May Day Demonstrations

On May 1st, several May Day Pro-Immigration Reform Demonstrations will be held in Los Angeles, New York and other major metropolitan areas.

New Immigration Medical Exam Form To Go Into Effect On May 1st

Effective tomorrow, May 1st, all medical examinations conducted for immigration purposes must use the new form I-693.

Immigration Advises re: Medical Exam Form Change

Immigration has clarified its policies regarding the new Medical Exam, Form I-693. the form changes go into effect May 1, 2008, in conjunction with the CDC's exam changes. The previous edition of the form will be accepted as long as the civil surgeon/health department's signature is dated before May 1, 2008. An additional grace period of 30 days is under review to allow adequate time to inform the 5,000 plus civil surgeons.

Immigration Issues New Medical Exam Form

Immigration has issued a new Medical Exam Form - I-693. It is available on their website: www.uscis.gov. The old form will be valid until 05/01/08.

Eli Kantor quoted in Houston Chronicle Article on Immigration Raids

The April 21st edition of the Houston Chronicle quoted Eli Kantor regarding the wave of immigration raids To read the article go to: www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/5716412.html

House to Hold Hearings on Immigration

The House Judiciary Committee announced that they will be holding hearings to attempt to reform the current "broken immigration system".

Immigration Agents Raid Duncan Donuts in Texas

ICE agents raided an institution in Texas - the Duncan Donuts processing plant. This raid is part of a pattern of recent raids throughout the US to demonstrate that they are enforcing immigration laws. The underlying message is that the Bush Administration is "tough" on immigration, unlike the Democrats who are "soft". There is also a more subtle motive behind the recent upsurge. They want to inflict enough pain on the business community to pressure them to put more pressure on their legislators to enact comprehensive immigration reform.

Pope Speaks Out on Immigration

Pope Benedict on his first visit to the US, spoke out in favor of "human dignity" for immigrants.

House passes extension to Religious Worker Visa

Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed an extension of the R-1 visa, for religious workers, extending its coverage to non-ministers.

Immigration Posts New I-765 Form on Website

Immigration has posted a new I-765, Employment Authorization form on its website:www.uscis.gov.

Immigration Agents Raid Mexican Restaurants

ICE Agents made 11 criminal arrests of owners and managers of Mexican restaurants in 7 States, including: New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Georgia, charging them with harboring illegal aliens. In addition, they have detained 45 employees.

Immigration Agents Raid Pilgrim's Pride Poultry Plants

ICE agents raided Pilgrim's Pride Poultry Plants in Arkansas and 5 other states and detained numerous workers.

Immigration conducts H-1B Lottery

On Monday, April 14th, Immigration conducted the random lottery for H-1B visas. Successful applicants will be advised by June 2, 2008, the others will receive their filing fees back in the mail.

Immigration and the FBI have reached an agreement to reduce the name check backlog

Immigration and the FBI have reached an agreement for a timetable for the FBI to reduce the "name check" backlog in stages, to no more than 30 days by June 2009.

May Visa Bulletin Issued

The State Department issued the May Visa bulletin. Significantly, the EB-3 Category advanced forward 8 months. Other changes were more modest.

Senate to Consider Bill to Raise the H-1B Visa Cap

On Thursday, after Immigration announced that they had received 163,000 applications for 85,000 slots, the Senate introduced a bill that would temporarily raise the H-1B Visa Cap to 145,000 annually for a period of 3 years.

Under the Same Moon- "La Misma Luna"

Eli Kantor saw a new film, Under the Same Moon - La Misma Luna, a Spanish language film depicting the plight, struggles and ultimate redemption of a 9 year old Mexican boy, who enters the US illegally in an attempt to be reunited with his mother. The film sensitively portrays the lives of undocumented immigrants as well as the hardships that their departure has upon their relatives back in Mexico. It is a must see for all those concerned with immigration, regardless of their politics.

LA City Council to consider allowing Police to question suspected gang members immigration status

Councilman Dennis Zine has proposed a modification to Special Order 40 which prevents police from questioning suspects regarding their immigration status. The LA City Council will consider the proposal.

Mayor Villarogosa writes letter to Immigration condemning workplace raids

Los Angeles Mayor Villarogosa wrote a letter to Secretary Michael Chertoff, the head of the DHS condemning the recent workplace raids by Immigration in Los Angeles. He suggested that Immigration shift its priorities to targeting gangs and unscrupulous employers, instead of going after law abiding employers.

Immigration Announces 163,000 H-1B applications received

Immigration announced that it had received 163,000 H-1B applications. More than 31,000 of these visas were for jobs requiring a Masters degree. Immigration will first conduct a random lottery of those 31,000 for the 20,000 advanced degree slots. Those not selected will then go into the lottery for the 65,000 slots for H-1B visas. Therefore, there will be 143,000 applicants vying for 65,000 visas. Making the odds about 50/50.

Eli Kantor meets with Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard

On Thursday, April 10, 2008, as part of the AILA, the American Immigration Lawyers Association's, "Day of Action", Eli Kantor met with Ana Figueroa, the district chief of staff for Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard, the representative of the 34th District to lobby her for Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Eli Kantor discussed a current proposal for increasing the H-1B visa cap, the STRIVE Act and other immigration matters. The meeting was very successful and Congresswoman Roybal will continue to push for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, as opposed to piece meal solutions.

Immigration arrests 59 workers at Virginia Resort

On April 8, 2008 ICE raided a resort in Leesburg, Virginia. They interviewed 100 of the resort employees and arrested 59 of them.

Immigration Announces that H-1B Cap has been reached

Immigration announced that the 65,000 H-1B cap has been reached today. Accordingly, as they did last year they will conduct a lottery of all applications received from April 1st to April 7th. Those selected will then be processed for H-1B visas with a start date of October 1, 2008

Today is the Deadline for H-1B Visa Lottery

Today, Monday April 7th is the deadline for Immigration to receive applications for H-1B visas in order to participate in the lottery for the 2008-2009 fiscal year.

Man Who Pled Guilty to Marriage Fraud Scheme Sentenced to 4 months in Jail

A man who pleaded guilty to participating in a marriage fraud scheme, was sentenced to 4 months in jail. A Russian woman, posted an ad on Craig's List offering to pay someone to marry her for immigration purposes. The man answered the ad and agreed to the scheme. They were both prosecuted. She has not been sentenced yet.

Immigration to Extend OPT

Immigration has issued a new rule extending optional practical training for F-1 Students, from 12 to 29 months in certain cases. However, there are numerous restrictions as to who can qualify for this extension.

Arizona Slamming Door on Immigrants

The April 5, 2008 edition of the LA Times ran a front page story about the adverse impact of Arizona's employer sanctions and other anti-illegal immigrants on both legal and illegal immigrants. The result of these aggressive policies is that thousands of undocumented Mexican workers have left Arizona for New Mexico or have returned to Sonora, Mexico. Even legal Mexican Immigrants have lost their jobs and have been wrongfully arrested. Many are afraid to leave their homes.

Immigration Announces Accomodation for H-1B Petitions Sent to the Wrong Service Center

DHS announced today that they will make a temporary accommodation for H-1B visa cap subject petitions sent to the wrong Service Center.

Immigration Announces Shorter Backlog for Naturalization

After facing stinging criticism over the increased processing delays for Naturalization cases, which will prevent thousands of persons from voting in the November presidential elections, Immigration has increased their working hours to include nights and Saturdays to help reduce the backlog. As a result they have announced that the backlog has now been substantially reduced to about 1 year.

Immigration Waives Laws to Finish Fence This Year

In an aggressive move to finish building 670 miles of border fence by the end of 2008, the Department of Homeland Security waived federal environmental laws to meet that goal. Congress gave Homeland Security Secretary, Michael Chertoff the power to waive federal law in order to build the fence quicker.