News Update - August 23, 2008

By Alan Lee, Esq.

Strong Caution on Attempting to Obtain a 10-Year Green Card; Voluntary Deportation Program Abandoned; Suit to Require Decision on Citizenship Applications Before November Elections Dismissed

Readers are strongly cautioned to consider the strength of their cases prior to attempting to obtain the so-called 10 year green card. The actual title, "Application for Cancellation of Removal", requires among its elements a showing of "exceptional and extremely unusual hardship." The application is filed and adjudicated in removal proceedings before the immigration court, which imbues it with danger. We will be writing an article containing caselaw on this subject in the near future.

In light of the fact that only eight individuals appeared for voluntary deportation in a 2 1/2 week period under the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Program "Operation Scheduled Departure," which was offered on a trial basis in Charlotte, N.C., Chicago, Phoenix, San Diego, and Santa Ana, Calif., the agency has shut down the program. The program encouraged fugitive aliens who had not committed crimes but had final orders of exclusion, deportation, or removal, to report to immigration offices so that they could leave within 90 days. However, there was no incentive other than the speculative benefit that U.S.I.C.E. agents would not somehow arrest and detain them in a raid.

The Southern District Court of New York on August 7, 2008, dismissed the plaintiffs' motions for preliminary injunction and class certification in a class-action suit to compel U.S.C.I.S., the FBI, and the Attorney General to adjudicate naturalization applications before the presidential election in November. Milanes v. Chertoff, et al, 08-cv-02354 (SDNY 8/7/08), was filed on behalf of all naturalization applicants who submitted applications for naturalization that were either not adjudicated within 180 days of filing or 120 days after the interview. In an August 11, 2008, update on naturalization processing times, U.S.C.I.S. announced that it anticipated naturalization processing to average 10-12 months nationally by the end of September 2008.

 


The author is a 26+ year practitioner of immigration law based in New York City. He was awarded the Sidney A. Levine prize for best legal writing at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1977 and has written extensively on immigration over the past years for the ethnic newspapers, World Journal, Sing Tao, Pakistan Calling, Muhasha and OCS. He has testified as an expert on immigration in civil court proceedings and was recognized by the Taiwan government in 1985 for his work protecting human rights. His article, "The Bush Temporary Worker Proposal and Comparative Pending Legislation: an Analysis" was Interpreter Releases' cover display article at the American Immigration Lawyers Association annual conference in 2004, and his victory in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in a case of first impression nationwide, Firstland International v. INS, successfully challenged INS' policy of over 40 years of revoking approved immigrant visa petitions under a nebulous standard of proof. Its value as precedent, however, was short-lived as it was specifically targeted by the Administration in the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004.

This article © 2008 Alan Lee, Esq.

 

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