Aaron Nelsen
Juan Larin-Ulloa has been fighting his entire life.
As a government soldier in his native El Salvador, he fought against the advance of the Communist Farabundo Marti National Liberation front.
As a refugee of the same bloody war that ravaged his country and uprooted his family, he fought for asylum in the United States.
But his toughest battle of all was surviving four-and-half years locked up in a South Texas immigration detention facility for a crime that he had already served probation years before.
"It felt like the sky was closing with the earth," Larin said of the experience. "I had never been separated from my wife and kids before."
Larin moved his wife and three children from Los Angeles to Wichita, Kansas in 1997 to open Templo de Poder Sinai church for the city's burgeoning Spanish-speaking population. Two years later, the pastor was charged with battery for his involvement in a fight that erupted outside his home. Larin maintains the fight involved local gang members.
Larin paid the fine and served probation, but, in 2002, on a routine visit to renew his green card, federal officials resurrected his battery conviction - the only blemish on his record after 20 years in the country.
As far as Immigration and Customs Enforcement was concerned, Larin's misdemeanor was justification enough to have him deported. Larin is among thousands of legal permanent residents who are detained and put into removal proceedings for past crimes, often-minor offenses.
The 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibilty Act penned by President Bill Clinton took effect in 1997 and made entire classes of crimes deportable offenses, including some misdemeanors.
In addition, it was applied retroactively, making decades old offenses relevant again.
Even more damaging in Larin's case was a provision added later that established mandatory detention for certain violent crimes.
Of the more than 285,000 people deported last year, 97,279 were for criminal convictions, and 74,826 have been deported for crimes this year, according to ICE. The government does not specify how many of those deported were permanent residents.
The removal of longtime permanent residents has been largely overlooked, but their plight underscores the government's commitment to expel immigrants no matter the cost. The day Larin was taken into custody, his wife and children, all U.S. citizens, had no idea that he'd been arrested.
They were unaware that he would be stripped naked, doused in cold liquid, called filthy and sprayed with a hose shoulder-to-shoulder with other detainees. When the family got home that evening, they would receive a scared phone call from Larin.
He'd been arrested, he told them, and he didn't know exactly where he was or where he would be going. They needed to act fast to find him a lawyer, as the government would provide him none.
On any given day, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security holds more than 31,000 people in hundreds of publicly and privately operated facilities across the country. South Texas has the distinction of housing one quarter of them, or just shy of 7,900.
Critics of the government's efforts to detain immigrants say the crush of so many detainees has not been met with commensurate growth in the legal infrastructure of the Rio Grande Valley. Even if a detainee has the resources and good fortunate to secure legal counsel, incarceration can drag on for years, as was the case for Larin.
"It's all part of the government's end plan for immigration," said Jodi Goodwin, a Harlingen-based immigration lawyer.
With fewer than 30 immigration attorneys in the region, thousands will go through proceedings without legal assistance of any sort.
Larin's case was the ill-fated confluence of bad luck, a colossal paperwork error and the federal government's stepped-up efforts to detain and deport immigrants who fall under more stringent measures in the era of fighting terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. soil.
Larin got caught up in these circumstances, and for years battled his way back to freedom.
All the while, his family back in Wichita struggled to keep afloat as he sat in an immigration detention facility.
Without his income, the Larin family lost their home. The family business, a Christian bookstore, went bankrupt. And his two school-age children, one in high school and the other in junior high, dropped out to work and raise money to hire another attorney.
Meanwhile, inside the Port Isabel facility, Larin felt his life slipping away.
To keep his mind occupied, he gave the other detainees haircuts, cleaned offices and every evening he offered lessons from the Bible, frequently citing passages from Romans, Chapter 8.
"It's a dangerous thing," Larin said of being incarcerated for so long. "You can go crazy with nothing to do other than stare at the four walls and think of your problems, of all you've lost."
Plotting Legal Measures
In addition to creating a backlog and slowing down the legal process, the detention build-up could also be partially responsible for the high number of writ of habeas corpus filings in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas - a legal action seeking relief from an unlawful detention.
Compared to zero habeas cases in 2006 and 2007, there were already eight habeas petitions through July of this year. What had been a legal maneuver reserved for desperate circumstances is quickly becoming a common procedure.
A trial can drag on for years, but once the immigration court has issued a final order for removal the clock starts ticking and the government has 90 days to remove that individual. A number of arrangements must fall into place, including cooperation from the home country and lining up travel documents.
However, if after six months removal still does not appear imminent, the government is expected to grant a release.
The reality is more complicated.
Scores of immigrants await deportation that may never come and yet they remain behind bars.
As long as the government can effectively argue that removal is likely in the foreseeable future, it claims detention is within the boundaries of the law, according to Judy Rabinovitz, senior staff counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union's Immigrant's Rights Project.
There are several ongoing lawsuits in the U.S. 9th Circuit that are fighting the prolonged detention of people disputing their removal on meritorious claims.
Alone and largely without legal representation, many immigrant detainees are helpless to stop their removal. Under pressure, some will choose to speed up the process by agreeing to self-deport to avoid a protracted legal battle, said Lisa Brodyaga, a longtime Harlingen-based immigration attorney.
The prevailing logic for an immigrant, Brodyaga said, is to avoid spending years in prison, and instead leaving and taking another chance to re-enter the country illegally.
Trying To Hold On
Deportation wasn't an option Larin allowed himself to consider. He would gain nothing by going back to El Salvador. Besides, he had nothing in El Salvador to go back to.
His life and his family were waiting for him in Wichita.
So, he fought and he waited.
During the court proceedings for the Kansas fight, Larin managed to plead the charge down to a lesser conviction, but the change was written sloppily over the original, making the document nearly illegible. Standing in front of an immigration judge years later, Larin's lawyer, who was unfamiliar with the prior case, mistakenly admitted his client had indeed been convicted on the more severe charge.
Larin was deported and he suddenly found himself without an attorney.
In detention, Larin was allowed 20 minutes every Saturday to speak with his family. During one of those conversations, he learned of his mother's death. In another conversation, he was told of the death of his brother.
Once a year his family visited him in Los Fresnos. Separated by glass, for a half-hour they exchanged teary stories over the phone.
Larin finally caught a lucky break.
Another detainee helped him get Brodyaga's telephone number. He scribbled the number on a scrap of paper.
She agreed to take his case, and even after losing his petition for habeas, she assured him that she would fight all the way to the 5th Circuit if necessary, a prophetic promise as it turned out. The U.S. 5th Circuit ordered that Larin be given bond. Still, his case dragged on for another year as the government sought to unearth additional evidence to deport him.
Without Brodyaga stepping in to pay his $1,500 bond, he may have been subjected to another year in detention. After living a nightmare for so long, when he got the call that he'd finally won his release, he said, it felt like the beginning of a dream from which he has yet to wake. Despite the outcome, Brodyaga said, in a sense the government won too.
Behind bars, Larin's life had been put on hold. On the outside, life marched on. In his absence, his wife of 30 years had begun to lose sight in one of her eyes, the result of her untreated diabetes aggravated by stress.
His children had become parents and he a grandfather of five.
"He's back to being a permanent legal resident," Brodyaga said of Larin, "as if nothing had ever happened."
But it did happen.
Back home, he has slowly begun to pick up the pieces of his life, one day at a time. He now spends most days with his family and at church. There are moments he can't believe he is home, rapt in familial warmth. And there are days he struggles to regain what he lost.
"There are people out there that commit terrible crimes every day," Larin said. "Our biggest crime is to have not been born in the United States."
Showing posts with label Immigration Attorneys. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Immigration Attorneys. Show all posts
August 24, 2008
July 12, 2008
More Seeking Asylum On U.S.-Mexico Border
July 12, 2008)--Dozens of Mexicans including police officers, business people, at least one prosecutor and a journalist, are asking for political asylum in the U.S. in what The Associated Press reports is a desperate and probably hopeless bid to escape an unprecedented wave of drug-related killings and kidnappings in Mexico.
Under U.S. law, fear of crime is not, in itself, grounds for political asylum.
Customs officials say between October and July, at least 63 people sought political asylum at border crossings in West Texas and New Mexico, which is almost double the 33 claims made for the entire fiscal year that ended in October.
AP reports that elsewhere in South Texas, asylum applications are also up sharply.
In other sectors along the 1,969-mile border, asylum applications are coming in at the usual pace.
Immigration lawyers say they believe most of the asylum claims in the West Texas and New Mexico sector are motivated by a desire to escape the bloodshed in Mexico.
The dangerous situation has drawn almost daily attention just across the Rio Grande in Ciudad Juarez and surrounding Chihuahua State.
Under U.S. law, fear of crime is not, in itself, grounds for political asylum.
Customs officials say between October and July, at least 63 people sought political asylum at border crossings in West Texas and New Mexico, which is almost double the 33 claims made for the entire fiscal year that ended in October.
AP reports that elsewhere in South Texas, asylum applications are also up sharply.
In other sectors along the 1,969-mile border, asylum applications are coming in at the usual pace.
Immigration lawyers say they believe most of the asylum claims in the West Texas and New Mexico sector are motivated by a desire to escape the bloodshed in Mexico.
The dangerous situation has drawn almost daily attention just across the Rio Grande in Ciudad Juarez and surrounding Chihuahua State.
July 11, 2008
'It's not safe': More Mexicans are seeking asylum at U.S. border
July 11, 2008 - 10:41PM
Alicia A. Caldwell
Dozens of Mexicans - including police officers, businessmen, at least one prosecutor and a journalist - are asking for political asylum in the U.S. in a desperate and probably hopeless bid to escape an unprecedented wave of drug-related killings and kidnappings south of the border.
Under U.S. law, fear of crime is not, in itself, grounds for political asylum.
But the sharp spike in asylum applications from the areas wracked by drug-cartel violence - and the willingness of asylum-seekers to sit behind bars in the U.S. for months while they await a decision - are a measure of how bad things are in Mexico and how fearful people have become.
"It's hard. I've been doing this work for 25 years. I've been a reporter for 25 years," said newspaperman Emilio Gutierrez Soto, who is seeking asylum. "We had a life there, a house, my family. It's my country. But it's not safe for a journalist."
Between October and July, at least 63 people have sought political asylum at border crossings in West Texas and New Mexico, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. That is almost double the 33 claims made for the entire fiscal year that ended in October. Elsewhere in South Texas, asylum applications are also up sharply.
In other sectors along the 1,969-mile border, asylum applications are coming in at the usual pace.
Immigration lawyers say they believe most of the asylum claims in the West Texas and New Mexico sector are motivated by the bloodshed in Mexico, the worst of which is just across the Rio Grande in Ciudad Juarez and surrounding Chihuahua state.
Alicia A. Caldwell
Dozens of Mexicans - including police officers, businessmen, at least one prosecutor and a journalist - are asking for political asylum in the U.S. in a desperate and probably hopeless bid to escape an unprecedented wave of drug-related killings and kidnappings south of the border.
Under U.S. law, fear of crime is not, in itself, grounds for political asylum.
But the sharp spike in asylum applications from the areas wracked by drug-cartel violence - and the willingness of asylum-seekers to sit behind bars in the U.S. for months while they await a decision - are a measure of how bad things are in Mexico and how fearful people have become.
"It's hard. I've been doing this work for 25 years. I've been a reporter for 25 years," said newspaperman Emilio Gutierrez Soto, who is seeking asylum. "We had a life there, a house, my family. It's my country. But it's not safe for a journalist."
Between October and July, at least 63 people have sought political asylum at border crossings in West Texas and New Mexico, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. That is almost double the 33 claims made for the entire fiscal year that ended in October. Elsewhere in South Texas, asylum applications are also up sharply.
In other sectors along the 1,969-mile border, asylum applications are coming in at the usual pace.
Immigration lawyers say they believe most of the asylum claims in the West Texas and New Mexico sector are motivated by the bloodshed in Mexico, the worst of which is just across the Rio Grande in Ciudad Juarez and surrounding Chihuahua state.
July 9, 2008
Recruitment filings by Pittsburgh law firm under U.S. Labor scrutiny
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Pittsburgh Business Times
VIDEO: PERM Fake Job Ads defraud Americans to secure green cards
The United States Department of Labor today announced that it has begun placing pending permanent labor certification applications filed by Pittsburgh-based law firm Cohen & Grigsby PC into department-supervised recruitment.
Supervised recruitment requires the employer to receive advance approval from the labor department for all recruitment efforts to ensure that U.S, workers are fully considered for available positions.
The labor department said in a release that it began auditing applications filed by Cohen & Grigsby last year "as a result of information indicating the firm may have improperly advised its clients regarding the recruitment of U.S. workers." Because of concerns identified in the audits, the labor department said it is requiring supervised recruitment for certain applications filed by Cohen & Grigsby.
Cohen & Grigsby is Pittsburgh's fifth largest law firm. Managing partner Jack Elliott was not immediately available for comment.
Last summer, segments of a video from an immigration law update seminar the firm held in Pittsburgh in May 2007 wound up on YouTube and some cable news shows, triggering politicians to request that the Department of Labor investigate further. In the segment, Cohen & Grigsby lawyers discuss compliance with a law that requires employers to prove they tried to find qualified U.S. workers for a position before applying for green cards for foreign workers. But some comments seem to be about getting around the law rather than complying with it.
At that time, the firm issued a statement that it stood by the "substance" of its seminar but expressed regret at "the choice of words" used during "a small segment" of the seminar. "It is unfortunate that these statements have been commandeered and misused, which runs contrary to our intent," the firm said.
Pittsburgh Business Times
VIDEO: PERM Fake Job Ads defraud Americans to secure green cards
The United States Department of Labor today announced that it has begun placing pending permanent labor certification applications filed by Pittsburgh-based law firm Cohen & Grigsby PC into department-supervised recruitment.
Supervised recruitment requires the employer to receive advance approval from the labor department for all recruitment efforts to ensure that U.S, workers are fully considered for available positions.
The labor department said in a release that it began auditing applications filed by Cohen & Grigsby last year "as a result of information indicating the firm may have improperly advised its clients regarding the recruitment of U.S. workers." Because of concerns identified in the audits, the labor department said it is requiring supervised recruitment for certain applications filed by Cohen & Grigsby.
Cohen & Grigsby is Pittsburgh's fifth largest law firm. Managing partner Jack Elliott was not immediately available for comment.
Last summer, segments of a video from an immigration law update seminar the firm held in Pittsburgh in May 2007 wound up on YouTube and some cable news shows, triggering politicians to request that the Department of Labor investigate further. In the segment, Cohen & Grigsby lawyers discuss compliance with a law that requires employers to prove they tried to find qualified U.S. workers for a position before applying for green cards for foreign workers. But some comments seem to be about getting around the law rather than complying with it.
At that time, the firm issued a statement that it stood by the "substance" of its seminar but expressed regret at "the choice of words" used during "a small segment" of the seminar. "It is unfortunate that these statements have been commandeered and misused, which runs contrary to our intent," the firm said.
June 26, 2008
Law firm probe focus: foreigners' hiring edge
Washington
Law firm probe focus: foreigners' hiring edge
The Associated Press
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 06.25.2008
WASHINGTON — The nation's largest immigration law firm is under federal scrutiny over whether it helped major U.S. corporations disqualify American job applicants and give thousands of high-paying positions to immigrants.
The unprecedented Labor Department inquiry centers on Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy — a New York firm at the forefront of a political effort to ease hiring of skilled foreign workers.
The Labor Department is auditing all pending applications for legal immigrant workers the firm has filed on behalf of its corporate clients.
Fragomen's prestigious client roster includes General Electric Co., IBM Corp., Cisco Systems Inc., Intel Corp. and Bank of America Corp., according to company publications and trade journals. The firm also represents The Associated Press on immigration issues.
The inquiry focuses on the applications filed by the firm, but there was no indication that the inquiry involves any of Fragomen's clients.
The Labor Department said Fragomen may have improperly advised clients to contact a Fragomen attorney before hiring "apparently qualified" U.S. workers. The agency said lawyers can advise employers on how to follow the law in hiring immigrants but can't dissuade them from deciding a U.S. worker is qualified.
The audit focuses on the permanent foreign labor certification process, known as PERM. Companies normally use it to permanently hire legal immigrants who have been working for them on temporary visas. It essentially allows companies to sponsor workers for green cards, the first step to U.S. citizenship.
Before applying, companies must recruit and try to find a qualified U.S. worker for the same job. If they do, they can't hire the foreigner.
Fragomen said its lawyers have complied with the law and rejected the idea that lawyers can't give critical legal advice about the complicated process for permanently hiring legal immigrants.
"We do not tell our clients whom to hire or not to hire," the firm said in a statement, adding that it is negotiating with the Labor Department to end the audit.
It's unclear exactly how many of Fragomen's applications the Labor Department is auditing as a part of the inquiry, but the number is easily in the thousands. With more than 200 attorneys, Fragomen is overwhelmingly the biggest player in an industry where firms with several dozen immigration attorneys are considered large firms.
Fragomen's managing director has said the firm represents about half of the Fortune 100 companies. Last year, Fortune 100 companies submitted more than 5,300 applications. The jobs listed in the applications pay an average of $80,000 per year. And the largest group of applicants was from India.
The Labor Department audit is lending firepower to workers, unions and other groups that for years have said U.S. workers are being replaced with cheaper immigrant labor.
Law firm probe focus: foreigners' hiring edge
The Associated Press
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 06.25.2008
WASHINGTON — The nation's largest immigration law firm is under federal scrutiny over whether it helped major U.S. corporations disqualify American job applicants and give thousands of high-paying positions to immigrants.
The unprecedented Labor Department inquiry centers on Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy — a New York firm at the forefront of a political effort to ease hiring of skilled foreign workers.
The Labor Department is auditing all pending applications for legal immigrant workers the firm has filed on behalf of its corporate clients.
Fragomen's prestigious client roster includes General Electric Co., IBM Corp., Cisco Systems Inc., Intel Corp. and Bank of America Corp., according to company publications and trade journals. The firm also represents The Associated Press on immigration issues.
The inquiry focuses on the applications filed by the firm, but there was no indication that the inquiry involves any of Fragomen's clients.
The Labor Department said Fragomen may have improperly advised clients to contact a Fragomen attorney before hiring "apparently qualified" U.S. workers. The agency said lawyers can advise employers on how to follow the law in hiring immigrants but can't dissuade them from deciding a U.S. worker is qualified.
The audit focuses on the permanent foreign labor certification process, known as PERM. Companies normally use it to permanently hire legal immigrants who have been working for them on temporary visas. It essentially allows companies to sponsor workers for green cards, the first step to U.S. citizenship.
Before applying, companies must recruit and try to find a qualified U.S. worker for the same job. If they do, they can't hire the foreigner.
Fragomen said its lawyers have complied with the law and rejected the idea that lawyers can't give critical legal advice about the complicated process for permanently hiring legal immigrants.
"We do not tell our clients whom to hire or not to hire," the firm said in a statement, adding that it is negotiating with the Labor Department to end the audit.
It's unclear exactly how many of Fragomen's applications the Labor Department is auditing as a part of the inquiry, but the number is easily in the thousands. With more than 200 attorneys, Fragomen is overwhelmingly the biggest player in an industry where firms with several dozen immigration attorneys are considered large firms.
Fragomen's managing director has said the firm represents about half of the Fortune 100 companies. Last year, Fortune 100 companies submitted more than 5,300 applications. The jobs listed in the applications pay an average of $80,000 per year. And the largest group of applicants was from India.
The Labor Department audit is lending firepower to workers, unions and other groups that for years have said U.S. workers are being replaced with cheaper immigrant labor.
June 21, 2008
Lawyers work to end illegal immigration raids
Lawyers work to end illegal immigration raids
12:50 PM CDT on Saturday, June 21, 2008
By MONIKA DIAZ / WFAA-TV
MOUNT PLEASANT - A Dallas lawyer and others around the nation are planning to take on the federal government in court to put a stop to all illegal immigration raids.
The sweeps have led to hundreds of arrests but innocent immigrants, who are being hauled to jail, are the ones driving this lawsuit.
When the illegal immigration sweeps at Pilgrim's Pride rolled through Mount Pleasant back in April, Jesus and Olivia Garcia were home, sitting on the couch in their living room.
"We were just watching TV and just heard a knock on the door and they were asking for my husband," Olivia Garcia said.
Federal immigration agents stopped by the couple's home, looking for John Jesus Garcia.
"They said they were looking for him because he was using somebody else's social security," his wife added.
Garcia, a former Pilgrim's Pride employee, handed over his social security, green card and Texas driver's license.
The couple repeatedly told authorities, they came to the wrong house.
"I told them, it wasn't me and I showed them my papers and told them to check them," John Garcia said.
Minutes later, Garcia ended up in handcuffs, a moment captured on camera.
A newspaper covering the raids posted a picture of the father of five, as agents walked him out of his home.
"I was angry because they took my husband. They took him and they came to my house," said Olivia Garcia.
They never thought they would be caught in this crackdown against illegal immigration because Garcia is a permanent legal resident.
His wife is a U.S. citizen.
Immigration lawyer, Domingo Garcia, calls it a case of mistaken identity and he says it's not the first.
He has already received three other similar cases that include legal residents and a U.S. citizen.
"They had their drivers license, voter registration card, another had his legal residency card, social security card and yet they were taken in and detained, split from their families, and we don't know how many more are out there," Domingo Garcia said.
Garcia and other attorneys across the nation are working together, collecting cases from innocent immigrants wrongfully detained.
They plan to file a lawsuit later this month against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the federal government, accusing them of racial profiling.
The goal: stop all future raids.
ICE and the U.S. Attorney's office in the North Texas region did not want to comment on the expected lawsuit and denied our repeated requests for an on camera interview on standard procedures for raids on undocumented workers and identity theft.
But their supporters believe the lawsuit sends the wrong message.
They say federal officials do their best to pick up the right people while fighting illegal immigration and identity theft.
"As long as we have people willing to flaunt the law, then the possibility of an innocent person having to endure wrongful arrest will always be there," said Jean Towell, president of the Citizens for Immigration Reform Dallas.
But for the Garcias, it has never been the same, since that day back in April.
Their sense of freedom has been shattered.
"I still think about it. I feel scared and sometimes, I'm nervous. It was traumatic. Even though, I didn't do anything wrong, the incident left a scar," said John Garcia.
E-mail mdiaz@wfaa.com.
http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa080621_lj_diaz.25d7da7e.html
12:50 PM CDT on Saturday, June 21, 2008
By MONIKA DIAZ / WFAA-TV
MOUNT PLEASANT - A Dallas lawyer and others around the nation are planning to take on the federal government in court to put a stop to all illegal immigration raids.
The sweeps have led to hundreds of arrests but innocent immigrants, who are being hauled to jail, are the ones driving this lawsuit.
When the illegal immigration sweeps at Pilgrim's Pride rolled through Mount Pleasant back in April, Jesus and Olivia Garcia were home, sitting on the couch in their living room.
"We were just watching TV and just heard a knock on the door and they were asking for my husband," Olivia Garcia said.
Federal immigration agents stopped by the couple's home, looking for John Jesus Garcia.
"They said they were looking for him because he was using somebody else's social security," his wife added.
Garcia, a former Pilgrim's Pride employee, handed over his social security, green card and Texas driver's license.
The couple repeatedly told authorities, they came to the wrong house.
"I told them, it wasn't me and I showed them my papers and told them to check them," John Garcia said.
Minutes later, Garcia ended up in handcuffs, a moment captured on camera.
A newspaper covering the raids posted a picture of the father of five, as agents walked him out of his home.
"I was angry because they took my husband. They took him and they came to my house," said Olivia Garcia.
They never thought they would be caught in this crackdown against illegal immigration because Garcia is a permanent legal resident.
His wife is a U.S. citizen.
Immigration lawyer, Domingo Garcia, calls it a case of mistaken identity and he says it's not the first.
He has already received three other similar cases that include legal residents and a U.S. citizen.
"They had their drivers license, voter registration card, another had his legal residency card, social security card and yet they were taken in and detained, split from their families, and we don't know how many more are out there," Domingo Garcia said.
Garcia and other attorneys across the nation are working together, collecting cases from innocent immigrants wrongfully detained.
They plan to file a lawsuit later this month against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the federal government, accusing them of racial profiling.
The goal: stop all future raids.
ICE and the U.S. Attorney's office in the North Texas region did not want to comment on the expected lawsuit and denied our repeated requests for an on camera interview on standard procedures for raids on undocumented workers and identity theft.
But their supporters believe the lawsuit sends the wrong message.
They say federal officials do their best to pick up the right people while fighting illegal immigration and identity theft.
"As long as we have people willing to flaunt the law, then the possibility of an innocent person having to endure wrongful arrest will always be there," said Jean Towell, president of the Citizens for Immigration Reform Dallas.
But for the Garcias, it has never been the same, since that day back in April.
Their sense of freedom has been shattered.
"I still think about it. I feel scared and sometimes, I'm nervous. It was traumatic. Even though, I didn't do anything wrong, the incident left a scar," said John Garcia.
E-mail mdiaz@wfaa.com.
http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa080621_lj_diaz.25d7da7e.html
May 30, 2008
Immigrants not taking our jobs
Immigrants not taking our jobs
Saturday, May 31, 2008
After receiving a variety of responses to my last article on common immigration misconceptions, I have decided to present one more. This time I will focus on business-related immigration.
Misconception: Immigrants are taking American jobs.
Just to clarify, this is not addressing employers who hire someone who they know is not authorized to work in the first place.
A great deal could be written about this topic, so I will focus on one of the more popular types of temporary work visas, the H-1B. Temporary work visas come in all letters of the alphabet. Some allow for an application for residency after a certain number of years and others do not. Under an H-1B, one can usually work for up to six years and then an application for permanent residency is often an option. After five years as a permanent resident, one can apply for citizenship.
So, why don't immigrants take American jobs? Well, consider the following: Under an H-1B visa, an American employer, large or small, can sponsor a foreign worker. Depending on the type of job, that employee must have a minimum of a bachelor's degree or have several years of qualifying experience. Many times the employee has a master's degree or higher. Doctors, engineers, educators, researchers and other professionals typically use an H-1B visa.
The sponsorship process is costly and very lengthy. First, the employer usually finds a foreign worker that they want to employ. Second, to sponsor an employee, the employer must prove to the Department of Labor that they will pay the employee more than the typical wage for that specific job in that area or more than the actual wage for their other employees. Third, and importantly, they must certify that they are not hiring anyone as a replacement for an American worker, such as someone on strike. Fourth, after approval from the Department of Labor to hire a foreign worker, the employer must post the labor condition agreement from the Department of Labor at the job site or present it to the union, if one exists. Finally, if there are no objections, the employer can then attempt to sponsor the employee.
Wait! It does not stop there!
Congress currently only allows 65,000 H-1B visas per year and it is first come, first served. In fact, the first day an employer can apply for an H-1B visa each year is April 1 with the employee not being able to start until six months later. The past five years, the annual cap was reached on April 1. In fact, this year there were over 160,000 applications filed on that day for the 65,000 slots. If approved, these employees cannot start working until Aug. 1. Since so many applications are received, they are put into a lottery and "winners" are chosen. The losing employers get the message "try again next year."
This is just one of the many types of employment-based visas available and each type has differing requirements. However, the H-1B example paints a pretty clear picture that under our current immigration system, it is not easy for a company to legally hire a foreign worker.
The process is complicated, difficult, and costly and happens only when there are no workers in the United States to fill the post. The economic impetus to "steal" jobs from Americans just does not exist.
Michelle Richart is an attorney with Badmus Immigration Law Firm, with offices in Abilene. You can contact Michelle at MRichart@badmuslaw(dot)com.
http://www.reporternews.com/news/2008/may/31/immigrants-not-taking-our-jobs/
Saturday, May 31, 2008
After receiving a variety of responses to my last article on common immigration misconceptions, I have decided to present one more. This time I will focus on business-related immigration.
Misconception: Immigrants are taking American jobs.
Just to clarify, this is not addressing employers who hire someone who they know is not authorized to work in the first place.
A great deal could be written about this topic, so I will focus on one of the more popular types of temporary work visas, the H-1B. Temporary work visas come in all letters of the alphabet. Some allow for an application for residency after a certain number of years and others do not. Under an H-1B, one can usually work for up to six years and then an application for permanent residency is often an option. After five years as a permanent resident, one can apply for citizenship.
So, why don't immigrants take American jobs? Well, consider the following: Under an H-1B visa, an American employer, large or small, can sponsor a foreign worker. Depending on the type of job, that employee must have a minimum of a bachelor's degree or have several years of qualifying experience. Many times the employee has a master's degree or higher. Doctors, engineers, educators, researchers and other professionals typically use an H-1B visa.
The sponsorship process is costly and very lengthy. First, the employer usually finds a foreign worker that they want to employ. Second, to sponsor an employee, the employer must prove to the Department of Labor that they will pay the employee more than the typical wage for that specific job in that area or more than the actual wage for their other employees. Third, and importantly, they must certify that they are not hiring anyone as a replacement for an American worker, such as someone on strike. Fourth, after approval from the Department of Labor to hire a foreign worker, the employer must post the labor condition agreement from the Department of Labor at the job site or present it to the union, if one exists. Finally, if there are no objections, the employer can then attempt to sponsor the employee.
Wait! It does not stop there!
Congress currently only allows 65,000 H-1B visas per year and it is first come, first served. In fact, the first day an employer can apply for an H-1B visa each year is April 1 with the employee not being able to start until six months later. The past five years, the annual cap was reached on April 1. In fact, this year there were over 160,000 applications filed on that day for the 65,000 slots. If approved, these employees cannot start working until Aug. 1. Since so many applications are received, they are put into a lottery and "winners" are chosen. The losing employers get the message "try again next year."
This is just one of the many types of employment-based visas available and each type has differing requirements. However, the H-1B example paints a pretty clear picture that under our current immigration system, it is not easy for a company to legally hire a foreign worker.
The process is complicated, difficult, and costly and happens only when there are no workers in the United States to fill the post. The economic impetus to "steal" jobs from Americans just does not exist.
Michelle Richart is an attorney with Badmus Immigration Law Firm, with offices in Abilene. You can contact Michelle at MRichart@badmuslaw(dot)com.
http://www.reporternews.com/news/2008/may/31/immigrants-not-taking-our-jobs/
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