U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been stepping on immigration enforcement activities. Here’s a recent article from the Associated Press: Federal authorities say a six-day sweep of South Florida has netted 19 illegal immigrants with criminal records. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says the operation that ended Thursday also caught four fugitives with final orders of [...]

To reduce the number of fraudulent asylum applications Congress passed a law in 1996 that provided that applicants must petition the U.S. Government for asylum within 1 year of their arrival in the U.S. Exceptions to the One Year Rule There are two exceptions to the 1 year rule: Existence of changed circumstances in your home [...]

The Los Angeles Times reported today that a three judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit granted Ms. Lesly Perdomo’s petition for review and ordered that her case be remanded to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) to consider whether Guatemalan women constitute a “particular social group” and as such, be eligible for political asylum.  The court also ordered [...]

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (USICE) announced that beginning January 4, 2010, it will release from DHS custody, arriving foreign nationals who seeking asylum who can show that they have a credible fear of persecution or torture. The new policy will allow these asylum seekers to be released from DHS custody and be paroled into the U.S. Parole is a temporary authorization [...]

The New York Times  reported today that asylum seekers are filing more claims based on sexual orientation. The U.S. immigration laws allow aliens to be granted asylum  if they can prove a well-founded fear of persecution in their country of origin because of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. The claim of sexual orientation [...]

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a Final Rule (PDF) in the Federal Register, effective April 6, 2009 amending the asylum regulations stating that the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) will no longer forward all affirmative asylum applications to the U.S. Department of State (DOS).  An affirmative asylum application exists when an alien files a timely form I-589 [...]

Only individuals who fear government persecution on account of race, religion, national origin, political opinion or membership in a particular social group are eligible for asylum. An immigration judge (IJ) in Brentwood, New York granted asylum to three Hondoruan children, ages 15, 14 and 11, finding that the children were members of a particular social [...]

First, let us admit our bias here. We are immigration attorneys and have a vested interest in being hired. Our business does not survive without clients. But the truth is that even a non-immigration lawyer will tell you that if you get a Deportation Notice from the USCIS you should immediately contact an immigration lawyer [...]

A deportation notice (called a Notice to Appear or an NTA) means the United States’ government wants to remove you from the country. All deportation cases are handled by the Executive Office of Immigration Review, also known as Immigration Court. Immigration Court The USCIS will assign an experienced government trial lawyer to prosecute your case (i.e. prove that [...]