian employees, primarily Chinese. The occasional exception, typically from Mexico and Central America, responded to “Help Wanted” notices placed in the business.

Lin is the seventh and final defendant sentenced in the case. The judge noted that the defendant conspired with an employment agency to hire undocumented workers, who, due to their illegal status, were vulnerable to exploitation. He rebuked the defendant’s contention that the Chinese victims were not taken advantage of because the conditions in the United States were better than those left behind in China. “That argument might have once contained an element of truth,” the judge said, “but America is a different place than it used to be.”

The hiring of undocumented Asian workers, many of them Chinese women, is largely an unrecognized phenomenon. Exactly how prevalent the practice is remains unknown, partially due to the language barriers preventing the kind of scrutiny that is more probable in cases of Spanish-speaking undocumented workers, who may also be exploited by restaurant owners. The judge may well have been referring to recession-era economic conditions now prevalent in the United States, as contrasted with the situation perhaps a decade ago during the Clinton Administration.

A. Banerjee is a Houston immigration lawyer in Texas. Before selecting an immigration lawyer in Houston Texas, contact the Law Offices of Annie Banerjee. To learn more about Houston immigration lawyer, immigration lawyer in Houston, Houston immigration attorney, visit Visatous.com.

It has become part of the litany of factoids repeated ad nauseum by the American right wing. Reactionary talk show hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage (real name: Michael Alan Weiner) streaming to millions of gullible listeners who probably believe it by now, along with dozens of airwave lesser lights. The message gets repeated and sent unsolicited in literally billions of viral emails and online petitions. CNN’s immigrant scold Lou Dobbs gets in on the lie.

Illegal aliens, more reasonably referred to as undocumented workers, routinely “game” the Social Security Administration’s sprawling system to receive benefits, even if they’ve never paid into the system. That’s the lie.

The truth isn’t completely flattering, but au contraire, undocumented workers are not (and never have been) eligible to claim social security benefits. Unfortunately, most undocumented workers will use a false social security number to prove work authorization, thus paying into a benefit system they will almost certainly never be able to use. As of October 2005, the reported earnings on which these payments are based – which are tracked through the SSA’s Earnings Suspense File (ESF) – totaled $520 billion. Just where that windfall ends up is anybody’s guess.

But the reason the lie gets repeated over and over, is because many people prefer to believe that it’s true.

These same people are not merely the sycophants of Lee Atwater and Karl Rove and other hate-spreading populists of recent decades, but often are people from every political persuasion. Anti-immigrant rhetoric has a long if shameful history in America. The Know Nothings of the mid-19th century made up stories about nuns being raped by priests and bishops and even by the Pope. Lynch mobs chasing Mexicans along the Rio Grande referred to their quarry as thieves and whores, which were popular designations for men and women, respectively. Whores might be a little off the mark; women of Mexican descent were more typically branded as seductresses of naive and vulnerable white men. Urban legends, however they might have originated in susceptible imaginations, are quite difficult to dispel.

A. Banerjee is a Houston immigration lawyer in Texas. Before selecting an immigration lawyer in Houston Texas, contact the Law Offices of Annie Banerjee. To learn more about Houston immigration lawyer, immigration lawyer in Houston, Houston immigration attorney, visit Visatous.com.

While it might be that change is a good thing, one wonders if too much change is rather obstructive, particularly in the case of U.S. immigration law. “Immigration laws are already complex and with each change, it affects something else, like a series of dominoes toppling over,” explained Sally Odell, of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff in Miami and Orlando, Florida.

People wishing to apply to live in the U.S. are faced with so many hurdles and constantly changing rules and regulations, it’s a wonder they don’t give up in disgust and throw in the towel. In order to deal with the changing requirements of U.S. immigration law, it is vital to consult with an attorney who knows what they are doing, is able to explain things simply, is on top of the constant changes, and who produces favorable results.

Enter Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., who has extensive experience dealing with immigration laws and all the rules and regulations. Their job, when people hire them, is to immediately get a complete overview of the situation and pay attention to all the little details. Explaining all the options open to an applicant will allow the potential immigrant to make an informed decision.

It is also the lawyer’s job to make recommendations as to the best ways to get legal status and assist with the completion and submission of all required applications. Part of submitting the forms and offering recommendations is largely dependant on keeping abreast of all the most recent changes in immigration law. “A good immigration lawyer worth their salt will have all the latest changes at hand when discussing how to proceed with their client,” outlined Odell.

Keeping on top of the changes in rules and regulations helps to avoid delays and problems down the line, as the application for immigration winds its way through the cumbersome system. “Along the way we may wind up speaking to the Department of Homeland Security or representing a person in court as well, ” sad Odell. “We aim to be prepared for all contingencies.”

The immigration lawyer will also take the lead in filing appeals and waivers, if required, and making sure the “system” is used to the client’s advantage. For these reasons, and others, it only makes sense to hire an immigration lawyer that knows the system and will go to bat for their clients in order to make their application for immigration to the U.S. become a reality.

In the final analysis, a highly qualified, expert immigration lawyer is worth their weight in gold and will make the process of dealing with the system not only bearable, but informative. When hiring an immigration lawyer, be sure to look for the kind of experience that Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A. in Miami and Orlando, Florida, bring to the table.

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While the idea may have its virtues, to say that this would raise some questions of violation of constitutional rights would be a major understatement. This is not George Orwell’s 1984, but ideas like this certainly raise echoes of the “kind” of a state-controlled way of living.

The whole idea isn’t just to center around the use of these suggested tags. It may include something referred to as a permanent (to be carried at all times) “biometric card” that everyone crossing the border would present, along with their radio frequency identification tag. Scary thought isn’t it; all that personal information floating about on the Internet in the government’s files. Sure they may say it’s secure, however computer hackers love that kind of a challenge.

You have to get a good grasp of the scale for this kind of program to realize how invasive it is. For instance, there are over 23 MILLION people who pay a visit to the U.S. every year. This number is not declining. There are also figures that show at least 15 million people who come to the U.S. hail from Canada and Mexico. Uncle Sam wants to know why they are in the country, that they don’t over stay their welcome, and that they follow the rules about extending their stays.

This radio frequency identification tag evidently may have other uses that deal with putting a stop to human and drug trafficking. While perhaps a laudable idea, the logistics of its implementation seem to defy whoever came up with the idea in the first place, other than a scanner of some sort.

This sort of out-of-the-box thinking may have its place in the greater scheme of things; but first and foremost, these ideas have to address the rights and freedoms accorded to us under the Constitution. Any government who would willingly promote this kind of idea without some sensitivity to the constitutionality of it is in for serious problems.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more about immigration lawyer in Miami, immigration lawyer in Orlando, immigration lawyer in Florida., visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.

The plain and simple fact of the matter is, while the immigration system has undergone so many extensive changes in the past, many politicians are regarding it as something best left alone for now. On the other hand, there are others who would rather complete a massive change and be done with it.

“While changes to the immigration system are definitely needed, the problem is changing what currently exists brings a cascade of other new problems along with it,” said Sally Odell, immigration lawyer, of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A. in Miami and Orlando, Florida. If immigration was kept out of the political arena, it might fare better than it has to this point; however, that may be a moot point.

Most of the present problems with the immigration system that seem to be causing the angst, deal with illegal immigration. This actually became even more of an issue after 9/11 and has resulted in many significant changes to U.S. immigration law. The difficulty appears to be that those changes were made as a reaction to a situation, not as a considered change that would blend with the existing rules and regulations.

Immigration law is so complex that the only way to make heads or tails of the process is to hire a competent and expert immigration lawyer, such as Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A. “We make the process of applying for immigration a whole lot easier to understand so the people relying on us are aware of their options and are able to make informed decisions about their futures with the information we give them,” added Odell.

When faced with the challenge of applying for immigration status in the U.S., make the first phone call to a lawyer for assistance. This is one phone call that will be well-worth the time and money.

Usually the first consultation is free and the attorney will assess the merits of the situation and make recommendations based on the information provided. Despite the fact that the present immigration system is a bit of a hornet’s nest, a top-notch immigration lawyer will walk clients through it to a successful conclusion.

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While you may not realize this, the immigration lawyer you hire will make all the difference in the world between you being able to remain in the country, or you being deported. This is why you need an attorney who understands all the ramifications of what deportation means to you and to your family.

Fighting deportation also means an impact on your budget, as it is expensive to mount a case; however, you will need the kind of expertise only a highly qualified immigration lawyer is able to provide. Look for an attorney who is willing to work with what you have, and yes, there are many who will gladly assist you in circumstances like this because they do understand what you are going through.

There are usually four steps followed during a deportation hearing, with the first one being a Notice to Appear. The Notice of Hearing, the Master Calendar Hearing, and then an individual hearing will typically follow the Notice to Appear. It is quite the process and usually begins with a recommendation from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Once ICE has become involved, their Chief Counsel sends out the Notice to Appear. This notice tells the recipient that ICE intends to have them removed from the U.S. Information on the hearing is normally in this first notice. Don’t wait until just before the hearing to contact an expert in immigrations law. Do this the moment you get that letter and take the letter to the lawyer you have chosen.

The next notice, the Notice of Hearing, simply repeats all the pertinent information about when and where the hearing is located. The Master Calendar Hearing is the one where you will be assigned a time to find out why ICE wants you out of the country. Now if this isn’t a travesty of justice, we don’t know what is. Making a person wait until later to find out why they have been recommended for deportation shows a certain lack of sensitivity, not to mention possible human rights issues involved.

If you have come this far in the deportation process without an attorney, then make sure you hire one now, before your individual hearing takes place. This should not be faced alone as you will not have the legal knowledge to dispute any possible accusations or charges ICE may level against you. This is where your immigration attorney will earn their keep, by speaking up for you and getting to the bottom of the reasons cited for your recommended deportation.

Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more about immigration lawyer in Miami, immigration lawyer in Orlando, immigration lawyer in Florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.