“Being positive doesn’t mean ignoring the negative. Being positive means overcoming the negative. There’s a big difference between the two.” – Marcandangel I saw this quote on a friend’s Facebook page and it reaffirmed my belief in looking at the good that’s been done, even in dark and scary times. August saw the following successes […]
On August 7, 2019 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) stopped accepting and adjudicating requests for non-military “deferred action,” a form of temporary relief from deportation for vulnerable immigrants often facing life-threatening circumstances. This is a cruel change in policy that will undoubtedly lead to untimely deaths. I’d like to tell you about three families
End of Deferred Action Read More »
Later this week, I’ll talk about some positive things that happened for our clients, but I wanted to share some updates to US immigration policy that came out this month and have the potential to, at worst destroy lives, and at best to cause major inconvenience. End of Deferred Action for Certain Humanitarian Cases Over
A Difficult August: Deferred Action and Public Charge Updates Read More »
I don’t know about you, but my anxiety levels have been increasing daily. It seems like there is no good news regarding immigration and immigrants. Every day, we’re faced with a new policy change, a new horror at the border, new delays…it’s easy to get caught up in the negative. We should absolutely pay attention
Late last month, we received a denial of a Humanitarian Deferred Action request and it’s left me questioning the humanity of USCIS. Yes, I know I question their decisions and their motivations a lot, but even though things have gotten more difficult, we were still getting approvals on good, solid cases. I also know that
No Heart for a Child with Heart Disease? Read More »
USCIS is feeling extra experimental these days. From cutting of liaison inquiries to forcing InfoPass appointments to go through a phone call vetting system to conducting more and more interviews, USCIS customers and immigration attorneys hardly know what to expect when appearing for an interview. One of the latest changes deals with how Naturalization interviews
New Naturalization Procedures in Atlanta Read More »
Q. What did we do in Tijuana? A. We volunteered with Al Otro Lado. Alina did “intake” talking with people who had numbers in a very long line to seek asylum. She was one of 6-9 people doing 30-minute interviews. As an immigration lawyer, I went over the interview notes, asked people to summarize their stories,
Volunteering with Potential Asylum-Seekers in Tijuana Read More »
Yes, we could focus on all of the negative news surrounding immigration – from the recent government shutdown over the wall to legislation (that failed) to take away children’s rights to apply for asylum if they were born in Central America to the decline of service at USCIS…but not today. Sometimes I get tired of
Optimism in Difficult Times Read More »
Happy New Year! We’ve talked before about USCIS and how their customer service has declined over the past year or so…and the trend continues for 2019, sadly. Starting on February 4, 2019, you will not be able to self-schedule an InfoPass appointment in Atlanta. Instead, you will need to call the National Customer Service Center (1-800-375-5283), explain your problem,
The End of InfoPass at USCIS Atlanta Field Office Read More »
Man oh man…what a year. Does anyone else feel like their hair is on fire?! Before diving into law and numbers, I want to say thank you to everyone who has taken the time to reach out, to allow us to be part of their immigration story, and to our friends and family who give
Crazy 2018 – A Year in Review Read More »
