Siskind Susser is excited to announce that Lynn Susser was recently elected to ABIL, the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers. ABIL is comprised of over 20 lawyers from top tier immigration practices with years of expertise and a comprehensive understanding of immigration law. For more information on ABIL, including a map of ABIL attorneys worldwide, visit their website at www.abil.com.
The following articles are excerpts from ABIL’s monthly Immigration Insider, available here on their website.
***
DACA Recipient Files Suit Over Revoked Status
Jessica Colotl, a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient whose case has received publicity over the years, has had her DACA status revoked. Her attorney has filed a motion requesting a federal judge in Atlanta, Georgia, to reinstate her DACA protection.
Ms. Colotl’s parents brought her to the United States from Mexico when she was 11. She was granted DACA status in 2013, which was renewed last year. In the intervening years, her parents moved back to Mexico but she stayed in the United States, graduated from college, and has been working as a paralegal with Kuck Immigration Partners, LLC. Last year, she wanted to travel to Mexico to visit her ill mother, but since she had an outstanding removal order, she filed a motion to reopen and administratively close her removal proceedings. An immigration judge denied the request but the Board of Immigration Appeals found in her favor and sent the case back to the immigration judge to administratively close her case. However, the immigration judge asked the government for its position in writing; in a supplemental filing in March 2017, the government said her case shouldn’t be closed and she was a priority for removal under a February 2017 Department of Homeland Security memorandum due to her criminal history (she was pulled over on campus for a traffic violation and driving without a license in 2010 and was charged with a felony false statement to a law enforcement officer when her address given didn’t match the record. At that time, she was detained for 37 days).
Kuck Immigration Partners filed a complaint on May 9, 2017, in Atlanta for declaratory and injunctive relief. “Trump promised that DACA kids were fine. Nothing’s changed in Jessica’s case.…They are simply in bad faith punishing her for exercising her rights under the policies enacted by the government,” said Charles Kuck. Now 28, Ms. Colotl said in her lawsuit that the government is using her as “a test case to revoke DACA, exceeding its discretionary authority in an arbitrary and capricious manner.” Calling the government’s action “completely outrageous,” she said she “felt shock because I didn’t know this could happen.”
***
USCIS Implements New Interpreter Policy, Form
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the May 1, 2017, implementation of a policy memorandum issued on January 17, 2017. The guidance applies to interviews conducted at domestic field offices except in cases where USCIS provides interpreters or has other policies, such as asylum and refugee interviews; credible fear and reasonable fear screening interviews; interviews to determine eligibility for relief under provisions of the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act; and naturalization interviews, unless the interviewee qualifies for an exception to demonstrating adequate proficiency in reading, writing, and speaking English. The standards also do not apply to document translations or to interviews conducted at international field offices.
The guidance states that interpreters must be sufficiently fluent in both English and the interviewee’s language, able to interpret competently between English and the interviewee’s language, and able to interpret impartially and without bias. Those restricted from serving as interpreters include minors under age 18 (an exception for good cause may be granted for those age 14-17); attorneys and accredited representatives of the interviewee; and witnesses (unless an exception for good cause is granted). A witness is anyone who gives a personal account, orally or in writing, of something seen, heard, or experienced.
USCIS has introduced the new Form G-1256, Declaration for Interpreted USCIS Interview, as part of implementation of this guidance. Both the interviewee and the interpreter must sign the form at the beginning of the interview in the presence of a USCIS officer. The form includes a declaration stating that the interpreter must accurately, literally, and fully interpret for both the interviewee and interviewing officer, and requires the interpreter to agree not to disclose any personal information learned in the interview.
USCIS officers will receive training to implement the new policy.
The announcement is at https://www.uscis.gov/news/alerts/role-and-use-interpreters-domesticfield-office-interviews. The policy memorandum is at https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Laws/Memoranda/2017/2017-17-1- RoleUseInterpreters-PM-602-0125-1.pdf. A related Web alert is at https://www.uscis.gov/news/alerts/role-and-use-interpreters-domestic-field-office-interviews.
***
Spending Bill Extends EB-5 Investor Visa Program to September 30; No Funding for Wall
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017, passed by Congress and signed May 7, extends the EB-5 immigrant investor visa program through September 30, 2017. The legislation also provides a large border-security funding increase, among other things.
The spending bill was also notable for what it didn’t contain. For example, the bill did not include funding to begin construction of the border wall promised by President Trump.
Some observers believe that before that date, legislation could be enacted to change the EB-5 program, such as by raising the minimum investment amount, which currently is $500,000 in rural and high unemployment areas and $1 million elsewhere. The EB-5 program has received a lot of attention recently because of a particular EB-5 project in New Jersey being promoted by the Kushner Company. Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and a senior advisor to the President, stepped down as chief executive of the Kushner Company in January and has sold stakes in several properties to help allay concerns about possible conflicts of interest.
A statement by President Trump on signing the legislation is at https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/05/05/statement-president-donald-j-trump-signing-hr-244-law
For more on this case, see https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/08/us/politics/kushner-china-visa-eb-5.html
This newsletter was prepared with the assistance of ABIL, the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers (www.abil.com), of which Lynn Susser is an active member.
Disclaimer: This newsletter is provided as a public service and not intended to establish an attorney client relationship. Any reliance on information contained herein is taken at your own risk.