PRESIDENT OBAMA RENEWS HIS PROMISE TO USE HIS EXECUTIVE POWER TO KEEP FIGHTING FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM

Speaking to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, last week President Obama promise he will keep fighting for immigration reform. As Congress is unlikely to agree on immigration reform any time soon President Obama intends to us his power as President to take executive action after the 2014 election, but before the end of the year. 

Although the President has face strong resistance from many in the Latino community for his decision to delay the announcement until after the election (but before the end of the year-or so he promises), he was still greeted with cheers and introduced by an enthusiastic Senator Menendez (D-NJ). The President acknowledged the anger in his speech, "Now, I know there's deep frustration in many communities around the country right now. And I understand that frustration because I share it. I know the pain of families torn apart because we live with a system that's broken. But if anybody wants to know where my heart is or whether I want to have this fight, let me put those questions to rest right now. I am not going to give up this fight until it gets done."

IMMIGRATION AND POLICY BY NYC BUSINESS IMMIGRATION LAWYER - Phone (212) 564-1589: U.S. VISA BULLETIN FOR NOVEMBER 2014 UPDATE

IMMIGRATION AND POLICY BY NYC BUSINESS IMMIGRATION LAWYER - Phone (212) 564-1589: U.S. VISA BULLETIN FOR NOVEMBER 2014 UPDATE: OFFICES OF NORKA M. SCHELL'S BLOG Website: www.lawschelll.com  Tel. (212)564-1589  FAMILY-BASED PREFERENCES Family-Spon...

U.S. VISA BULLETIN FOR NOVEMBER 2014 UPDATE

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Website: www.lawschelll.com

 Tel. (212)564-1589 

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IMMIGRATION AND POLICY BY NYC BUSINESS IMMIGRATION LAWYER - Phone (212) 564-1589: U.S. VISA BULLETIN FOR OCTOBER 2014 UPDATE

IMMIGRATION AND POLICY BY NYC BUSINESS IMMIGRATION LAWYER - Phone (212) 564-1589: U.S. VISA BULLETIN FOR OCTOBER 2014 UPDATE: Offices of Norka M. Schell's Blog  Website:  www.lawschell.com Tel. (212)564-1589 FAMILY-BASED PREFERENCES Family-Sponsore...

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Tel. (212)564-1589

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OUR ECONOMY NEEDS HUMAN CAPITAL

Offices of Norka M. Schell's Blog 

Website: www.lawschell.com

Tel. (212)564-1589

Posted by Norka M. Schell, Esq.

Labor Force - in the short run, economic activity determined by demand the degree to which people consume, business invest and government tax and spend.

In the long run, however, economic activity is driven by the supply of resources, and the most critical resource turns out to be human capital. 

The capacity of any economy to expand ever time is a function of growth in the labor force plus the productivity of that labor force. 

Our economy needs human capital, whether we grow it at home or welcome it from abroad. What is happening on our southern borders is humanitarian crises at present, but could become a chronic economic crisis if we don't create a solution that provide a path to citizenship for the men, women and children who are risking their lives to come to this country. 

*This article was extract from The Unsung Economics of Immigration at Forbes.

IMMIGRATION AND POLICY BY NYC BUSINESS IMMIGRATION LAWYER - Phone (212) 564-1589: PERMISSION TO REAPPLY FOR ADMISSION

IMMIGRATION AND POLICY BY NYC BUSINESS IMMIGRATION LAWYER - Phone (212) 564-1589: PERMISSION TO REAPPLY FOR ADMISSION: By Norka M. Schell, Immigration Lawyer Law Offices of Norka M. Schell, LLC Tel. (212)564-1589 Website:  www.lawschell.com Congress impo...

PERMISSION TO REAPPLY FOR ADMISSION

By Norka M. Schell, Immigration Lawyer
Law Offices of Norka M. Schell, LLC
Tel. (212)564-1589
Website: www.lawschell.com

Congress imposed harsh restrictions on the re-entry of foreign nationals who have been previously removed with passage of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act of 1996 (IllRAIR). The Sections 212(a)(9)(A)(i) and (ii) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as added by IIRAIRA provide that aliens who have been ordered removed may not be readmitted to the United States until they have remained outside the country for a specific period of time: (a) five years or individuals removed through summary exclusion or through removal proceedings initiated upon the person's arrival in the United States; (b) 10 years for those otherwise ordered removed after a deportation hearing or who departed the United States while an order of removal was outstanding; and (c) 20 years for a second or subsequent removal. The bar to readmission is permanent for foreign nationals convicted of an felony. Foreign nationals who wish to return to the United States prior to the passage of required amount of time, as specified in the regulations, must request for a permission to reapply for early admission.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has broad discretionary authority when it come to evaluating requests for permission to reapply.

IMMIGRATION AND POLICY BY NYC BUSINESS IMMIGRATION LAWYER - Phone (212) 564-1589: ALTERNATIVES TO DETENTION

IMMIGRATION AND POLICY BY NYC BUSINESS IMMIGRATION LAWYER - Phone (212) 564-1589: ALTERNATIVES TO DETENTION: By Norka M. Schell Law Offices of Norka M. Schell, LLC Tel. (212)564-1589 Website:  www.lawschell.com The government needs to eli...

ALTERNATIVES TO DETENTION

By Norka M. Schell

Law Offices of Norka M. Schell, LLC

Tel. (212)564-1589

Website: www.lawschell.com

The government needs to eliminate mandatory detention except for serious offenders. 

Each year mandatory detention results in the jailing of tens of thousands of people who pose no danger to their communities and are not a flight risk. Feeding this detention system is the mandatory provision of Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRAIRA), requiring that most people in deportation proceedings, based on their past offenses, no matter how remote in time, are held in custody, even if they are non-violent and the criminal system has determined they are not a risk to the community. Such a system cannot differentiate between a terrorist and a single mother of U.S. children or a green card holder who's lived here his whole life. The respondent remains in custody until completion of the immigration court case, and pending any appeals to the Board of Immigration Appeals and federal circuit courts, which can easily amount to years of detention. 

In the past few months, the Obama Administration has massively escalated its detention of mothers and children who are fleeing violence and persecution. Within weeks, the Department of Homeland Security will open several thousand new detention beds dedicated to detaining families. These mothers and their children, including many toddlers and babies, are asylum seekers, who have suffered domestic violence, sexual assault, gang violence and other atrocities and are protected under international and U.S. asylum and humanitarian law. The U.S. government is also subjecting them to an aggressive and rapid deportation policy that deprives them of meaningful access to protection.

Even though Department of Homeland Security current only permits individuals to participate in alternatives programs if the individual has already demonstrated the they are not a flight risk or danger to the community, the Department of Homeland Security uses restrictive measures such as electronic devices to monitor participants. Electronic monitoring devices are very restrictive: a recent court decision found that electronic bracelets cause the loss of a 'great deal' of an individual's liberty and require confinement in a specific space such as a private dwelling for approximately 12 hours per day. Currently, all Department of Homeland Security's alternatives to detention programs rely heavily on electronic monitoring devices which seriously restrict an individual's freedom of movement - thereby converting the program into an alternative from of custody rather than an alternative to detention.  

Department of Homeland Security's current alternatives to detention programs have not yet taken advantage of the community-based alternative programs run by non-governmental, state or local agencies that utilize less restrictive means to ensure program compliance. Community-based alternatives programs that provide case management services, legal orientation for participants and facilitate access to counsel have been shown to substantially increase program compliance without the extensive use of electronic monitoring. 

Detention deprives individuals of their most fundamental rights to liberty and for many individuals such as the mothers and their children, and for many immigrants and asylum-seekers, this extreme measure is often unnecessary.

IMMIGRATION-RELATED EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION CLAIM

Posted by: Norka M. Schell, NYC Immigration Lawyer
Law Offices of Norka M. Schell, LLC
Tel. (212)564-1589
Website: www.lawschell.com

Department of Justice

Office of Public Affairs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Justice Department Settles Immigration-Related Employment Discrimination Claim Against a Restaurant Management Company

The Justice Department announced today that it reached an agreement with Culinaire International, a catering and restaurant management company headquartered in Houston, Texas, resolving a claim that Culinaire engaged in citizenship discrimination during the employment eligibility reverification process in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).    

The Justice Department’s investigation found that Culinaire required lawful permanent resident employees to produce a new Permanent Resident Card when their prior card expired, even though the Form I-9 and E-Verify rules prohibit this practice.   Lawful permanent residents have permanent work authorization in the United States, even after their permanent resident cards expire.   The INA’s anti-discrimination provision prohibits employers from placing additional documentary burdens on work-authorized employees during the employment eligibility verification process based on their citizenship status.  

“Employers cannot discriminate against workers by requiring them to produce more documents than necessary in the employment eligibility verification and reverification processes,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Molly Moran for the Civil Rights Division.   “The department applauds Culinaire’s willingness to resolve this matter expeditiously and its commitment to changing its past documentary practices.”

Under the settlement agreement, Culinaire will pay $20,460 in civil penalties to the United States; undergo training on the anti-discrimination provision of the INA; establish a $40,000 back pay fund to compensate potential economic victims; revise its employment eligibility reverification policies; and be subject to monitoring of its employment eligibility verification practices for 20 months.

           

The Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC) within the Justice Department is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA.   Among other things, the statute prohibits citizenship status and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing or recruitment or referral for a fee, unfair documentary practices, retaliation and intimidation.  

For more information about protections against employment discrimination under immigration laws, call OSC’s worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); call OSC’s employer hotline at 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired).

Applicants or employees who believe they were subjected to different documentary requirements based on their citizenship status, immigration status, or national origin, or discrimination based on their citizenship status, immigration status, or national origin in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee should contact OSC’s worker hotline for assistance.  

VISA BULLETIN FOR SEPTEMBER 2014

Posted by Norka M. Schell, Immigration Lawyer
Law Offices of Norka M. Schell, LLC
Tel. (212)564-1589
Website: www.lawschell.com


FAMILY-SPONSORED PREFERENCES

Family-Sponsored	All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA-mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
F1	01MAY07	01MAY07	01MAY07	01JUN94	01AUG04
F2A	01JAN13	01JAN13	01JAN13	22APR12	01JAN13
F2B	01SEP07	01SEP07	01SEP07	15MAY94	01DEC03
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F4	01JAN02	01JAN02	01JAN02	22JAN97	15MAR91

EMPLOYMENT-BASED PREFERENCES

Employment- Based	All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA - mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
1st	C	C	C	C	C
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IMMIGRATION AND POLICY BY NYC BUSINESS IMMIGRATION LAWYER - Phone (212) 564-1589: ASYLUM AND WITHHOLDING OF REMOVAL DEFENSES

IMMIGRATION AND POLICY BY NYC BUSINESS IMMIGRATION LAWYER - Phone (212) 564-1589: ASYLUM AND WITHHOLDING OF REMOVAL DEFENSES: Posted By Attorney Norka M. Schell Law Offices of Norka M. Schell, LLC Tel. (212) 564-1589 Website:  http://www.lawschell.com/asylum.html...