Police said the 22-year-old woman driver was stopped for driving on private property to avoid a traffic control device. When the Army private's wife could not produce a driver's license or a Social Security card, she was arrested. Officials turned the undocumented immigrant over to ICE, which immediately began deportation proceedings.
]]> The immigrant, who entered the U.S. illegally with her parents when she was just 4, disputed the arrest and involvement of immigration officials. The woman carried, and claimed she showed the arresting officer, a military spouse identification card, which should have put a stop to the deportation proceedings.The wife and mother had been married four years to a Mexican-born U.S. citizen, a member of the American military. According to a 2010 directive by the Obama Administration, undocumented, immediate family members of military service personnel qualify for "parole in place."
"Parole in place" allows an undocumented immigrant married to a soldier to remain inside the United States while pursuing an adjustment of legal status. The young couple had already hired an immigration attorney to help them reach that goal prior to the woman's arrest.
It took two days before the accused woman was cleared of any wrongdoing and released from an immigration detention facility. During detention, she was unable to communicate with her husband stationed in Germany.
ICE agreed that the soldier's spouse had committed no crime and had no previous criminal record. Her immigration status was unchanged.
ICE officials phoned the serviceman in Europe to let him know his wife was being released from detention. The soldier spoke with his daughter later the same day to inform the 3-year-old that her mother was coming home at last.
Source: usnews.msnbc.msn.com, "Immigration nightmare: Army soldier's wife detained after Arizona traffic stop," James Eng, May 3, 2012
]]>The announcement by ICE to set aside more than 16,000 deportation cases is not a move to permanently erase the cases. Crime-free immigrants with questionable legal statuses are getting a reprieve, not a clean slate. The extra time under the ICE radar could benefit Jersey City immigrants trying to build a valid case to stay in the U.S.
]]> ICE reviewed almost three-fourths of its pending deportation files and determined it could not juggle every case. More than 7 percent of the 300,000 cases reviewed were ordered into suspension after it was discovered the immigrants fell into a low-priority, non-criminal group.ICE has suspended the cases of 2,700 potential deportees so far, about a fifth of the total headed toward the government's to-do-later list. The bulk of the immigrants whose cases are suspended have been long-time residents with strong family ties to U.S. citizens.
The review of immigrants' files was part of a directive issued late last summer by the Obama administration. The president advised ICE to use "prosecutorial discretion" in determining action in individual immigrant's cases. An open-ended hold was ordered for immigrants who presented no U.S. security or public safety threats.
Advocates for immigrants' rights applauded the latest ICE announcement, but are watching the government's actions carefully. Proponents say ICE has used an uneven hand in its deportation decisions.
Not every undocumented immigrant stands to gain from temporary suspension. The advocacy groups say immigrants buy time when a deportation case is suspended, but may not be able to afford help to correct their statuses. Immigrants facing a deportation hearing, now or later, are not permitted to work.
It may be more prudent for an immigrant to face an immigration judge and seek asylum than to accept the delay offered by ICE. The Executive Office for Immigration Review reported that over half the immigrants who sought U.S. asylum last year were granted their request, an approval rate that appears more reliable than waiting for ICE to revisit a deportation case in the future.
Source: abcnews.go.com, "APNewsBreak: 7.5 Pct of Deportations May Get Held," Amy Taxin, April 25, 2012
]]>About 2,100 children remain in the agency's care as the underage immigrants wait for the decision of an immigration judge.
]]> Published reports say 90 percent of the solitary sons and daughters will be placed with relatives who are U.S. citizens. Some of the remaining 10 percent will be returned to parents or relatives in native countries. Legal advocates say some kids will receive asylum to escape political and personal abuse or human traffickers in their homelands.The numbers of solo immigrant minors are increasing as the number of undocumented immigrants of all ages is falling. Officials have not defined the reasons, but the sharp uptick of border-crossing kids has prompted HHS to seek emergency temporary housing for the children, including the recent use of an Air Force base to shelter 100 underage immigrants.
The influx of minor immigrants to the U.S. has also stretched the resources of legal advocates trying to help them. Government laws do not guarantee automatic legal help for immigrants, including immigrants who are minors. Lawyers who champion the immigrant children's cases often work for free. Some attorneys complain that number of youth cases has become too large to handle effectively.
Approximately 80 percent of the 100 children temporarily sheltered at an Air Force base dormitory are male and over the age of 14. According to the Women's Refugee Commission, 14 is the average age of unaccompanied immigrant children in U.S. federal housing and care facilities.
The children often have lengthy waits for a court appearance before an immigration judge. Many are shuffled from temporary shelters to government facilities in one of more than a dozen states, where undocumented immigrant children are housed and provided with necessary physical and mental health care.
Source: huffingtonpost.com, "Spike In Undocumented Immigrant Children Prompts Use Of Military Base As Shelter," Cristina Costantini, April 19, 2012
]]>A visa application rejection from a U.S. consulate can be a dead end for an immigrant in their home land. Immigrants who interview in the U.S. move more quickly through an appeals process. U.S.-resident immigrants, rejected by the USCIS or an immigration judge, may remain in the United States while the case is in appeal, all the way through a federal court appeal, as long as the case is legally active and undecided.
]]> Not all immigrants qualify for a U.S.-based green card interview. How an immigrant came to live in the United States is crucial part of securing an interview. Green card interviews are granted to immigrants have been waived-in at the border, who worked legally and who have not let a visa expire. Immigrants who pass border inspections and are immediate relatives of U.S. citizens may also interview in the country.Immigrant applying for legal status changes as refugees, domestic abuse victims, asylum-seekers and some work-related visas can also be granted USCIS interviews.
Other rules apply for immigrants whose cases date back before May 1, 2001, so-called 245i applicants. "Grandfathered" applicants are subject to a $1,000 filing penalty and must meet detailed residency or filing requirements.
Immigrants who used false visas or passports to enter the U.S. may also apply for an adjustment of status from within the country under narrow circumstances.
Undocumented immigrants, who entered the country after passing a border patrol "inspection and admission," may have to defend the legitimacy of that claim. A fraud waiver that shows a U.S. spouse or parent would endure extreme hardship in an applicant's absence could be required before a USCIS interview is granted.
Source: nydailynews.com, "Criteria required for an immigrant to interview in United States for green card," Allan Wernick, April 11, 2012
]]>Over 46,000 immigrant parents were deported by U.S. immigration officials in the first six months of 2011. The number represents 22 percent of the total number of deportations during that time.
]]> The head of the Department of Homeland Security claims ICE is mostly deporting known criminal offenders, as directed last year by the Obama administration. Immigration enforcers are expected to use "discretion" when dealing with undocumented immigrants without criminal pasts. The new, detailed immigration report stated that nearly three-fourths of the deported immigrants, parents of U.S. citizens, had a criminal conviction. Another 13 percent was deported in the past. Four percent was deported for failure to comply with earlier orders to leave.Critics of the Obama directive say undocumented parents are guilty of breaking immigration laws and should not be given special "amnesty" because they have children who are U.S. citizens, which anti-immigrant groups sometimes refer to as "anchor babies." Homeland Security warned immigrants that having a U.S.-born child does not guarantee an undocumented parent will obtain citizenship or escape deportation.
Pro-immigrant groups assert that the ICE report offers a twisted representation of "criminal" immigrants. The data does not differentiate between the types of crimes deportees have allegedly committed. Immigrant advocates focus on what happens to families torn apart by deportations. Many children are placed with relatives or legal status or return to the country of their parents' origin.
However, this is not the case. A report compiled by the liberal Applied Research Center stated last year that more than 5,100 children ended up in foster care after a parent was deported.
Source: usatoday.com, "Report: 22% of deportees have U.S.-born children," Daniel Gonzalez, April 5, 2012
]]>A 34-year-old Mexican national, the husband and father to a family of American citizens, has been denied access to the United States to attend the funeral of his 10-year-old son. The boy died in a fire along with three other relatives.
]]> U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials claimed the boy's father did not have a relationship with the child, an allegation the immigrant's attorney denies. The father has not seen the boy for three years, since the immigrant agreed to a voluntarily leave the U.S.The father came to the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant in 1995, when he was a teenager. He later married an American citizen, who gave birth to his son. The couple divorced and the man remarried, but never applied to adjust his immigration status.
A traffic stop five years ago triggered an investigation into the man's background. He then volunteered to return to Mexico and leave the U.S. voluntarily rather than face deportation proceedings. When he returned to Mexico, he started the green card application process that would lead him back to his U.S. family.
It was in the midst of that processing that he learned of his son's death. Border officials refused the man's plea for humanitarian parole to attend the boy's funeral. The attorney for the Mexican father said her client had a close relationship with his son, despite claims to the contrary by immigration officials.
The father and boy reportedly spoke by phone twice a week. The foreign national has hope that his application for permanent residency would bring him closer to his U.S. family.
Source: The Huffington Post, "Man denied entry to US from Mexico to bury son, 10," Michael Rubinkam, March 31, 2012
]]>New Jersey Advocates for Immigrant Detainees collaborated with the NYU's immigrant clinic to compile the data featured in the study. An estimated 1,200 immigrants are in Essex County detention centers.
]]> The "Immigration Incarceration" reform research is a 39-page report that alleges immigrants are underfed, medically ignored and locked in substandard conditions. The report says immigrants are improperly cared for in two Essex County detainee facilities, the county jail and independently-run Delaney Hall. The research accuses ICE of failing to meet its own housing and treatment standards for immigrants, a charge several officials deny.The director of the Essex County jail says the report was designed to "discredit" the county's agreement with ICE to house immigrant detainees. Delaney Hall authorities countered the NYU report accusations with a report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees that describes the facility's efforts to improve conditions as "humane."
Rather than make any verbal statements, ICE officials chose to release a statement that listed what U.S. immigration officials have done to improve conditions at immigrant holding centers since 2009. ICE claims it hired dozens of new Detention Services Managers in the last three years and increased the number of regular and spot inspections at detention facilities.
The NYU report suggests that U.S. immigration enforcement officials consider detention alternatives, especially for immigrants who have never before been in trouble with the law. The study's authors recommend using bond and supervised release as detention facility alternatives, not just to ensure improved immigrant treatment, but as a way to help the government save money.
Source: nj.com, "NYU immigration report details disturbing allegations of Essex County detainee treatment," Jason Grant, March 23, 2012
]]>The immigrant's surviving family was nearly deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. With the intervention of a congressman and recognition of the slain immigrant's status as a 9/11 victim, the immigrant's widow and four daughters are on schedule to become U.S. citizens this month.
]]> The 46-year-old Pakistani had dreams of owning a store and moving his family to Dallas. He had just moved to Texas from New Jersey and was working in a convenience store at the time he was shot and killed.His wife and daughters were still living in New Jersey when the immigrant was killed.
The life-long criminal, who later admitted to the murder of the New Jersey man and two other Asian immigrants, was put to death by lethal injection last July.
One of the gunman's shooting victims was a Bangladesh immigrant, who was blinded in one eye, but survived the ordeal. The Muslim forgave his would-be killer and went as far as to try to stop the shooter's execution.
The immigrant's legal bid failed and the murderer's execution took place as planned on July 20.
U.S. immigration officials had been considering the Pakistani immigrant's green card application at the time of the man's death. The application was invalidated when the immigrant died, jeopardizing any future life in the United State for his New Jersey family.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Rush Holt lobbied for the family's rights and successfully sponsored legislation in 2004 to secure the relatives' permanent residency.
The widow and four daughters surpassed the legal time restraints placed on them by the green cards. All five are scheduled to become naturalized U.S. citizens this month.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, "Kin of 9/11 hate crime victim to become citizens," Samantha Henry, March 16, 2012
]]>A new report by Pew Research Center breaks down the global immigrant population by religion. The study parallels a strong upswing in Christian and Buddhist immigration to the U.S. with emigration figures from Latin America and China. The research, sculpted from 2010 data, estimates that 32 million American immigrants are Christian. Another 1.7 million immigrants are Buddhists. The study examined the worldwide movements of immigrants of all major faiths and immigrants with non-religious beliefs.
]]> Immigrants of the Jewish faith were the most mobile. Pew Research found that about 25 percent of all Jews emigrated from countries where they were born. The study also found that the U.S. was the overall choice of immigrants from everywhere in the world. Russia and Germany are ranked second and third with 12 million and 10 million immigrants, respectively. Analysts say Russia's immigrants are predominantly jobseekers from nearby or neighboring countries.Canada and Saudi Arabia showed strong immigrant preferences, each attracting about 7 million immigrants. Census figures and 2010 data provided by the United Nations were the foundation of the Pew study. The research factored in the religious beliefs of immigrants who had spent one year or longer outside their native countries.
One-third of the 214 million foreign-born residents living around the world are Christian. Nearly three out of four immigrants in the U.S. are Christians, about 75 percent of a total U.S. immigrant population of 43 million.
Research analysts think that immigrants' religious beliefs influence the religious outlook for society over time. Observers say that immigration was partially responsible for a shift from the dominance of Protestantism in the 1960s. At the time, U.S. Protestants numbered about 66 percent. Today, the figure is about 50 percent.
More than half, 56 percent, of immigrants in the European Union in 2010 was Christian. Another 27 percent was Muslim. Muslims make up the second-largest migratory group. Sixty million immigrants with Islamic beliefs live outside their homelands, but researchers say most move to other Muslim countries.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, "U.S. Top Draw for Christians and Buddhists," Tamara Audi, March 8, 2012
]]>A church pastor has battled federal officials since 2009 over the legal status of the immigrants, several of whom belong to his Highland Park Reformed Church. The clergyman petitioned lawmakers and ICE to push for asylum for the persecuted Indonesians.
]]> Eight members of the church are scheduled for deportation this month. One 44-year-old Woodbridge immigrant, who lived in New Jersey for 14 years, recently sought sanctuary inside the church rather than meet his now-expired deportation deadline. The immigrant fled Muslim-dominant Indonesia after a deadly, anti-Christian attack on a relative and the pastor of the church he attended. The New Jersey clergyman said the immigrant suffers kidney disease, the believed result of working on a New York cleanup crew in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. The Indonesian's history with immigration officials includes noncompliance with a 2006 order to leave the U.S., making him a "fugitive" in ICE's eyes.Immigration law enforcers do not have a track record of making arrests at what one official called "sensitive" locations, including places of worship. According to one immigration official, the only time ICE goes against that tradition is when the enforcement action involves a felon, potential evidence destruction, perceived violence or a national security threat.
It is not clear whether church sanctuary will stave off the immigrant's arrest and deportation. The involved pastor claims the immigrants are not "egregious immigration violators," only asylum-deserving people who came to the U.S. to escape the persecution of Christianity in their native country.
A bill in the House proposes to grant asylum for the New Jersey Indonesians. The legislation has the support of a dozen sponsors.
Source: nj.com, "Indonesian immigrant avoids deportation, seeks refuge at Highland Park church," Bob Considine, Mar. 2, 2012
]]>Union County prosecutors say the woman targeted Elizabeth-area immigrants in a theft-by-deception scheme. The 44-year-old allegedly operated the fraudulent Worldwide Foundation to Rescue the Immigrant, or something like it, in New Jersey and New York. Investigators say the fake immigration lawyer operated FMRI out of an old Elizabeth church rectory in the 1100 block of East Jersey Street. A similar office was established in the first block of Jefferson Avenue.
]]> The woman apparently told immigrants she was an attorney who would file applications and other documents with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service.Immigrant applicants reportedly paid between $80 and $6,000 to have the self-styled immigration lawyer submit applications on their behalf. Prosecutors say the woman, who has never undergone any training to help immigrants, would forward documents riddled with errors to USCIS.
The unlicensed lawyer allegedly sent applications to immigration officials that lacked paperwork or adequate fees. When USCIS rejected the documents, the Elizabeth woman reportedly kept the refunds. Attempts by immigrants to get their money back were deflected with excuses.
Authorities were tipped off in September by an authentic immigration attorney, who told officials that three of his clients had been caught up in the FMRI scam. A subsequent investigation by a special prosecutor's unit led to interviews with 10 immigrants who said they were victimized by the FMRI representative.
Along with unauthorized law practice, the accused is charged with several criminal counts of third-degree theft by deception and failure to make required disposal of property. A Union County Superior Court set the woman's bail at $30,000. Officials say the investigation remains open.
Source: njtoday.net, "Elizabeth Woman Arrested For Allegedly Defrauding Immigrants," Feb. 24, 2012
]]>The immigrant's son is now 30-years-old. He saw his mother for the first time since her departure from Poland just four years ago. The mother and son reunited through the Internet because immigration laws prevented the adult child from visiting the U.S.
]]> Poland is excluded from a U.S. visa waiver program that 36 countries, and most European Union nations, participate in. The program allows residents of certain countries to visit America without a visa for up to 90 days. Countries without waiver agreements are ones where U.S. officials feel immigrants would overstay a visitors' visa. Nations favored by waivers have long-standing, positive relations with the U.S.Some lawmakers want the U.S. visa waiver program to expand to more countries, including Poland. A bill recently submitted would waive visitors' visas for Poland, Taiwan and the South American countries of Chile, Brazil and Argentina.
Until and if the proposal is approved by Congress, Polish citizens hoping to travel to the U.S. endure sometimes lengthy waits and burdensome expenses to obtain visitors' visas.
The immigrant mother planned to visit her son in Poland two years ago until a stroke disabled her husband. The health care needs of the immigrant's spouse delayed the trip indefinitely.
The son in Poland, who has only seen his mother through a computer since he was a boy, was twice denied a visitors' visa. Officials turned down the visa application thinking the now-adult might try to stay in the U.S. even though he holds a fulltime job in Poland and cares for a sick father, his mother's ex-husband.
Source: chicagotribune.com, "Kirk stroke removes key voice in efforts to extend visa waivers to Poles, others," Jason Keyser, Feb. 13, 2012
The couple fell in love in a Southwestern U.S. high school. Marriage followed the birth of a son three years ago. The major life events sparked a desire within the teenage mother and wife to seek citizenship. She began to study the process through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
]]> The immigrant realized that being married to an American opened a path to her goal, but the legal way was not easy. She would have to return to her native land of Mexico in order to gain U.S. permanent residency and eventual citizenship. Her illegal entry into America meant that the Mexican exile would be indefinite. The young woman agreed to leave the U.S. with hopes of returning to her husband and son upon the approval of a hardship waiver.A waiver from federal officials may be granted to immigrant spouses who prove their families endure substantial hardships without them. Convinced she had no alternative other than remaining in the country illegally, the teen left to live with her grandmother in Juarez, a violent and dangerous city, where thousands of murders are recorded each year.
The immigrant's husband moved to Mexico last year with the couple's son. The American pleaded with consulate officials to let the family leave the "perilous" situation in Juarez.
The immigrant's husband was dead within six months, the victim of a shooting outside the family's residence. After her husband's death, the widow received a green card and returned with her son to the U.S.
A USCIS proposal to cut down the time children and spouses are separated during immigration processing is under consideration. Official approval would allow some immigrant spouses to file hardship waiver applications before leaving the U.S., shortening the international, family separation time.
Source: edition.cnn.com, "Dangerous path to legal status for some immigrants," Kiran Khalid, Feb. 9, 2012
]]>The 50-year-old, who entered the U.S. illegally from El Salvador nearly 30 years ago, will have his case heard in immigration court. ICE agreed to set a $5,000 bail for the immigrant, whose wife has taken on overtime work to gain her husband's freedom. Other members of the immigrant's family contributed $1,000 toward the goal.
]]> The Union City immigrant entered the country illegally and has a criminal record, although convictions for the crimes are more than 20 years old. Family members claim the immigrant's earlier brush with the law has little to do with the law-abiding husband and father the man has become.The record of convictions is the reason immigration officials are keeping the Union City man locked up. ICE was planning a prompt deportation, but relented when the immigration lawyer filed for a stay.
Allowing the long-term resident to be released into family custody will set him on the road to possible permanent residency. The attorney handling the immigrant's case admitted that the pursuit of a green card could take a long time.
Other than getting immigration officials to reconsider his deportation, the next legal step is to free the immigrant from prison. According to the man's immigration lawyer, continued detention could force the court to make a quick decision.
If the New Jersey man is allowed to go home, the attorney says the immigrant's family will benefit immensely. The immigrant will gain time to prepare his case to remain in the United States.
Source: NJ.com, "Union City man who faced deportation to get new hearing, may be released on bail," Terrence T. McDonald, Feb. 3, 2012
]]>A Jersey City family hired a lawyer to seek "posthumous asylum" for a relative who came to the U.S. alone and illegally at age 17. The teen asked for asylum, citing fear of pressure and threats to join a gang. The application was denied in 2010 and the teenager was deported.
]]> The young man was found shot to death last year in Honduras, presumably the work of gangs who unsuccessfully tried to recruit him. The victim's family hopes the murder proves that the disabled teen's fear of retaliatory gangs was real and worthy of asylum in the U.S.U.S. immigrants traditionally gain asylum by proving they have been victims of persecution for religious or political beliefs, race or nationality or for belonging to a certain social group. The president of the National Association of Immigration Judges remarked that families threatened by gangs do not fit the current law's definition of a "protected social group."
A Honduran embassy official in Washington admitted the Central American country suffers from an "enormous" problem with drug gang violence that the government struggles to control. A UN report placed Honduras at the top of the list of countries with the most homicides in 2010, the year the teen was forced to return to his homeland.
Some immigration reform activists feel the asylum law in the United States is antiquated and fails to reflect modern dangers immigrants face. Opponents to reform say asylum is not a cure-all meant to "resolve all problems" for the world's oppressed.
The gunshot victim's family seeks posthumous acknowledgment from immigration authorities that the young immigrant qualified for U.S. protection.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, "Posthumous US asylum bid highlights gang debate," Jan. 22, 2012
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