Joseph & Hall P.C. |
- Department of State and Department of Homeland Security Expand Central American Minors Program
- USCIS to permit re-filing of certain rejected H-1B petitions for FY 2021
- Supreme Court: Crimes Committed Recklessly Not Crimes of Violence
| Department of State and Department of Homeland Security Expand Central American Minors Program Posted: 29 Jun 2021 07:44 AM PDT On June 15, 2021, the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a joint statement expanding access to the Central American Minors Program ("CAM Program"). The CAM Program was initially established in 2014 to reunite children from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras with their parents or legal guardians in the United States. The children would be granted refugee status or temporary parole into the United States. In order to be eligible for the program, the U.S.-based parent or guardian would need either Permanent Resident Status or some form of temporary protection from removal, such as Temporary Protected Status, withholding of removal, or parole. In August 2017, the Trump administration terminated the CAM Program and the Department of State ceased accepting new applications. Following litigation on the unlawful termination, an injunction was ordered and USCIS continued processing previously submitted CAM Program cases. On March 10, 2021, the Biden administration announced that the official reimplementation of the CAM program. The first phase of this restart focused on previous applicants who had their applications wrongfully terminated in 2017. The announcement on June 15, 2021 declared the beginning of the second phase of the CAM Program reopening, allowing for the submission of new applications. Alongside the start of this second phase, the announcement expanded the eligibility of parents or guardian to include those who have a pending asylum application or a pending U visa petition filed before May 15, 2021. With this expansion, the CAM Program can now help many more children who have been forced apart from their family. If you believe you and your child may be eligible for this program, please contact our office to schedule a consultation.  |
| USCIS to permit re-filing of certain rejected H-1B petitions for FY 2021 Posted: 25 Jun 2021 01:01 PM PDT On June 23rd, USCIS announced that it will accept resubmitted H-1B cap-subject petitions for Fiscal Year 2021 that were rejected solely because the requested start date was after October 1, 2020. A welcome announcement that will bring the opportunity for H-1B visas for an untold number of people, this comes on the heels of Joseph & Hall's victory on this very same issue in the case Acquia v. USCIS. In this case, we sued on this very issue, alleging that the practice of rejecting petitions solely for a start date after October 1 was unlawful, and while the case never received a final decision from a judge, the agency quickly reopened and approved the cases for our clients who suffered rejections because of this practice. The issue essentially boils down to the fact that the agency was requiring employers to break the law to have their petitions accepted. The second selection of H-1B registrants permitted filings up to November 16 of last year – a month and a half beyond October 1. Naturally, then, if a petition was filed on November 14th, an H-1B selectee's start date could not possibly be October 1. This placed employers in the situation where they had to either fill out an application with false information, and then sign that petition saying that all information was correct under penalty of perjury, or fill out the application with the proper information and risk their petition being rejected for a proper start date after October 1. This announcement is a welcome change, though one must wonder the harm employers suffered with this authorization coming out over seven months after the last application period ended rather than shortly after the issue was identified.  |
| Supreme Court: Crimes Committed Recklessly Not Crimes of Violence Posted: 24 Jun 2021 12:52 PM PDT On June 10, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Borden v. United States, ruling that a criminal offense with a reckless mental state does not qualify as a "violent felony." While Borden is not an immigration case, it has major immigration applications. In 2018, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled that a recklessly committed offense could be classified as a crime of violence in United States v. Bettcher, 911 F.3d 1040 (10th Cir. 2018). Since Bettcher, it was unclear whether a conviction such as Colorado Third Degree Assault—requiring recklessly causing bodily injury, however slight—could be classified as a crime of violence and therefore trigger deportability under section 237(a)(2)(E) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) where there was a domestic violence tag on the case. Now, in the wake of Borden, convictions for Colorado Third Degree Assault cannot trigger deportability as crimes of moral turpitude or as crimes of domestic violence. Not only will the Borden decision protect certain noncitizens with Third Degree Assault convictions from deportability, but it will also preserve the ability to apply for relief from removal in the form of cancellation of removal under section 240A(b) of the INA. If you would like to schedule a consultation on what the Borden decision might mean for your immigration case or the case of a loved one, please contact our office at 303-297-9171.  |
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