The Miami Herald reported today that in light of the rising unemployment rate (approximately 10%), an all important question has come up in the immigration reform debate.  That question is, “Will legalizing millions of undocumented immigrants further hurt or help the economy?” The answer is difficult to come by due to conflicting reports that were issued recently.  One such report released last week endorsed [...]

The Immigration & Customs Enforcement (USICE) recently apprehended and indicted a Guyanese national along with a few others on charges of conspiracy and alien smuggling in connection with the smuggling and/or attempted smuggling of four Indian nationals into the United States. According to the indictment, from April 2009 to Nov. 17, 2009, a USICE investigation revealed that the individuals conspired to bring to [...]

The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) ruled recently and as a result clarified in the case of Matter of Martinez-Serrano, 25 I&N Dec. 151 (BIA 2009) that a conviction for Alien Smuggling is not necessary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to charge a foreign national with a ground of deportability under section 237(a)(1)(E)(i) – (Alien [...]

The New York Times reported today that the momentum to resolve our country’s growing immigration problem has picked up again in light of legislation introduced by Congressional Representative Luis V. Gutierrez, a Democrat from Illinois.  His introduction of the bill is seen by many as the first skirmish in a battle that is expected to be long and drawn [...]

The Orlando Sentinel reported late last week that immigration reform would be possible by next year according to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano. In a nutshell, the DHS Secretary stated that immigration reform is possible because the government has significantly improved border control and internal immigration work place enforcement, that it has the ability to focus on [...]

The Miami Herald reported today that supporters of the DREAM Act are uniting to lobby the government to focus its attention on this legislation. For example, 25-year old Lizbeth Mateo, a native of Mexico and an undocumented immigrant who has lived in the U.S. for over ten years, earned a bachelor’s degree last year from California State University.  Now that [...]

The Miami Herald  reported this past weekend that the health care reform bill that was debated in Congress passed in the House by a narrow margin of 220-215. In the Senate, legislation is being finalized, but has yet to be made public.  Therefore, certain details of the Senate version of the Health Care Reform bill are unknown. Below is a brief comparison [...]

The Washington Times reported recently that with President Obama having postponed immigration reform until sometime next year because of more pressing issues such as health care reform and the economy, immigrant rights groups have criticized the Obama Administration by saying that immigration reform is “slipping away.” Several groups have said the only short term solution for undocumented immigrants until immigration reform ultimately [...]

The Washington Times reported recently that President Obama said that Congress would not be able to pass an immigration reform bill until sometime next year.  The President acknowledged that there are more pressing issues at this time to deal with such as healthcare reform and the economy.  Right now though, the issue that seems to be the most pressing is health care reform. [...]

The White House released President Obama’s remarks following a meeting yesteday with congressional leaders about immigration reform. The President had asked DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano to lead a group that would be working with leaders from both chambers of Congress to draft legislation that would reform the nation’s immigration laws. Additionally, the President asked that in the next 3 months, for the US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) [...]