News Update - April 8, 2009

By Alan Lee, Esq.^†‡

New Jersey’s Governor and Blue Ribbon Panel Call for Stop to Immigration Workplace Raids

Governor Jon Corzine announced the results of New Jersey’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Immigration Policy which deliberated for the past 18 months. Some of the recommendations include: establishment of an Office of New Americans to encourage immigrant integration into American society, reorganization of government agencies so that they are able to provide language access and culturally competent services, grant in-state tuition to all immigrant children, enforce wage and hour laws which affect both immigrants and US-born workers, and a call for a stop to future Immigration and Customs Enforcement workplace raids. These recommendations represent an emerging trend amongst state lawmakers to include working immigrant families in plans for economic growth. If Governor Corzine implements the Panel’s recommendations he will set a good example for state governments, especially those who are less accustomed to the presence of immigrants in their states. New Jersey’s population is 21% foreign born making the State’s immigrant population the fifth highest in the United States.

† 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 © 2009 Alan Lee, Esq.

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