US Deportation Guidelines To Officially Define Same-Sex Couples As Families
WASHINGTON — Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Thursday that she will instruct immigration agents to consider same-sex relationships the same as heterosexual ones in determining whether an individual should be deported, a victory for advocates and members of Congress who worried verbal instructions could be ignored. Although the administration had previously told reporters and others that same-sex relationships will be taken into account when making deportation decisions, putting it in writing for field officers is considered to be an important change. “This is a huge step forward,” Rachel B. Tiven, executive director of gay rights and reform…
USCIS announces guidelines to apply for deferred action
How do I request consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals? Beginning August 15, 2012, you will be required to submit your request for consideration of deferred action to USCIS through a form, along with a form requesting an employment authorization document. The total fees will be $465. USCIS expects to have the forms and instructions available on its website on August 15, 2012. Do not submit any request to USCIS before these forms are available. All requests received before August 15, 2012 will be rejected. What evidence should I submit with my request for consideration of deferred action for…
Prison Companies Make Big Money Off Illegal Immigrants
MIAMI — The U.S. is locking up more illegal immigrants than ever, generating lucrative profits for the nation’s largest prison companies, and an Associated Press review shows the businesses have spent tens of millions of dollars lobbying lawmakers and contributing to campaigns. The cost to American taxpayers is on track to top $2 billion for this year, and the companies are expecting their biggest cut of that yet in the next few years thanks to government plans for new facilities to house the 400,000 immigrants detained annually. After a decade of expansion, the sprawling, private system runs detention centers everywhere…
USCIS: No Hiring New H-1B Visa Holders for the Next 15 Months
H-1B temporary visas are important because they typically are the only practical way for a skilled foreign national, including international students educated on U.S. campuses, to work long-term in the United States. Despite this, U.S. companies will not be able to hire anyone on a new H-1B visa for a long time. “Companies that didn’t file a visa petition before this week must wait until April 2013 to try again and won’t be able to employ an H-1B worker until October 2013,” explains the San Jose Mercury News. Why is that? U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services just announced, “On June…
Whites Account for Under Half of Births in U.S
WASHINGTON — After years of speculation, estimates and projections, the Census Bureau has made it official: White births are no longer a majority in the United States. Non-Hispanic whites accounted for 49.6 percent of all births in the 12-month period that ended last July, according to Census Bureau data made public on Thursday, while minorities — including Hispanics, blacks, Asians and those of mixed race — reached 50.4 percent, representing a majority for the first time in the country’s history. Such a turn has been long expected, but no one was certain when the moment would arrive — signaling a milestone…
Kansas Lawmakers reject E-Verify Immigration Enforcement Proposal
The Kansas state legislature doomed a proposal that calls for requiring employers who do business with government agencies to prove their workers are in the country legally. House and Senate negotiators have concluded they don’t want to include a major policy change in Kansas’s budget plan for the fiscal year beginning July 1. The proposal would require companies having contracts with the state worth more than $50,000 to submit a notarized statement saying they use E-Verify to check the status of new employees. E-Verify is a federal database that enables employers to check a potential or current worker’s eligibility to…
Woman Pleads In Plot To Help Illegal Aliens With Documents
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A St. Joseph woman pleaded guilty in federal court Monday for her role in providing thousands of fraudulent identity documents to illegal aliens. Christina Michelle Gonzalez, 23, admitted that she took part in a conspiracy to transport illegal aliens, to unlawfully product ID documents, to unlawfully transfer another person’s identification and to commit Social Security fraud, according to the United States attorney’s office for the Western District of Missouri. Federal prosecutors said that thousands of illegal aliens came from across the country to get a Missouri driver’s license or non-driver’s license at the Missouri Department of…
