Immig Blog/Notes (www.sarponglaw.com)

The Law Office of James S. Sarpong, LLC is a Denver, Colorado based US Immigration Law Firm that provides immigration law services to clients throughout the United States (U.S.) and the world, including Colorado, Aurora, Colorado Springs, Denver, District of Columbia, Washington (D.C.), Maryland (MD), Montgomery County, Virginia (VA), Arlington, Chesapeake, Newport News, Norfolk, Richmond, and Virginia Beach.

Immigrants, Latinos, and Asians are Growing Economic and Political Force in Utah

 November 24, 2009

 Washington D.C. – The Immigration Policy Center has compiled research which shows that immigrants, Latinos, and Asians are an important part of Utah’s economy, labor force, and tax base.  Immigrants and their children are a growing economic and political force as workers, consumers, taxpayers, and entrepreneurs. With the state working towards recovery, immigrants and their children will continue to play a key role in shaping the economic and political future of the Beehive State.

 Highlights from Utah include:

• Utah was home to 215,757 immigrants in 2007.
• 33.2% of immigrants in 2007 (or 96,401 people) in Utah were naturalized U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote.
• 1 in 7 Utahns are Latino or Asian.
• Latinos accounted for 2.2% (or 21,000) and Asians 1.2% ( or 11,000) of Utah voters in the 2008 elections.
• The 2008 purchasing power of Latinos in Utah totaled $5.8 billion and Asian buying power totaled $1.8 billion.

• If all unauthorized immigrants were removed from Utah, the state would lose $2.3 billion in expenditures, $1.0 billion in economic output, and approximately 14,219 jobs.

There is no denying the contributions immigrants, Latinos, and Asians make and the important role they will play in Utah’s political and economic future. For more data on their contributions to the Beehive State, view the IPC fact sheet in its entirety. 

• New Americans in the Beehive State (Utah) 

Read more about immigrant contributions in other states:   

• New Americans in the Grand Canyon State (Arizona)
• New Americans in the Natural State (Arkansas) 
• New Americans in the Golden State (California)
• New Americans in the Centennial State (Colorado)
• New Americans in the Sunshine State (Florida) 
• New Americans in the Peach State (Georgia)
• New Americans in the Prairie State (Illinois) 
• New Americans in the Hoosier State (Indiana)
• New Americans in the Pelican State (Louisiana)
• New Americans in the Pine Tree State (Maine)
• New Americans in the Great Lakes State (Michigan) 
• New Americans in the North Star State (Minnesota)
• New Americans in the Silver State (Nevada)
• New Americans in the Empire State (New York)
• New Americans in the Garden State (New Jersey)
• New Americans in the Tar Heel State (North Carolina)
• New Americans in the Buckeye State(Ohio)
• New Americans in the Keystone State (Pennsylvania)
• New Americans in the Palmetto State (South Carolina)
• New Americans in the Volunteer State (Tennessee)
• New Americans in the Old Dominion State (Virginia)

By Julia Preston

November 13, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/us/politics/14immig.html

The Obama administration will insist on measures to give legal status to an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants as it pushes early next year for legislation to overhaul the immigration system, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on Friday.

In her first major speech on the overhaul, Ms. Napolitano dispelled any suggestion that the administration — with health care, energy and other major issues crowding its agenda — would postpone the most contentious piece of immigration legislation until after midterm elections next November.

Laying out the administration’s bottom line, Ms. Napolitano said officials would argue for a “three-legged stool” that includes tougher enforcement laws against illegal immigrants and employers who hire them and a streamlined system for legal immigration, as well as a “tough and fair pathway to earned legal status.”

With unemployment surging over 10 percent and Congress still wrangling over health care, advocates on all sides of the immigration debate had begun to doubt that President Obama would keep his pledge to tackle the divisive illegal immigration issue in the first months of 2010.

Speaking at the Center for American Progress, a liberal policy group in Washington, Ms. Napolitano unveiled a double-barrel argument for a legalization program, saying it would enhance national security and, as the economy climbs out of recession, protect American workers from unfair competition from lower-paid, easily exploited illegal immigrants.

“Let me emphasize this: we will never have fully effective law enforcement or national security as long as so many millions remain in the shadows,” she said, adding that the recovering economy would be strengthened “as these immigrants become full-paying taxpayers.”

Under the administration’s plan, illegal immigrants who hope to gain legal status would have to register, pay fines and all taxes they owe, pass a criminal background check and learn English.

Drawing a contrast with 2007, when a bill with legalization provisions offered by President George W. Bush failed in Congress, Ms. Napolitano said the Obama administration had achieved a “fundamental change” in border security and enforcement against employers hiring illegal immigrants. She said a sharp reduction in the flow of illegal immigrants into the country created an opportunity to move ahead with a legalization program.

Some Republicans were quick to challenge Ms. Napolitano’s claims that border security had significantly improved or that American workers would be helped by bringing illegal immigrants into the system.

“How can they claim that enforcement is done when there are more than 400 open miles of border with Mexico?” asked Representative Lamar Smith of Texas, the senior Republican on the House Judiciary Committee. He said the administration should “deport illegal immigrant workers so they don’t remain here to compete with citizen and legal immigrant job seekers.”

But Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the top Republican on the Judiciary subcommittee on immigration, agreed that it was time to open the immigration debate. “My commitment to immigration reform has not changed,” he said in a statement Friday. “I am interested in seeing a proposal sooner rather than later from President Obama.”

Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York and the chairman of that subcommittee, has been writing an overhaul bill and consulting with Republicans, particularly Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Mr. Schumer said that the administration’s agenda was “ambitious,” but that he was “confident we can have a bipartisan immigration bill ready to go under whatever timeline the president thinks is best.”

Ms. Napolitano has been leading the administration’s efforts to gather ideas and support for the immigration overhaul, meeting in recent weeks with business leaders, religious groups, law enforcement officials and others to gauge their willingness to go forward with a debate in Congress.

Framing the administration’s proposals in stark law and order terms, she said immigration legislation should include tougher laws against migrant smugglers and more severe sanctions for employers who hire unauthorized workers.

Ms. Napolitano said that the Border Patrol had grown by 20,000 officers and that more than 600 miles of border fence had been finished, meeting security benchmarks set by Congress in 2007. She was echoing an argument adopted by Mr. Bush after the bill collapsed in 2007, and by Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, in his race against Mr. Obama. They said Americans wanted to see effective enforcement before they would agree to legal status for millions of illegal immigrants.

Some immigrant advocates were dismayed by Ms. Napolitano’s approach. Benjamin E. Johnson, executive director of the American Immigration Council, praised her package of proposals, but said some enforcement policies she outlined “have proven to do more harm than good.”

 http://www.alternet.org/politics/143963/immigration_hardliners_gearing_up_to_kill_pragmatic_reform_once_again/

By Maribel Hastings

November 16, 2009

While Congressman Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) has called supporters of immigration reform to participate in a national conversation on Nov. 18, the anti-immigrant organization Americans for Legal Immigration (ALIPAC) is holding “Tea Party” protests in various states this Saturday.

With all the noise they make and the fear they inspire in Congress, one might assume the protestors numbered in the millions — but ALIPAC’s Web site lists, as of today, 52 planned “tea parties” and around 4,500 people anticipated to attend.

Nevertheless, anti-immigrant groups remain a stumbling block for immigration reform — and an opponent against whom supporters have to stay on guard.

This sector includes organizations, movements and institutions that range from extremist neo-Nazi groups to respected Washington, D.C.-based think tanks. There are also the legislators who often seem to be spokespeople for these organizations, some of whom make up the House of Representatives’ Immigration Reform Caucus, composed of 88 Republican and 5 Democratic members of Congress.

William Gheen, founder of ALIPAC, says that he hopes that the events of this Saturday “combined with our lobying [sic] efforts and support for campaigns will stop these attempts to destroy America through mass illegal immigration and amnesty.”

Their efforts

In 2006, when the Sensenbrenner proposal — which would have criminalized undocumented immigrants — sparked massive marches and protests, the anti-immigrant movement found itself caught off guard and could only muster a feeble response.

But when debate over reform began in the Senate in 2007, they had organized themselves to use the Internet effectively, and orchestrated massive campaigns to call and email Congressional offices.

They also forged tacit alliances with ultraconservative radio and television talk-show hosts, who continue to support them, and with so-called “journalists.”

As of this week, at least, one fewer legitimate media outlet will be providing a platform for anti-immigrant views. On Wednesday, Lou Dobbs announced his resignation from the channel–effective immediately. His departure came after months of pressure from a national coalition urging CNN to “Drop Dobbs” for disseminating lies and stereotypes about immigrants and Latinos. For years, Dobbs used his program as a bully pulpit to attack the idea of comprehensive immigration reform.

Their current status

After taking credit for the defeat of immigration reform in 2007, the anti-immigrant movement saw the rise of Barack Obama — a Democrat, an African-American, the son of an immigrant father, and a supporter of immigration reform — to the presidency in 2008. Furthermore, they saw the majority of their candidates in federal, state and local elections go down in defeat.

But Obama’s public-opinion “honeymoon” is over and immigration opponents are hoping to exploit the economic crisis, the spectacle of this summer’s health-care reform “town halls,” and divisions among Democrats to revive their agenda.

Accusations of racism

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a civil rights advocacy group, the core of the anti-immigrant movement is interconnected–funded by a single source.

In its report “The Nativist Lobby: Three Faces of Intolerance,” the SPLC reports that the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), and NumbersUSA were all created by restrictionist John Tanton, who has been linked to the Pioneer Fund, an institution that has conducted studies designed to prove the superiority of the white race.

According to SPLC’s Mark Potok, FAIR is the lobbying arm of the anti-immigrant movement; CIS is the “independent” think tank; and NumbersUSA organizes the base.

2009, a different story

The immigration opponents boast they’re ready for the battle of 2010. Their argument: With 16 million people unemployed across the country, “Americans will never accept another amnesty.”

But Rich Stolz, director of the national Reform Immigration for America campaign, points out that this time, advocates for immigration reform are ready to neutralize their attacks, drawing on the political power that Latinos and immigrant communities demonstrated in the 2008 elections.

“The campaign is gaining momentum and is active across the country in ways that would never have been possible before,” says Stolz.

Ali Noorani, director of the National Immigration Forum, concurs that this time there are more allies of reform ready to implement a three-prong strategy: “mobilize the base, win the middle, and marginalize the opposition.”

“Never before have we been able to do so much and engage so many allies. We have an incredible amount of work ahead, but we’re confident,” says Noorani.

Rafael Prieto Zartha contributed to this article

Nov. 19, 2009

Contact: ICE Public Affairs

202-732-4242

WASHINGTON-U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Assistant Secretary John

Morton today announced the issuance of Notices of Inspection (NOIs) to 1,000 employers across the country associated with critical infrastructure-alerting business owners that ICE will audit their hiring records to determine compliance with employment eligibility verification laws.

“ICE is focused on finding and penalizing employers who believe they can unfairly get ahead by cultivating illegal workplaces,” said Assistant Secretary Morton. “We are increasing criminal and civil enforcement of immigration-related employment laws and imposing smart, tough employer sanctions to even the playing field for employers who play by the rules.”

The 1,000 businesses served with audit notices this week were selected for inspection as a result of investigative leads and intelligence and because of the business’ connection to public safety and national security-for example, privately owned critical infrastructure and key resources. The names and locations of the businesses will not be released at this time due to the ongoing, law enforcement sensitive nature of these audits.

Audits involve a comprehensive review of Form I-9s, which employers are required to complete and retain for each individual hired in the United States. I-9 forms require employers to review and record each individual’s identity and work eligibility document(s) and determine whether the document(s) reasonably appear to be genuine and related to that specific individual.

Protecting employment opportunities for the nation’s lawful workforce and targeting employers who knowingly employ an illegal workforce are major ICE priorities, for which ICE employs all available civil and administrative tools, including audits. Audits may result in civil penalties and lay the groundwork for criminal prosecution of employers who knowingly violate the law.

In April, DHS issued updated worksite enforcement guidance emphasizing ICE’s major enforcement priorities-specifically focusing on dangerous criminal aliens and employers who cultivate illegal workplaces by breaking the country’s laws and knowingly hiring illegal workers. In this strategy, ICE identified form I-9 audits as the most important administrative tool in building criminal cases and bringing employers into compliance with the law.

 Statistics since implementation of new ICE worksite enforcement strategy on April 30:

. 45 businesses and 47 individuals debarred;

?? 0 businesses and 1 individual were debarred during same period in FY 2008.

. 142 Notices of Intent to Fine (NIF) totaling $15,865,181;

?? ICE issued 32 NIFs totaling $2,355,330 in all of FY 2008.

. 45 Final Orders totaling $798,179;

?? ICE issued eight Final Orders totaling $196,523 during the same period in FY 2008

. 1,897 cases initiated;

?? ICE initiated 605 cases during the same period in FY 2008.

. 1,069 Form I-9 Inspections;

?? ICE initiated 503 Form I-9 Inspections in all of FY 2008.

In July, ICE issued 654 NOIs to businesses nationwide in the largest operation of its kind before today-part of ICE’s effort to audit businesses suspected of using illegal labor.

Statistics resulting from the 654 audits announced in July:

. ICE agents reviewed more than 85,000 Form I-9s and identified more than 14,000 suspect documents-approximately 16 percent of the total number reviewed.

. To date, 61 NIFs have been issued, resulting in $2,310,255 in fines. In addition, 267 cases are currently being considered for Notices of Intent to Fine (NIFs).

. ICE closed 326 cases after businesses were found to be in compliance with employment laws or after businesses were served with a Warning Notice in expectation of future compliance.

For more information, visit www.ice.gov

http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-immigration-reform-111809,0,5982172..story

Tammy Vigil KDVR Denver

10:31 PM MST, November 18, 2009

But supporters of reform say we can’t maintain the status quo.

It is a mid-term election year. And critics say lawmakers won’t be eager to pass anything so controversial when their jobs are on the line.

www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-ap-us-immigration-employers,0,3943076..story

SUZANNE GAMBOA
Associated Press Writer
2:37 PM CST, November 19, 2009 

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Homeland Security Department will give a seal of approval to businesses volunteering to use an electronic program to check workers’ immigration status.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Thursday the public should know which companies are following the law. The problem is, the program known as E-Verify is still under development, and the law does not require employers to use it. They are required to use a paper system.

In addition, some businesses that use E-Verify have been found to have hired undocumented workers who used stolen, fraudulent or borrowed documents. ICE announced later it plans to audit the hiring records of another 1,000 employers. The audits are based on investigations and intelligence and include some businesses connected to public safety and national security, ICE said.

About 169,000 of the nation’s 7 million employers use E-Verify. Napolitano made the announcement at an meeting with employers about immigration enforcement in Washington.

Telling the public who uses E-Verify “will let consumers know which businesses are working hard to follow the law and are committed to protecting employment opportunities,” Napolitano said.

The approval seal Napolitano unveiled says in large letters “I E-Verify,” with a waving American flag. Below, in smaller letters, the label says “This business uses E-Verify in its hiring processes to achieve a lawful work force.”

Although DHS has been working to shrink the error rate of E-Verify, the program does sometimes flag legal workers as illegal. The program also cannot determine if someone is using bogus documents.

Congress gave DHS $137 million to run E-Verify and authorized it to operate for another three years. Chris Rhatigan, a spokeswoman for Citizenship and Immigration Services, said that will allow the system to make checks on 65 million employees.

An attempt to make the program permanent was rejected but is likely to be proposed again as part of the Democrats’ immigration reform bill.

“There is no doubt that a major part of any reform bill will be to make sure that employers are held accountable for maintaining a legal work force,” Napolitano said.

Immigration lawyer Scott Wright of Minneapolis, who attended the meeting, said the E-Verify seal “is grooming the business community and the public to get into the mindset” of what is to come.

Rep. Lamar Smith, ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, criticized DHS’ enforcement record, saying DHS statistics show a dramatic increase in audits and significant drops in criminal arrests, criminal indictments, criminal convictions and administrative arrests. There has been a 317 percent increase in audits.

“Audits may result in fines, but most companies consider them a cost of doing business,” Smith said in a statement.

According to ICE, it has assessed $2.3 million in fines against 61 businesses this year. The total is not final because the businesses can negotiate the fines. 

www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-ap-us-employer-sanctions,0,740919.story

AMANDA LEE MYERS
Associated Press Writer
5:06 PM CST, November 18, 2009 

PHOENIX (AP) — Maricopa County prosecutors on Wednesday filed Arizona’s first civil complaint against a business under a 22-month-old state law that prohibits employers from knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.

County Attorney Andrew Thomas said Scottsdale Art Factory manager Michelle Hardas used a “subcontractor” who was an illegal immigrant to avoid the law’s requirement that employees be legal workers.

A woman who answered the business’ phone and did not identify herself said Hardas was unavailable and “we have no comment.”

Thomas said Hardas directed the illegal immigrant, Hilario Santiago-Hernandez, to create a company called Santiago Furniture in April specifically to circumvent the law. He said sheriff’s investigators have Hardas on tape telling Santiago that she was “trying to get around the system … and change the rules so that I can make you be hired.”

The civil suit asks a Maricopa County Superior Court judge to suspend Scottsdale Art Factory’s business license for at least 10 days, and order the custom furniture maker to fire illegal workers and comply with state law.

“This is a very important day in this fight,” Thomas said. “This employer will have their day in court.”

The Republican-led Legislature passed the law in 2007 to help reduce the economic incentive for immigrants to enter the state illegally. Former Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat now serving as the nation’s homeland security secretary, signed it.

Although authorities have examined dozens of cases, no businesses have faced civil actions for illegal hirings since the law went into effect. One difficulty prosecutors cited was their lack of civil subpoena power to make suspected violators hand over records and give testimony.

Thomas said he told the people of Maricopa County two years ago that it would take time to get a case in court, and, “It did take some time,” he said.

Under the law, businesses found to have knowingly hired illegal immigrants can have their business licenses suspended or revoked. The law, which doesn’t carry criminal penalties, also requires employers to verify the work eligibility of new workers through a federal database.

Cities across the country have passed similar measures, though some have been rejected in court.

Civil-rights groups have challenged Arizona’s law, but federal courts have upheld it. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals left the door open for other challenges, however, saying no one had been accused of violating the law at the time.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, known for his tough stance on illegal immigration, said other municipalities also can enforce employer-sanctions laws.

“These illegal aliens are taking up jobs that U.S. citizens could have,” he said. Americans “are laid off, trying to put food on the table for their family.” 

Immigration Services to take a more aggressive stance on H-1B visa enforcement

Patrick Thibodeau

 November 17, 2009 (Computerworld) U.S. immigration officials are taking H-1B enforcement from the desk to the field with a plan to conduct 25,000 on-site inspections of companies hiring foreign workers over this fiscal year.

The move marks a nearly five-fold increase in inspections over last fiscal year, when the agency conducted 5,191 site visits under a new site inspection program. The new federal fiscal year began Oct. 1.

Tougher enforcement from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services comes in response to a study conducted by the agency last year that found fraud and other violations in one-in-five H-1B applications.

In a letter to U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), Alejandro Mayorkas, director of the Citizenship and Immigration Services, said the agency began a site visit and verification program in July to check on the validity of H-1B applications. Mayorkas’ letter was released on Tuesday by Grassley.

“[The inspection program determines] whether the location of employment actually exists and if a beneficiary is employed at the location specified, performing the duties as described, and paid the salary as identified in the petition,” said Mayorkas in his letter to Grassley.

Mayorkas is a former federal prosecutor who was recently appointed by President Barack Obama. He was sworn in August and said since then, “I have worked tirelessly to learn of the condition of our anti-fraud efforts and other critical programs in our agency.”

In September, Grassley, an ardent critic of the H-1B program, asked Mayorkas to outline the steps his agency was taking in regard to H-1B enforcement. Among the issues that Grassley asked for was specific information about companies that are hiring H-1B workers for jobs that didn’t exist, and who, instead, are not paid until contract work is found.

As part of its enforcement effort, Mayorkas said the Citizenship and Immigration Services has hired Dunn and Bradstreet Inc., which provides credit reports among other services, to act as “an independent information provider” and help verify information submitted by companies hiring H-1B workers.

Grassley, a co-sponsor of legislation that will increase H-1B program enforcement, said in a statement released today, t”If employers are hiring visa holders without actual jobs lined up, American workers are losing out. Employers must be held accountable, and should be required to submit contracts and itineraries to prove that a job exists. Simply having them attest that they are complying with the law isn’t good enough.”

Immigration attorneys have seen an increase in demands for documentation from the Citizenship and Immigration Services as part of the approval process.

http://m1e.net/c?7052526-qpg5i6.znOdV6%404790723-EkNKCxVZU.FMQ
 
(1) Dangerous aliens are properly detained without bond pending the completion of proceedings to remove them from the United States.
 
(2) Only if an alien has established that he would not pose a danger to property or persons should an Immigration Judge decide the amount of bond necessary to ensure the alien’s presence at proceedings to remove him from the United States.

 (3) Where an Immigration Judge characterized an alien seeking release from custody as a “potential” danger to the community but ordered him released upon the posting of a bond amount, the record was remanded for the Immigration Judge to clarify whether the alien met his burden of proving that his release on bond would not pose a danger to property or persons.>>