ICE fines Abercombie 1 Million Dollars

"U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) announced today a $1,047,110 fine settlement reached with the clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch for violations of the Immigration and Nationality Act related to an employer's obligation to verify the employment eligibility of its workers. The settlement is the result of a November 2008 Form I-9 inspection of Abercrombie & Fitch's retail stores in Michigan. The audit uncovered numerous technology-related deficiencies in Abercrombie & Fitch's electronic I-9 verification system."

US naturalized citizen of the day- Arianna Huffington

Arianna Huffington (born Arianna Stassinopoulos on July 15, 1950in Athens, Greece ) is a Greek-American author and syndicated columnist. She is best known as co-founder of the progressive news website The Huffington Post. A popular conservative commentator in the mid-1990s, she is the ex-wife of former Republican congressman Michael Huffington.

Here isa link to her website

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

79 year old woman saved from deportation

Bridie Murphy, the 79-year-old Irish immigrant from West Roxbury who faced deportation after her green card was confiscated by federal border agents at Logan Airport, says she is "happy and relieved" to learn that US immigration officials agreed to drop proceedings against her.

US naturalized citizen of the day- Richard Little

Richard Caruthers "Rich" Little (born November 26, 1938 in Ottawa, Ontario) is a Canadian - American impressionist and voice actor. Little has long been known as a top impersonator of famous people throughout the world, which has resulted in him being referred to as "The Man of a Thousand Voices"

Colbert testifies on Ag Jobs

USCIS Immigraiton fees are going up in November, if you have been waiting, FILE NOW!!!

USCIS announced the posting of the final fee rule in the Federal Register today (the rule will be published Sept. 24). The adjusted fees are effective Nov. 23, 2010.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced a final rule adjusting fees for immigration applications and petitions. The final rule follows a period of public comment on a proposed version of the rule, which USCIS published in the Federal Register on June 11, 2010. After encouraging stakeholders to share their input, USCIS considered all 225 comments received. The final rule will increase overall fees by a weighted average of about 10 percent but will not increase the fee for the naturalization application. The rule will also reduce fees for six individual applications and petitions and will expand the availability of fee waivers to new categories. The final rule will be published in the Federal Register September 24, and the adjusted fees will go into effect on November 23, 2010.

USCIS is a primarily fee-based organization with about 90 percent of its budget coming from fees paid by applicants and petitioners for immigration benefits. The law requires USCIS to conduct fee reviews every two years to determine whether it is recovering its costs to administer the nation’s immigration laws, process applications, and provide the infrastructure needed to support those activities. Remaining funds come from appropriations provided annually by Congress. The final fee rule concludes a comprehensive fee review begun in 2009.

EOIR 800# reverts back to old system

The Immigration Court hot line will remain the same as in the past where one only needs a "A" number or "alien number" to check if a case has been filed with the Immigration Court. This is essential for practitioners who meet with clients who do not have knowledge of their case.

Call Fleischer Law Firm for more details

US naturalized citizen of the day- Jennifer Granholm

Jennifer Ganholm was born February 5, 1959 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Granholm became Michigan's first female governor on January 1, 2003, when she succeeded Governor John Engler. Granholm was re-elected on November 7, 2006, and was sworn in for her second and, due to term limits, final term on January 1, 2007. She has been mentioned as a potential Supreme Court justice for President Barack Obama

Why hire an Immigration Attorney???

An immigration lawyer can help you in the following ways:

Analyze the facts of your case thoroughly.
Explain all the benefits for which you may be eligible.
Recommend the best ways for you to obtain legal status.
Complete and submit your applications properly.
Stay current on the new laws that affect you.
Avoid delays and problems with your case whenever possible.
Discuss the status of your case with you.
Speak for you in discussions with the Department of Homeland Security or represent you in court.
File necessary appeals and waivers.
Utilize the system to your advantage because he or she has the experience to do so.

US naturalized citizen of the day- Peter Frampton

Mr. Frampton, now a resident of Cincinnati Ohio, was born in England in 1950. Frampton's international breakthrough album was his live release, Frampton Comes Alive!. The album sold over 6 million copies in the United States alone and spawned several hits

General Colin Powell on Immigration

Colin Powell Gets it right on Immigration reform
“[Republicans] have got to take a hard look at some of the positions they’ve been taking,” Powell said. “We can’t be anti-immigration, for example. Because immigrants are fueling this country. Without immigrants [the U.S.] would be like Europe or Japan, with an aging population and no young people coming in to take care of it. We have to educate our immigrants.”

Vote for the Dream Act!!

DREAM Act Coming to the Senate Floor
Senator Reid to Attach Act to Defense Authorization Bill

September 15, 2010

Washington, D.C. - Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced that he would attach the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act to the Department of Defense authorization bill expected to come before the Senate as early as next week. The vote will be an important test of whether Congress can transcend partisan politics and work together on crafting solutions to the broken immigration system that both Democrats and Republicans acknowledge is in desperate need of reform. That the proposal will be considered as an amendment to the Defense Authorization bill is appropriate, given the Department of Defense's support for DREAM Act as a way to improve military readiness.

First introduced in 2001, the DREAM Act would address the plight of young immigrants who have been raised in the U.S. and managed to succeed despite the challenges of being brought to the U.S. without proper documentation. The proposal would offer a path to legal status to those who have graduated from high-school, have stayed out of trouble and plan to attend college or serve in the U.S. military for at least two years.

Each year, approximately 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high school, many at the top of their classes, but cannot go to college, join the military, work, or otherwise pursue their dreams. They belong to the 1.5 generation - any (first generation) immigrants brought to the United States at a young age who were largely raised in this country and therefore share much in common with second generation Americans. These students are culturally American, growing up here and often having little attachment to their country of birth. They tend to be bicultural and fluent in English.

Research has shown that providing a legal status for young people who have a proven record of success in the United States would be a boon to the economy and the U.S. workforce. University presidents and educational associations, as well as military recruiters, business and religious leaders have added their voice to those calling for passage of the bill. Foreign-born students represent a significant and growing percentage of the current student population. Unfortunately, immigration status and the associated barriers to higher education contribute to a higher-than-average high dropout rate, which costs taxpayers and the economy billions of dollars each year.

The DREAM Act would eliminate these barriers for many students, and the DREAM Act's high school graduation requirement would provide a powerful incentive for students who might otherwise drop out to stay in school and graduate. This will help boost the number of high skilled American-raised workers. As they take their place in the workplace as hard working, taxpaying Americans, they will contribute a lifetime of revenues at the local, state and federal level.

Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Military Personnel Policy, Bill Carr, supports the DREAM Act and stated that the law would be "good for readiness" and would help to recruit "cream of the crop" students. The DREAM Act is part of the Department of Defense's 2010-2012 Strategic Plan to assist the military in it's recruiting efforts.

Immigration Law is hard to understand

A Lack Of Understanding"
CUNY Prof. Ruthann Robson gives us a key quote from Lozano v. Hazleton: "Merely because an immigrant may have a present status does not mean that this status is correct, unchangeable, or may cause the federal government to exercise its discretion to remove the immigrant. Stitched into the fabric of Hazleton’s housing provisions, then, is either a lack of understanding or a refusal to recognize the complexities of federal immigration law. Hazleton would effectively remove from its City an alien college student the federal government has purposefully declined to initiate removal proceedings against. So too would Hazleton remove an alien battered spouse, currently unlawfully present, but eligible for adjustment of status to lawful permanent resident under the special protections Congress has afforded to battered spouses and children."

US naturalized citizen of the day- Mother Cabrini

Mother Cabrini, was the first American citizen to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.
She was born 7/15/1850 in Italy. The Pope sent Cabrini to New York City on March 31, 1889, to help the Italian Immigrants there "Not to the East but to the West". There, she obtained the permission of Archbishop Michael Corrigan to found an orphanage, which is located in West Park, Ulster County, New York, today and is known as Saint Cabrini Home, the first of 67 institutions she founded in New York, Chicago, Des Plaines, Seattle, New Orleans, Denver, Golden, Los Angeles, Philadelphia,[1] and in countries throughout South America and Europe. Long after her death, the Missionary Sisters would achieve Mother Cabrini's goal of being a missionary to China. After much social and religious upheaval and only a short time, the sisters left China, and subsequently a Siberian placement.

kitchen Confidential

Restaurants are not the only businesses to fall under the searchlight. But until recently, immigration enforcement had been notoriously lax, with a kind of universal wink at kitchens filled with employees working either off the books or with false documents, government officials and industry experts say. But that is quickly changing, based on the rising number of investigations and the penalties being sought against restaurateurs. This article is from the NY Times

More from Barbour

Haley Barbour makes sense

Haley Barbour makes some sense in the heated immigration debate. Maybe because "undocumented workers" helped to quickly rebuild his state after Hurricane Katrina.

BARBOUR: I’ve had a different experience then perhaps some other governors. I don’t know where we would have been in Mississippi after Katrina if it hadn’t been with the Spanish speakers that came in to help rebuild. And there’s no doubt in my mind some of them were here illegally. Some of them were, some of them weren’t. But they came in, they looked for the work. If they hadn’t been there — if they hadn’t come and stayed for a few months or a couple years — we would be way, way, way behind where we are now. [...]

Asylum rate hits all time low

Very timely Justice Department data show that Immigration Judges are declining substantially fewer requests for asylum. Denial rates have reached the lowest level in the last quarter of a century according to a new analysis by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC

US naturalized citizen of the day- Guy Lombardo

Gaetano Alberto "Guy" Lombardowas born June 19, 1902 in Ontario Canada. He was a bandleader and violinist.

Forming "The Royal Canadians" in 1924 with his brothers Carmen, Lebert, and Victor and other musicians from his hometown, Lombardo led the group to international success, billing themselves as creating "The Sweetest Music This Side of Heaven." The Lombardos are believed to have sold between 100 and 300 million phonograph records during their lifetimes.

Are Illegal Immigrants leaving US?

For several years, and certainly since the recession began, the number of immigrants entering the U.S. illegally has been dropping sharply.

NPR reports