Immigration - General

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has announced that it will begin collecting biographic and biometric data from some foreign national travelers in a test program when they depart the United States at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport

Executive Summary: On June 15, 2015, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) announced that it is experiencing technical problems with its visa system, which have resulted in delays in printing visas and may require rescheduling some visa interviews.

As we previously reported, on November 20, 2014, the White House announced an “Immigration Accountability Executive Action” plan that would, among other relief, allow undocumented immigrants to apply to remain in the country legally and secure work authorization temporarily. (Read our report “What t

President Obama's recent deferred action directive is on hold for now. A federal judge in Texas granted a temporary injunction requested by 26 states, halting a potential grant of work authorization to as many as five million individuals who lacked lawful status. The administration's Deferred Action

On November 20, 2014, President Barack Obama announced his executive action plan to address the country’s “broken immigration system.” Referred to as the Immigration Accountability Executive Action, the plan will, among other steps, deploy additional resources to the border, focus deportation effort

On Nov. 20, President Obama announced a wide-ranging series of executive actions to reform U.S. immigration policy. Although these unilateral actions will most certainly be challenged by Congress and in the courts, and although none are yet in effect, it is important for employers to immediately ass

Executive Summary: On November 20, 2014, President Barack Obama unveiled expansive executive actions on immigration, which will grant work authorization to millions of undocumented workers. In addition, the executive actions seek to boost the economy by streamlining the legal immigration process for

On November 20, 2014, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson issued a policy memorandum to the Director for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) and Acting Director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”). The memorandum highlights several new policies

On September 18, 2014, the Senate voted on a Republican-led measure to prohibit President Barack Obama from unilaterally granting deportation relief to any undocumented immigrant.

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has published updated information regarding the performance issues with the Consular Consolidated Database (CCD). As discussed in our July 24, 2014 Alert, a computer glitch caused the CCD to crash, resulting in world-wide delays in visa and passport processing. The

The Department of State (“DOS”) has announced that it has been experiencing technical operational issues with its visa issuance system. The issues affect DOS’ ability to print nonimmigrant visas, commonly known as visa stamps. The issues began on July 20 and, as of July 31, have impacted about half

In a recent report entitled “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Worksite Enforcement Administrative Inspection Process,” Acting Assistant Inspector General for Audits Mark Bell discussed the results of an audit of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (“ICE”) worksite enforcement proces

On January 30, 2014, House Speaker John A. Boehner (Ohio) announced at a GOP retreat in Maryland the House Republicans’ six standards for immigration reform. The message in the preamble made clear that House Republicans would not support comprehensive immigration reform but favored a step-by-step ap

A federal grand jury recently returned a 23-count indictment charging the owners and managers of an Ohio restaurant chain with conspiracy to harbor undocumented workers, aiding and abetting the harboring of undocumented workers, and harboring undocumented workers, among other charges. In addition to

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced yesterday that in FY2013, the agency conducted a total of 368,644 removals. Of these removals, 235,093 occurred during or shortly after individuals were attempting to enter the U.S. The remaining 133,551 removals were individuals who were apprehend

On October 2, 2013, Rep. Joe Garcia (D-FL) introduced the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act (H.R. 15), a comprehensive immigration reform bill modeled on Senate bill 744, which the Senate approved on June 27, 2013. As of October 6, the bill had 161 co-sponsors.

The U.S. Department of Labor announced on October 1, 2013 that the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) will neither accept nor process any applications or related materials (such as audit responses) it receives, including Labor Condition Applications, Applications for Prevailing Wage Determ

Executive Summary: On October 1, 2013, the U.S. Federal Government implemented a shutdown after Congress failed to reach an agreement on appropriations. As a result, several federal agencies involved in processing immigration benefits have been impacted for the unforeseen future.

Executive Summary: The Customs & Border Protection (CBP) agency has begun gradually eliminating the paper I-94 Admission/Departure Record (known as the "I-94") at all air and sea ports of entry. Note: travelers will still receive a paper form I-94 at land border ports of entry. The I-94, in combinat

The key takeaway for employers from the Supreme Court's ruling yesterday on Arizona's controversial Senate Bill (SB) 1070 law is that states cannot make criminals out of those in their jurisdiction who work or seek employment while unlawfully in the United States. The 5-3 decision, written by Justic