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Immigration
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May 15, 2024
US Accused Of Ditching Refugee Families Without Explanation
Three families the United Nations refugee agency referred to the U.S. for resettlement after they fled to Kenya from Congo are accusing the U.S. government of leaving them in limbo after an eleventh-hour cancellation on their move to the U.S.
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May 14, 2024
Asset Manager Cops To $1.2B Venezuelan Oil Co. Fraud
An asset manager pled guilty Tuesday to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering for his role in a $1.2 billion scheme to embezzle money from Venezuela's state-owned oil company and launder it through false investment schemes in the U.S. and abroad.
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May 14, 2024
4th Circ. Says Attempted Child Sex Abuse Warrants Removal
The Fourth Circuit approved the deportation of a man convicted of attempting to sexually abuse a child, ruling Tuesday that the attempted offense qualified as child abuse crime warranting removal.
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May 14, 2024
Iraqis, Feds Seek Settlement OK In Deportation Row
The U.S. government and a class of Iraqi nationals fighting deportation for fear of persecution urged a Michigan federal judge to preliminarily approve a settlement reached after what they said were nearly seven years of vigorous litigation.
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May 14, 2024
DOL Appeals Board Nixes Disaster Relief Provider's H-2B Bid
A U.S. Department of Labor appeals board has upheld the denial of H-2B visas for a Louisiana-based company seeking to hire foreign workers for disaster relief services, finding that the company did not show the work to be seasonal.
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May 14, 2024
NY Court System Immune To Spanish-Speaker's Bias Case
The New York Unified Court System can't be sued in federal court by a Spanish speaker whose limited English language skills allegedly barred him from a program that could have reduced a drug offense's severity, the New York federal court has ruled.
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May 13, 2024
Wall Fraud Conviction Affirmed Despite Juror-Prosecutor Tie
The Second Circuit on Monday affirmed the conviction of a Colorado man found to have siphoned online donations meant to fund a Southern border wall, saying the fact that a federal prosecutor had mentored a juror's daughter didn't warrant vacating the conviction.
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May 13, 2024
Celebrated Irish Jockey Sues USCIS For Denying EB-1 Visa
An accomplished jockey and steeplechase champion from Ireland is suing U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in Pennsylvania federal court, alleging that the agency wrongly denied his 390-plus page application for an EB-1 visa because he didn't respond to a request for additional evidence despite the original petition having ample evidence to support the classification.
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May 13, 2024
DOL Says Policy Disagreement Not Enough To Nix H-2A Rule
The U.S. Department of Labor rejected a group of farms' criticisms of new H-2A agricultural wages as a mere policy disagreement, telling a North Carolina federal court that the rule was appropriately enacted after taking stock of its potential financial effects.
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May 13, 2024
Texas, Mo. Say Border Contractors Lack Interests To Defend
Texas and Missouri have slammed contractors' attempts to defend the Biden administration's plans to use border wall construction funds to remediate existing barriers, telling a Texas federal court that the group lacks a direct interest in the case's outcome.
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May 13, 2024
Investor Seeks Info On Visa Denied For Money Exchanger Use
A Vietnamese woman challenging U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' denial of her EB-5 petition hauled the agency into a D.C. federal court, accusing it of withholding information that may reveal why her use of a money exchanger doomed her petition.
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May 10, 2024
Immigration Court Backlog Swells To Nearly 3.6M Cases
The number of pending deportation cases in courts across the country has swelled to almost 3.6 million as of the end of April, almost 1.3 million of which are asylum cases, while many immigrants continue to get deported without legal representation, according to a report issued by Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse on Wednesday.
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May 10, 2024
Cos. Sufficiently Alleged DOL Retaliation Over Atty, Judge Says
The U.S. Department of Labor failed Friday to trim a lawsuit challenging three companies' five-year ban from the H-2B program after a Texas federal judge ruled that the companies sufficiently alleged that the department retaliated against them because of their attorney choice.
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May 10, 2024
Lack Of Specificity Dooms Concrete Co.'s H-2B Worker Bid
A U.S. Department of Labor appeals board backed a department certifying officer's decision not to let a concrete solutions company temporarily hire foreign workers to supplement its staff, saying the company failed to adequately explain why it needed the workers.
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May 10, 2024
Farm Gets 2nd Go At H-2A Extension After Worker's Aneurysm
A U.S. Department of Labor appeals board has revived a farm's request to extend two foreign workers' employment to finish up work that was delayed after a co-worker suffered a brain aneurysm, saying a certifying officer shouldn't have flat-out denied the extension request.
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May 10, 2024
Climate Group Settles DOJ Claims It Shut Out Noncitizens
A Massachusetts-based nonprofit organization focused on climate action agreed to settle claims it discriminated against non-U.S. citizen job seekers including asylees and green-card holders by inviting only U.S. citizens to apply for jobs, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
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May 09, 2024
DHS Unveils Rule To Expedite Certain Asylum Rejections
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has unveiled a proposed rule that would allow DHS to more quickly determine whether certain asylum-seekers pose a public or national security risk and, if so, deport them, according to an announcement made Thursday.
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May 09, 2024
Chinese Tycoon In $500M Debt To Investors To Be Released
A Chinese cinema magnate who owes his investors more than $500 million will no longer be detained on immigration and campaign donor fraud charges, a New York federal court ruled Thursday.
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May 09, 2024
DHS Watchdog Flags Holes In Afghan Evacuee Processing
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's internal watchdog has found vulnerabilities in how the agency resolves potential red flags for Afghan evacuees in the U.S., including a lack of defined guidelines for Afghans who want to extend their humanitarian parole.
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May 09, 2024
Iowa Immigration Law Tramples On Feds' Authority, Suits Say
The U.S. Department of Justice and a nonprofit filed separate lawsuits on Thursday challenging Iowa legislation that empowers state officials to arrest and remove noncitizens who were previously deported, arguing the statute usurps federal authority over immigration.
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May 09, 2024
Visa Lottery Winners Urge DC Circ. To Finish 2-Yr-Old Review
Attorneys for thousands of diversity visa winners urged the D.C. Circuit to finish reviewing stayed orders mandating the visas' release, saying many clients are losing hope of coming to the U.S.
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May 09, 2024
Designer, Hotelier Sued For Allegedly Duping EB-5 Investors
Chinese investors in a luxury California hotel for green cards lodged a potential class action Thursday against a prominent interior designer and her hotelier husband for allegedly duping backers into believing Marriott would manage the hotel.
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May 08, 2024
Texas Wants Catholic Org. Barred For 'Systemic Violations'
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Wednesday urged a state judge in El Paso County to enjoin Catholic nonprofit Annunciation House Inc. from operating in the state, alleging the organization has been engaging in systemic criminal conduct by illegally harboring noncitizens.
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May 08, 2024
Texas Says Asylum Rule Fight Withstands Toss Of La. Suit
Texas is urging a federal judge to preserve its challenge to a Biden administration rule broadening immigration officers' power to expedite asylum applications, saying a recent decision in Louisiana throwing out nearly identical claims has no bearing on its case.
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May 08, 2024
Legal Access Program Being Set Up For Separated Families
The Biden administration has tapped the Acacia Center for Justice to manage a court-ordered legal access program to help migrant families stay in the U.S. after they were separated under a Trump-era policy to prosecute anybody caught entering the country unlawfully.
Expert Analysis
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Pay Transparency Laws Complicate Foreign Labor Cert.
State and local laws adopted to help close the gender pay gap pose challenges for U.S. companies recruiting foreign nationals, as they try to navigate a thicket of pay transparency laws without running afoul of federally regulated recruitment practices, say Stephanie Pimentel and Asha George at Berry Appleman.
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Rethinking In-Office Attendance For Associate Retention
The hybrid office attendance model doesn't work for all employees, but it does for many — and balancing these two groups is important for associate retention and maintaining a BigLaw firm culture that supports all attorneys, says Summer Eberhard at Major Lindsey.
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Murdaugh Trials Offer Law Firms Fraud Prevention Reminders
As the fraud case against Alex Murdaugh continues to play out, the evidence and narrative presented at his murder trial earlier this year may provide lessons for law firms on implementing robust internal controls that can detect and prevent similar kinds of fraud, say Travis Casner and Helga Zauner at Weaver and Tidwell.
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Foreign Labor Certification Website Still Structurally Limited
Though the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Foreign Labor Certification has shown encouraging responsiveness in correcting at least one major issue with its online portal, several sources of frustration — including employers' limited access to filed applications — still require fixing, says Michael Morton at Fakhoury Global.
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Firm Tips For Helping New Lawyers Succeed Post-Pandemic
Ten steps can help firms significantly enhance the experience of attorneys who started their careers in the coronavirus pandemic era, including facilitating opportunities for cross-firm connection, which can ultimately help build momentum for business development, says Lana Manganiello at Equinox Strategy Partners.
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Perspectives
Immigration Board Must Mend Choice Of Law Post-Garcia
The Board of Immigration Appeals must revisit the choice of law standard recently established in Matter of Garcia, which fails to establish predictability, upsets the settled expectations of parties' remanded cases and unfairly tips the scale in the government's favor, says Monica Mananzan at the Capital Area Immigrants' Rights Coalition.
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Fla. Foreign Real Estate Law Brings Broad Investment Risks
Last month, Florida became the latest state to enact legislation prohibiting Chinese investors from acquiring certain interests in real property, introducing significant legal uncertainty and consequences for real estate stakeholders and the private equity industry, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
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Roundup
Inside Immigration Court
In this Expert Analysis series, immigration judges discuss best practices for attorneys who appear before them and important developments in immigration court practice.
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Opinion
Federal Law Should Recognize And Protect Stateless People
The government should protect the 200,000-plus people living in the U.S. with no recognized claim to citizenship under any country's laws by defining statelessness, providing benefits like green card eligibility and a path to citizenship, and issuing guidelines for federal officers evaluating statelessness cases, say Samantha Sitterley at United Stateless and Charles Johnson at Akin Gump.
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Tackling Judge-Shopping Concerns While Honoring Localism
As the debate continues over judge-shopping and case assignments in federal court, policymakers should look to a hybrid model that preserves the benefits of localism for those cases that warrant it, while preventing the appearance of judge-shopping for cases of a more national or widespread character, says Joshua Sohn at the U.S. Department of Justice.
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Series
Inside Immigration Court: The Pros, Cons Of Remote Hearings
Technology introduced during the pandemic has improved the quality and efficiency of virtual immigration court hearings, but concerns still linger over the court system's ability to provide full and complete simultaneous interpretation in these hearings, as well as its effect on due process, says Immigration Judge Mimi Tsankov.
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Perspectives
How Attorneys Can Help Combat Anti-Asian Hate
Amid an exponential increase in violence against Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, unique obstacles stand in the way of accountability and justice — but lawyers can effect powerful change by raising awareness, offering legal representation, advocating for victims’ rights and more, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.
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Opinion
Congress Needs To Enact A Federal Anti-SLAPP Statute
Although many states have passed statutes meant to prevent individuals or entities from filing strategic lawsuits against public participation, other states have not, so it's time for Congress to enact a federal statute to ensure that free speech and petitioning rights are uniformly protected nationwide in federal court, say attorneys at Skadden.
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Some Client Speculations On AI And The Law Firm Biz Model
Generative artificial intelligence technologies will put pressure on the business of law as it is structured currently, but clients may end up with more price certainty for legal services, and lawyers may spend more time being lawyers, says Jonathan Cole at Melody Capital.
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New Foreign Labor Certification Form Brings Complications
Ambiguities in a question on the Office of Foreign Labor Certification's new application for permanent employment certification could serve as a trap for attorneys and sponsoring employers, as it's unclear how it will be interpreted by both the OFLC and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, says Michael Morton at Fakhoury Global.