When applying for a K-1 fiancé(e) visa, being gay can add undue hardship to the process. Generally speaking, to qualify for a K-1 visa, one partner must be a U.S. citizen, both parties legally free and intend to marry, and that the partners need to have met each other in person within the two year preceding the filing of the I-129F petition. The process further requires that the foreign fiancé(e) file for a visa at their local embassy.
Immigration Detention
On Sunday, June 30, 36 Jewish immigration activists out of an estimated 200 participants were arrested protesting outside an ICE detention facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey. According to Democracy Now, the protest was organized by Never Again Action. It called for an immediate end to ICE raids, deportations and immigrant prisons.
Border Crisis and Immigration
Immigration and our southern border are in a state of crisis. Clint, Texas is a small town less than half the size of Downtown LA and not 20 miles from Ciudad Juárez. It is also the source of the biggest controversy to come from the U.S.-Mexico border since the announcement of Trump's child separation and other hardline immigration related policies. Testimony from doctors and lawyers allowed inside the detention facility in Clint details horrific mistreatment. The facility, which holds exclusively minors, has witnessed children sleeping on concrete floors and babies forced to wear dirty diapers. According to the AP, lawyers, "met one sick 2-year-old boy without a diaper who had wet his pants, his shirt smeared in mucus." Attorney Amy Maldonado commented that one girl was "'...forced to sleep on the tile floor as punishment for using a comb.'
"Outbreaks in Aurora; Immigration Dreams Quarantined" - by Kevin Ayala - Law Clerk
The AP reported yesterday on disastrous health conditions of detainees, with over 2,200 quarantined as cases of mumps increase. ICE confirms the 25 day quarantine began march 7, at facilities in Pine Prairie, Louisiana and Aurora, Colorado. ICE further confirms that 51 confirmed or probable cases of mumps were reported this past year.
Immigration - Letters from the Otey Mesa Detention Center
Immigration - Letter from Detention Center - Otay Mesa -
The Over Regulation of Immigration Laws and Policy
Since business school and forever before that, I've been told, and do believe for the most part, that government regulations can be bad because they stifle competition, drag down industry, serve as a hidden tax, and are actually redundant since markets eventually self regulate. At the same time, my 22-year career as an immigration attorney has taught me that our representatives in DC charged with governing our capitalist form of government consistently disregard these simple truths in their entirety when dealing with immigration law and policy.
Immigration and The Wall
Immigration continues to be a hot topic. At the same time, technological advancements have effectively turned the world into a village, where goods, services, and people travel seamlessly. Still the President of the United States and his Republican enablers are demanding a wall...to keep out "the others!"
The Institutional Unfairness in Immigration Courts
The fact that immigration courts are embedded within the Executive Branch of our government has always been problematic. The Attorney General (AG) - whose legitimate and stated purpose in any removal hearing is to remove the foreign national, controls the judges, the prosecutors, and the executioner (ICE) in a removal case. The respondent or foreign national on the other hand may or may not have an attorney for his/her defense since there is no public defender system. At the conclusion of proceedings, if there is an appeal by either party, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) is charged with reviewing the decision; that body is also controlled by the Attorney General.
Immigration laws and Trader Visa - E-1
I had a call from a Canadian citizen yesterday. He called because he was barred from entering the U.S. after he told the CBP officer at the Toronto International Airport pre-clearance (https://torontopearson.com/en/Preclearance/#) that the purpose for his visit was to open a U.S. bank account in NY. I probed and got more facts and concluded that the CBP officer was probably correct in his assessment. Thus, the problem!
Immigration Reform Bill?
America, a nation of immigrants, is increasingly showing signs of intolerance for immigrants. Under Trump, navigating through the already complicated labyrinth of what is the U.S. immigration system has become even more complex. https://www.americanvisas.net/Immigration-Law/Green-Cards.shtml
