Visa Lawyer Blog

I got this note from the AILA local chapter and the ACLU. It looks like the border patrol and the police have no mercy when it comes to illegal immigrants. Is this really a time to enforce immigration laws, or should we be fighting fires and keeping our citizens safe?

The ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties applauds the massive outpouring of resources, volunteers, evacuation sites, and official and community responses to the tragic series of fires that are wreaking havoc on our region.

We especially take note of the outstanding work of firefighters, rescue workers, law enforcement officers, other first responders, and of course the outpouring of community volunteers.

Many of our local clients, Tech, Bio Tech, and other technology firms ahve been closed for business since Monday. See Report from Computerworld.com

Many of the workers in such compnay are on visas, like H1B and TN visas. We have set up a special email address for workers and employers to write in with questions about status and anything else they might need while not working.

I am hoping by the end of this weekend, business will be as usual in the county.

The Schumer-Hutchison amendment (H.AMDT. 3404) to increase the domestic supply of nurses and physical therapists by recapturing unused green cards from the years 1996 and 1997 has been introduced. There are estimates of 61,000 extra visas to come. Before the Schumer-Hutchison amendment was passed, it was amended by a Durbin second-degree amendment (H.AMDT. 3449) which attempts to increase the number of nursing faculty and students in the United States, encourages global health care cooperation, and creates a $1,500 fee for a recaptured green card from the underlying amendment. The Durbin amendment also requires that the petitioning healthcare worker attest that he or she has satisfied any outstanding commitment to work in his or her home country.

While these amendments have been incorporated into the Senate’s version of the Labor-HHS appropriations bill, this version must now be reconciled with the House’s version of the bill which does not contain these provisions. A conference between House and Senate members to reconcile the differences has yet to be scheduled. There is also the possibility that this bill will be combined with other appropriation bills as part of an omnibus package.

If this will pass will are looking at another year or so of Nurse visas, this is still far from being perfect.

This is crazy, as if the cap problems with H1B visas are not enough, expect a fee hike legislation to pass soon.

The Grassley-Sanders amendment (H.ADMT. 3396), as modified, was added to H.R. 3043. The amendment would add an additional fee of $3,500 to the H-1B visa program which would be used to create a special education fund to promote studies in the fields of math, science and engineering.

Who will hire H1B workers now?

A lot has happened in the last few days, and I wanted to make you all aware. Clients are calling the office and we are closed due to the fires. All Federal Government offices and courts are also closed today, we are trying to reach clients to letr them know that visa interview will be scheduled as well.

These are difficult times for San Diegans, but with every crisis we can see why they call this city the Finest. Up to 10,000 people stayed at Qualcomm Stadium overnight after being evacuated from their homes due to San Diego’s devastating wildfires. The overnight stay was “extremely orderly” with no major incidents reported, according to a statement issued by City Councilman Jim Madaffer’s office. More than 5,000 cars were in the Qualcomm lot, and evacuees slept in cots, tents and their cars.

I passed by the Stadium this morning and the mood of the people staying there is very good. As I donated a few gallons of water to the volunteers, I could see the numbers of people helping , donating food and goods and just spending time to listen. At this time of crisis we can this great city coming together as one unit. When we look backl at this disaster we will see that what matters is the people we love, our families and the hope for a new start for all of us.

As I am writing this blog entry from my office in downtown San Diego, San Diego County residents are ordered from their homes as wind-driven wildfires spread from the East County toward the coast.

In what may be the worst disaster to hit our county in decades, we can see a community coming together. Rich and poor, legal and illegal immigrants sharing shelters and stories. In such days we are all the same, just people trying to survive this disaster. Stories like Mario’s the undocumented landscaper, assisting the family of a Border Patrol agent to load their truck so they can evacuate on time, will remain forever in my reflection on this terrible period in our city’s history.

My thoughts are with the families and the firefighters keeping them safe.

I read Ruben Navarrette Jr. article on CNN earlier today and he couldn’t be more accurate with his analysis of the above.

As an Immigration attorney, I often hear complaints from clients about Police Officers trying to play Immigration Judges. Staements like “your apssport has already expired so how come you are still here” (Most passport have extension sections that the officer was not aware of, also passports do not control one legal status in the US).

Until there centralized training for all US Police officials on immigration related isseus they should remain in the role as protectors of our society from criminals and leave the immigration enforcement to the Federal Governmet. Illegal immigrants that are afraid to ask for help from the police can be more like the subject of abuse by the real criminal our police officers should be going after.

Civil Rights movement leadres are not happy about House bill 1804, a tough Oklahoma immigration law that will go into effect November 1, 2007.This law blocks undocumented immigrants from obtaining jobs and places strict requirements for receiving public benefits. It also forces that law enforcement check a suspect’s legal status on felony and DUI cases and requires court officials to consider a person’s immigration status in setting bail.

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