The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reported earlier this week that it will implement the Help Haiti Act of 2010 that was signed by the President on December 9, 2010.  The law authorizes USCIS to grant lawful permanent resident (green card) status to certain Haitian children who are orphaned and were also paroled into the United States pursuant to the Haitian [...]

The New York Times reported yesterday that immigrant advocate groups across the United States have come together to call on members of Congress to pass a bill that would legalize undocumented illegal immigrant students.  This is an effort to have the legislation pass before Congress adjourns for the year and, while Democrats still have control in both chambers of Congress. [...]

The New York Times reported yesterday that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, would introduce a bill in the upcoming Congressional lame duck session to legalize certain undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children, otherwise known as the DREAM Act. The Senator tried to introduce the DREAM Act as part of a larger military appropriations bill prior to the midterm elections. However, the [...]

The U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) reported today that in Fiscal Year (FY) 2010, the agency has naturalized over 11,000 U.S. military service members in military duty stations throughout the U.S. and abroad. That is the largest number of military naturalizations in any year since the Korean War. The number of military naturalizations is increasing due to the USCIS’ outreach to eligible military [...]

The Los Angeles Times reported today that in an interview last week in Los Angeles, the President put fault on Republicans in Congress for their unwillingness to come together and work with him to to reform our country’s immigration laws that would legalize approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants. During the interview, he mentioned that when immigration reform was being debated in Congress back in 2006, 11 Republican [...]

The U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) via its Administrative Appeals Office (AAO), issued two (2) precedent decisions yesterday.  Those decisions are published by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) as part of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Furthermore, those decisions are binding on all USCIS and DOJ personnel for deciding cases.  The precedents that were set established rules and reasonings for deciding [...]

The New York Times reported this past weekend about an immigrant from St. Kitts named Joseph E. Joseph who registered to vote back in 1992, voted in every presidential election since then and because of what he referred to as “doing his his civic duty”, he now faces deportation. In the U.S., only citizens are authorized to vote in [...]

The Orlando Sentinel reported recently that politicians in the Florida Congressional and Gubernatorial races are taking a hands off approach to the immigration reform issue. However, the ongoing national debate on this issue some critics have said could make a difference in voter turnout, particularly among Hispanic voters who are already frustrated with the President and his administration’s efforts to [...]

The U.S. Department of State reported today that the application period for the DV-2012 Diversity Visa Lottery begins at 12 noon today and ends at 12 noon on November 3, 2010. Congress created the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program to allow 50,000 immigrant visas per fiscal year to foreign nationals that meet strict eligibility requirements from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United [...]

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) has recently published a delayed update of the poverty guidelines for the remainder of 2010.  The poverty guidelines are usually published every year in late January or early February. The reason for the delayed update of this year’s poverty guidelines was due to legislation enacted in late 2009 and [...]