Immigration Activist Sues Federal Agencies for Rejecting Her Deferred Deportation Renewal
Ireri Unzueta Carrasco, an immigration activist from Chicago, is suing federal immigration agencies for rejecting her renewal for deferred deportation status under the DACA program. She claims that the government is punishing her for her activism.
During the course of her activism, Carrasco has been arrested four times, three of which occurred for acts of civil disobedience at rallies for immigration reform, and one of which was for sleeping in a park. However, Carrasco was never convicted for any of these offenses.
Under current immigration law, applicants for DACA can be rejected if they have been convicted of a felony, a significant misdemeanor, three or more separate misdemeanors, or pose a threat to national security or public safety. While, USCIS claims that Carrasco’s arrests are enough to see Carrasco as a public safety concern, Carrasco claims that her arrests were all due to exercises of free expression demanding immigration reform.
Immigration lawyers have acknowledged that the denial of Carrasco’s renewal is unusual for a program that tends to approve qualified applicants. Since 2012, USCIS has approved over 94 percent of applications received. Renewals have been approved at approximately the same rate. One immigration attorney noted that he has only seen renewals denied for applicants who have been convicted of crimes. Many have noted that they have never heard of a case like Carrasco’s, prompting some to agree that the denial could be retaliation for Carrasco’s activism.
Carrasco’s suit highlights the discretionary nature of immigration proceedings, a fact that has drawn heavy criticism. Decision-makers are sometimes thought to use discretion based on their own political leanings. This has angered people on both sides of the political spectrum.
Meanwhile, since the denial, Carrasco has lost job opportunities because her work authorization has expired. She was also forced to miss her grandparents’ funerals in Mexico because she couldn’t leave the country. Still, she believes in the power of immigrant youth to influence policy and she hopes that her case will not discourage others from utilizing the DACA program.
Lawsuit Launched Against DHS and USCIS for Lack of Transparency in H-1B Lottery Process
The American Immigration Council and the American Immigration Lawyers Association have jointly filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and USCIS with the goal of making the H-1B lottery process more transparent. The lawsuit was filed on May 20th under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Every year, thousands of U.S. employers seeking highly skilled foreign workers, submit petitions to USCIS for the limited number of H-1B visas available. But for more than ten years, employer demand for H-1B visas has far exceeded the congressionally mandated cap of 65,000 visas (and an additional 20,000 for professionals with a master’s or doctoral degree from a U.S. university). Once the cap has been exceeded, USCIS uses a computer-based generated random selection process to select a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to satisfy the cap requirement. Petitions not selected are then returned to the employers who filed them. Given the extremely competitive nature of the process, U.S. employers, immigration lawyers, and foreign nationals seeking H-1B visas are eager to gain an in-depth understanding of how USCIS administers the lottery process.
However, USCIS has remained steadfastly opaque when asked for a detailed description of the selection process. Any attempts to gain a more transparent understanding have been resisted. But the H-1B visa lottery process is an important component of our nation’s business immigration system. As such, this lawsuit hopes to shed light on the entire process and it seeks to determine whether the system is operating fairly.
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