August 31, 2021|Contributed by: Jennifer Howard
On August 17, 2021, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that the United States will begin requiring applicants for lawful permanent residence (“green card applicants”) to be fully vaccinated. The requirement will apply both to adjustment of status applicants inside the United States and to immigrant visa processing (“consular processing”) applicants […]
August 30, 2021|Contributed by: Zachary New
In immigration laws, there is a certain number of green cards or immigrant visas that may be issued each year, which are further broken down by the country of origin of the applicant for permanent residency. There are generally 226,000 available for family-sponsored permanent residents, and 140,000 available for employment-sponsored permanent residents. The law can […]
August 26, 2021|Contributed by: Luke Niermann
Recently, the Department of Homeland Security along with the Department of Justice published a proposed rule aimed, in part, at speeding up the processing of asylum claims by individuals encountered at or near the southern border. Currently, individuals seeking asylum who enter the U.S. and are subject to expedited removal (a process whereby immigration officers […]
August 25, 2021|Contributed by: Joseph & Hall P.C.
In January 2019, the Department of Homeland Security began the implementation of a program called Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP). This program would soon become known as the “Remain in Mexico” program, as it denied asylum seekers at the southern U.S. border entry to the United States until their cases could be heard by an immigration […]
August 24, 2021|Contributed by: Aaron C. Hall, Esq.
On his first day in office, President Biden issued Executive Order 13993, “Revision of Civil Immigration Enforcement Policies and Priorities.” 86 Fed. Reg. 7051 (Jan. 25, 2021). President Biden’s Executive Order revoked a previous executive order by President Trump and called for adherence “to due process of law as we safeguard the dignity and well-being […]
August 10, 2021|Contributed by: Joseph & Hall P.C.
A Biden administration official announced last week that green cards have been processed by the government at such a slow pace that it will come at least 100,000 slots short of using up the annual limit. Click here to read the entire story.
July 26, 2021|Contributed by: Aaron C. Hall, Esq.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has reversed one of former AG Jeff Sessions’ biggest immigration decisions, Matter of Castro-Tum 27 I&N Dec. 271 (A.G. 2018). With Castro-Tum, Sessions overturned decades of precedent by ending the authority of the Board of Immigration Appeals and Immigration Judges to grant administrative closure—a docketing tool generally used to take cases […]
July 22, 2021|Contributed by: Luke Niermann
On July 16, 2021, a federal district court judge in Texas, Judge Andrew Hanen, ruled that DACA is illegal, finding that it exceeds the power that Congress has delegated to the executive branch. Judge Hanen stated that there were a number of substantive flaws with the program, and that it violated the Administrative Procedure Act […]
June 29, 2021|Contributed by: Joseph & Hall P.C.
On June 15, 2021, the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a joint statement expanding access to the Central American Minors Program (“CAM Program”). The CAM Program was initially established in 2014 to reunite children from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras with their parents or legal guardians in the […]
June 24, 2021|Contributed by: Aaron C. Hall, Esq.
On June 10, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Borden v. United States, ruling that a criminal offense with a reckless mental state does not qualify as a “violent felony.” While Borden is not an immigration case, it has major immigration applications. In 2018, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled that […]
