Introduction

We recognize that our immigration system is broken.  And while border security has improved
significantly over  the last two Administrations, we still don’t have a functioning immigration
system. This has created a situation where up to 11 million undocumented immigrants are living
in the shadows.  Our legislation acknowledges these realities by finally committing the resources
needed to secure the  border, modernize and streamline our current legal immigration system,
while creating a tough but fair legalization program for individuals who are currently here. We
will ensure that this is a successful permanent reform to our immigration system that will not
need to be revisited.

Four Basic Legislative Pillars:

* Create a tough but fair path to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants currently living in the United States that is  contingent upon securing our borders and tracking whether legal immigrants have left the country when required;

* Reform our legal immigration system to  better  recognize the importance of characteristics that will help build the American  economy and strengthen American families;

* Create an effective employment verification system that will prevent identity theft and end the hiring of future unauthorized workers; and,

* Establish an improved process for admitting future workers to serve our nation’s workforce needs, while simultaneously protecting all workers.

I.   Creating a Path to Citizenship for Unauthorized Immigrants Already Here that is Contingent Upon Securing the Border and Combating Visa Overstays

* Our legislation will provide a tough, fair, and practical roadmap  to address the status of
unauthorized immigrants in the United States that is contingent upon our success in securing
our borders and addressing visa overstays.

* To fulfill the basic governmental function of securing our borders, we will continue the
increased efforts  of  the Border Patrol  by providing them  with the latest technology,
infrastructure, and personnel needed to prevent, detect, and apprehend every  unauthorized
entrant.

* Additionally, our legislation will increase the number of unmanned aerial vehicles and
surveillance equipment, improve radio interoperability and increase the number of agents at
and between ports of entry.  The purpose is to substantially lower the number of successful
illegal border crossings while continuing to facilitate commerce.

* We will strengthen prohibitions against racial profiling and inappropriate use of force,
enhance the training of border patrol agents, increase oversight, and create a mechanism to
ensure a meaningful opportunity for border communities to share input, including critiques.

* Our legislation will require the completion of an entry-exit system that tracks whether all
persons entering the United States on temporary visas via airports and seaports have left the
country as required by law.

* We recognize that Americans living along the Southwest border are key to recognizing and
understanding when the border is truly secure.   Our legislation  will create a commission
comprised of  governors, attorneys general, and community leaders living along the
Southwest border to monitor the progress  of securing our border  and  to  make a
recommendation regarding when the bill’s security measures outlined in the legislation  are
completed.

* While these security measures are being put into place, we will simultaneously require those
who came  or remained  in the United States  without our permission to register with the
government.   This will include passing a background check and settling their debt to society
by paying a fine and back taxes, in order to earn probationary legal status, which will allow
them to live and work legally in the United States.  Individuals with a serious criminal
background or others who pose a threat to our national security will be ineligible for legal
status  and subject to deportation.  Illegal immigrants who have committed serious crimes
face immediate deportation.

* We will demonstrate our commitment to securing our borders and combating visa overstays
by requiring  our proposed enforcement measures  be complete  before  any immigrant  on
probationary status can earn a green card

* Current restrictions preventing non-immigrants from accessing federal public benefits will
also apply to lawful probationary immigrants.

* Once the enforcement measures have been completed, individuals with probationary legal
status will  be required to go to the back of the line of prospective immigrants, pass  an
additional background check, pay taxes, learn English and  civics, demonstrate a history of
work in the United States, and  current employment, among other requirements, in order to
earn the opportunity to apply for lawful permanent residency.  Those individuals who
successfully complete these requirements can eventually earn a green card.

* Individuals who are present without lawful status  – not including people within the two
categories identified below – will only receive a green card after every individual who is
already waiting in line for a green card, at the time this legislation is enacted, has received
their green card. Our purpose is to ensure that no one who has violated America’s
immigration laws will receive preferential treatment as they relate to those individuals who
have complied with the law.

* Our legislation also recognizes that the circumstances and  the  conduct of  people without
lawful status are not the same, and cannot be addressed identically.

* For instance, individuals who entered the United States as minor children did not knowingly choose to violate any immigration laws.  Consequently,  under our proposal  these individuals will not face the same requirements as other individuals in order to earn a path to citizenship.

* Similarly, individuals who have been working without legal status in the United States agricultural industry have been performing very important and difficult work to maintain America’s food supply while earning subsistence wages.   Due to the utmost importance in our nation maintaining the safety of its food supply, agricultural workers who commit to the long term stability of our nation’s agricultural industries will be treated differently than the rest of the
undocumented population because of the role they play in ensuring that Americans have safe and secure agricultural products to sell and consume. These individuals will  earn a path to citizenship through a different process under our new agricultural worker program.

II. Improving our Legal Immigration System and Attracting the World’s Best and Brightest

* The development of  a rational legal immigration system is essential to ensuring America’s
future economic prosperity.  Our failure to act is perpetuating a broken system which sadly
discourages the world’s best and brightest  citizens  from coming  to the United States  and
remaining in our country to contribute to our economy.  This failure makes a legal path to
entry in the United States insurmountably difficult for well-meaning immigrants.  This
unarguably discourages innovation and economic growth.   It has also created substantial visa
backlogs which force families to live apart, which incentivizes illegal immigration.

* Our  new immigration system  must  be more focused on  recognizing the important
characteristics  which will help build the American economy and strengthen American
families.    Additionally, we must reduce backlogs in the family and employment visa
categories so that future immigrants view our future legal immigration system as the
exclusive means for entry into the United States.

* The United States must do a better job of attracting  and keeping  the world’s best and
brightest.  As such,  our immigration  proposal will award a green card to immigrants who
have received a PhD or Master’s degree in science, technology, engineering, or math from an
American university.  It makes no sense to educate the world’s future innovators and
entrepreneurs only to ultimately force them to leave our country at the moment they are most
able to contribute to our economy.     4

III. Strong Employment Verification

* We recognize that undocumented immigrants come to the United States almost exclusively
for jobs.  As such, dramatically reducing future illegal immigration can only be achieved by
developing a tough, fair, effective  and mandatory  employment verification system.  An
employment verification system must hold employers accountable for knowingly hiring
undocumented workers and make it more difficult for  unauthorized immigrants to falsify
documents to obtain employment.  Employers who knowingly hire unauthorized workers
must face stiff fines and criminal penalties for egregious offenses.

* We believe  the federal government must provide U.S. employers with a fast and reliable
method to confirm whether new hires are legally authorized to work in the United States.
This is essential to ensure the effective enforcement of immigration laws.

* Our proposal will create an effective employment verification system which prevents identity
theft and ends the hiring of future unauthorized workers.  We believe requiring prospective
workers  to  demonstrate both legal status and identity, through non-forgeable electronic
means prior to obtaining employment, is essential to an employee verification system; and,

* The employee verification system in our proposal will be crafted with procedural safeguards
to protect American workers, prevent identity theft, and provide due process protections.

IV. Admitting New Workers and Protecting Workers’ Rights

* The overwhelming majority of the 327,000 illegal entrants apprehended by CBP in FY2011
were seeking employment in the United States.  We recognize that to prevent future waves of
illegal immigration a humane and effective system needs to be created for these immigrant
workers to enter the country and find employment without seeking the aid of human
traffickers or drug cartels.

* Our proposal will provide businesses with the ability to hire lower-skilled workers in a timely
manner when Americans are unavailable or unwilling to fill those jobs.

* Our legislation would:

* Allow employers to hire immigrants if  it can  be demonstrated that  they were unsuccessful in recruiting an American to fill an open position and the hiring of an immigrant will not displace American workers;

* Create a workable program to meet to meet the needs of America’s agricultural industry,
including dairy to find agricultural workers when American workers are not available to fill open positions;

* Allow more lower-skilled immigrants to come here when our economy is creating jobs, and fewer when our economy is not creating jobs;5

* Protect workers by ensuring strong labor protections; and,

* Permit workers who have succeeded in the workplace and  contributed to their communities over many years to earn green cards

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report on November 29, 2012 detailing the shortcomings of the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) complaint processes and recommended improvements.

In testimony before the Subcommittee on Aviation, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives, Stephen M. Lord, Director of Homeland Security and Justice Issues for the GAO, outlined the findings of the November report assessing the TSA’s efforts to improve the collection and analysis of the thousands of customer complaints the agency receives each year.

The first of the report’s four key findings concerned the receiving and analysis of complaints. While the TSA has various mechanisms for receiving customer complaints, the report found that the TSA lacks an agency-wide policy and consistent processes for receiving and mining complaints for data to inform management about their nature and extent. Airport-level TSA staff have discretion in how they implement processes to receive and record complaints.

The GAO recommended the TSA establish an agency-wide policy for receiving and reporting complaints and implement a process to compile and analyze complaints received via all complaint mechanisms. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) responded by saying it concurred with the GAO’s recommendations.

Next, the GAO report found that the TSA has several methods of informing travelers of the various ways in which they may submit feedback and issue complaints, but lacks an agency-wide policy to ensure the consistent use of these methods at airports. For example, the agency has developed comment cards and related signage for display at security checkpoints informing customers of feedback and complaint methods, but only two of the six airports visited by GAO officials openly displayed the comment cards. Another two had them available upon request, and the last two had no comment cards available. The GAO recommended that the TSA establish a consistent policy for informing travelers about complaint processes and establish methods for identifying best practices in this regard among airport-level staff. The DHS concurred with the recommendations.

The third key finding was that processes established by the TSA for the resolution of complaints do not conform to independence standards developed to ensure fairness and impartiality.

“Specifically,” the report says, “TSA airport officials responsible for resolving air passenger complaints are generally in the same chain of command as TSA airport staff who are the subjects of the complaints.”

Although the TSA has an Ombudsman Division, it is tasked primarily with handling internal personnel matters, not complaints from air passengers. According to the report, the TSA is in the process of developing and implementing a process by which air passenger complaints are referred directly to the Ombudsman Division.

Finally, the report covered the TSA’s recent efforts to focus its screening resources on high-risk passengers and “improve the passenger experience” at security checkpoints with its Pre?TM program. Pre?TM is an expedited screening process whereby pre-vetted trusted travelers can enjoy a streamlined pre-flight screening process. The TSA introduced the program in 2012 and is rapidly expanding it to additional airports nationwide. In 2013, the GAO will assess the TSA’s progress in implementing the Pre?TM program.

Stewart Rabinowitz is President of Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, P.C. Mr. Rabinowitz is Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. To contact a Dallas immigration lawyer or Dallas immigration attorney visit Rabinowitzrabinowitz.com

Business owners must balance carefully verifying new hires’ work eligibility with improperly terminating or disqualifying individuals who are work eligible, in compliance with federal law. A North Carolina company learned this lesson the hard way. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on November 29, 2012 that it had reached a settlement with Salisbury, N.C.-based Gamewell Mechanical Inc. resolving claims of discrimination in the termination of three of the company’s employees.

Gamewell, a subsidiary of Woodfin Heating, Inc. which fabricates and installs heating and air conditioning systems, fired the employees after incorrectly assuming that they were undocumented foreign nationals. The three were actually U.S. citizens.

Managers at Gamewell were acting on information that six of its other employees were undocumented foreign nationals. They believed that the three U.S. citizens were likewise unauthorized to work in the U.S. and terminated them. One of the three employees complained and as a result of the DOJ investigation which followed, federal investigators charged the company with violations of the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

The provision prohibits employers from discriminating against any individual in the hiring, or the discharging of the individual from employment because of such individual’s national origin, or in some cases, such individual’s citizenship status.

The terms of the settlement require Gamewell Mechanical to pay the fired workers $10,560 in back pay and pay civil penalties amounting to $9,600 to the U.S. government. The company must also educate its human resources employees on their responsibility to avoid discrimination when verifying the employment eligibility of prospective employees. Gamewell will be subject to reporting and compliance monitoring by the DOJ for a period of 18 months.

“The anti-discrimination provision protects work-authorized individuals from being treated differently in employment based on discriminatory assumptions about their status, said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. “The Civil Rights Division is fully committed to vigorously enforcing the law.”

Stewart Rabinowitz is President of Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, P.C. Mr. Rabinowitz is Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. To contact a Dallas immigration lawyer or Dallas immigration attorney visit Rabinowitzrabinowitz.com

Under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), all U.S. citizens and residents re-entering the country from Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean or Bermuda, by land or sea, are required to present acceptable identification.

For U.S. citizens age 16 and older, acceptable forms of identification under WHTI include the following: U.S. passports; U.S. passport cards, which are valid for entry into the U.S. by land or sea from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean or Bermuda, but which are not valid for international air travel; enhanced driver’s licenses, currently issued in Michigan, New York, Vermont, and Washington; and Trusted Traveler Program cards (Global Entry, NEXUS, SENTRI, and FAST).

Children under 16 may present an original or copied birth certificate, a naturalization certificate, or a Canadian citizenship card. Lawful permanent residents may present their permanent residence card.

Frequent travelers may already be familiar with CBP’s popular Global Entry program, which continues to expand and was recently launched at Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI).

Under this voluntary program, low-risk international travelers who complete a screening process are permitted, upon arrival in the U.S., to bypass standard CBP inspections. Instead, Global Entry members use automated kiosks for expedited clearance.

“Global Entry has proven to be an extraordinarily successful program that has been welcomed by international travelers and applauded by the travel industry,” said CBP Port Director Ricardo Scheller in a statement.

Nearly half a million individuals have enrolled directly in the Global Entry program. Members of other CBP Trusted Traveler programs, such as NEXUS and SENTRI, can also use Global Entry kiosks, but should first check their status online in the Global Online Enrollment System (GOES).

“Global Entry benefits both Customs and Border Protection and the trusted traveler community in that it allows us to better focus our resources and efforts on travelers and goods that we know less about, while expediting trusted travelers through the arrivals experience,” said Scheller.

Applicants must possess a U.S. passport or permanent resident card, pay a $100 application fee, pass a law enforcement background check, and complete an interview with the CBP.

Stewart Rabinowitz is President of Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, P.C. Mr. Rabinowitz is Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. To contact a Dallas immigration lawyer or Dallas immigration attorney visit Rabinowitzrabinowitz.com

Characteristics analyzed for the report included the admission category, i.e., the purpose of the temporary stay, the foreign national’s citizenship, age, gender, and U.S. state of destination.

Researchers derived the estimates from DHS records of nonimmigrant arrivals and departures for a 12-month period from July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011.

The population size was estimated in three steps. First, researchers used a number of arrival and departure records to estimate the distribution of lengths of all nonimmigrant visits to the U.S. Next, the expected dates of residency were calculated using arrival records and the visit length distributions from the first step. Expected visit dates falling outside the 12-month period were not counted. Finally, the average daily population size was calculated by adding together the days of expected residence for all visits and dividing that number by 365.

The average daily number of nonimmigrant residents during the 12-month period was approximately 1.9 million. The largest admission category was temporary workers, making up 45 percent of the total, and students, at 38 percent. Exchange visitors accounted for 13 percent, and diplomats and other international representatives made up 5 percent.

Just under half of resident nonimmigrants were citizens of Asian nations, led by India (22 percent), China (9 percent), and South Korea (8 percent). North Americans made up 16 percent of visitors, and Europeans amounted to 14 percent.

Nonimmigrants from India and Mexico were more likely to be temporary workers, while those from China and Korea were disproportionately students.

California was the most popular destination state, accounting for 14 percent of the total. Next were New York (12 percent), Texas (8 percent), Florida (5 percent), and New Jersey (5 percent).

Indians were found to be more likely to go to New Jersey (11 percent), Koreans tended to go to California (21 percent), and disproportionately many Canadians resided in New York (17 percent).

One out of three nonimmigrant residents was under the age of 25, 40 percent were 25-34, and 27 percent were over age 35. Just over half were male, at 55 percent. Disproportionately many males came from India, Canada, and Mexico, while less than half of those from China and Korea were male.

Stewart Rabinowitz is President of Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, P.C. Mr. Rabinowitz is Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. To contact a Dallas immigration lawyer or Dallas immigration attorney visit Rabinowitzrabinowitz.com

According to US-VISIT, each time a visitor passes through a U.S. port of entry, biometric data is checked against a database of 6.4 million known or suspected criminals, terrorists or immigration violators as identified either by U.S. officials or by Interpol. The OIG review has identified problems with the system.

The OIG review uncovered 825,000 instances where one set of fingerprints was associated with more than one set of biographic information. The incorrect information included misspelled names and transposed birth dates as well as completely different names and birth dates. Some of these cases may involve mistakes made at the data collection point, but in other cases, the person involved may have supplied a false name or birth date. Many of these individuals may be attempting to overstay their immigrant or visitor visas. US-VISIT supplies information to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in order to apprehend these individuals.

The OIG report acknowledged that the 825,000 data discrepancies – relating to about 375,000 individuals – represent 0.2 percent of the total, but maintained that the total number – hundreds of thousands of discrepancies – made the data significant.

According to the report, most of the discrepancies in biometric data can be accounted for by data entry errors. There were significant examples of individuals supplying false information, such as different names and dates of birth, in an attempt to enter the United States. Many of these individuals attempted to enter the U.S. multiple times using different identities. In one case, the same biometric data was connected to nine different names and birth dates over the course of ten different attempts to enter the U.S.

The OIG recommended that the Director of US-VISIT review cases of data inconsistency and provide information about individuals using false biographic data to law enforcement.

Stewart Rabinowitz is President of Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, P.C. Mr. Rabinowitz is Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. To contact a Dallas immigration lawyer or Dallas immigration attorney visit Rabinowitzrabinowitz.com

The main DHS agencies responsible for immigration enforcement are Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which deals with enforcement in or between ports of entry, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is responsible for interior enforcement.

Key findings of the OIS report include the following:

During 2011, CBP identified 212,000 foreign nationals who were inadmissible to enter the United States.

A total of 642,000 foreign nationals were apprehended by DHS in 2011. Of these, 76 percent were natives of Mexico.

ICE reached an all-time high in apprehending foreign nationals in 2011, with a total of 429,000.

A total of 329,000 foreign nationals were sent back to their home countries by DHS without a removal order.

A total of 392,000 foreign nationals were returned to their home countries by DHS. For those removed, the leading country of origin was Mexico, followed by Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

Thirty-three percent, or 130,000, of all removal orders were accounted for by reinstatements of final orders.

Thirty-one percent, or 123,000, of all removals were accounted for by expedited removals.

ICE reached an all-time high for removal of known criminal aliens, having removed 188,000 in 2011.

There are three dispositions that are the most common for undocumented immigrants found within the United States: returns, expedited removals and reinstatements of final orders.

In the case of returns, a foreign national who may be inadmissible is offered the opportunity to return to his or her home country, while avoiding formal removal proceedings. This often occurs with non-criminal undocumented immigrants who are apprehended at the border. The undocumented person in such a case admits to an illegal entry and waives the right to a hearing.

In the case of expedited removal, DHS officials may order such proceedings if an undocumented immigrant is inadmissible due to lack of documentation or misrepresentation. These immigrants do not generally appear before a judge, but do have the opportunity to seek asylum or claim legal status.

Finally, for undocumented immigrants previously removed from the United States, DHS may reinstate a final removal order, without any hearing or further review of the case.

Stewart Rabinowitz is President of Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, P.C. Mr. Rabinowitz is Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. To contact a Dallas immigration lawyer or Dallas immigration attorney visit Rabinowitzrabinowitz.com

Although legislators in 46 states and the District of Columbia introduced 948 bills and resolutions addressing immigrants or refugees in the first six months of 2012, this is actually a significant decrease from the same period in 2011, during which 1,592 such measures were introduced.

The decrease was likely due in part to the then-uncertain status of Arizona’s strict immigration law. Known as SB1070, the law was signed by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer in 2010 and faced immediate widespread protest and a legal challenge by the U.S. Justice Department. However, the law also served as a model for similar legislation in other states. In 2011, five states passed immigration laws similar to those in Arizona.

In June of 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Arizona v. United States invalidated key parts of the law, leaving only the provision that law enforcement officers may inquire about the immigration status of persons detained during a lawful stop. Legal challenges are still pending against immigration laws in Alabama, South Carolina and Utah on issues not decided in Arizona v. United States.

Of the 948 measures introduced from January to June 2012, state legislatures passed 114 bills into law and adopted 92 resolutions, a decrease of 20 percent from the same period in 2011.

State legislation related to immigration varied widely in scope and purpose. The most common focus of legislation was law enforcement and identification or driver’s licenses, accounting for 18 percent and 11 percent, respectively, of the total. States enacted immigration-related laws which focused on firearms, drug trafficking and domestic violence, as well as legislation which addressed eligibility requirements for state-issued identification documents.

Budget-related immigration laws were the second most common type of state legislation, making up approximately one-quarter of the total. States passed laws to fund English as a Second Language Programs, refugee programs and naturalization.

Six states also passed laws to address employers’ use of the federal E-Verify system, which allows companies to check the immigration status of employees. E-Verify is voluntary for most employers, but states may mandate that it be used.

Omnibus immigration laws such as the one enacted in Arizona saw a marked decline in the first half of 2012, as states awaited the ruling in Arizona v. United States.

Stewart Rabinowitz is President of Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, P.C. Mr. Rabinowitz is Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. To contact a Dallas immigration lawyer or Dallas immigration attorney visit Rabinowitzrabinowitz.com

The Audit Division of the Inspector General’s Office examined funding received under the Southwest Border Prosecution Initiative (SWBPI). The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) disburses funds under the initiative to reimburse local governments for prosecution costs associated with criminal cases near the Mexican border. Many drug trafficking and other criminal cases along the border are initiated by federal law enforcement agencies, but they are then referred to state or county authorities because they do not meet federal prosecution guidelines.

Since SWBPI was established in 2002, local jurisdictions have been able to apply for reimbursement of costs associated with prosecution and/or pre-trial detention in cases that are declined by a U.S. Attorney’s Office. In 2012, Congress appropriated $10 million for reimbursements under the program.

In the second half of 2008, Doña Ana County was awarded $651,386 from SWBPI. For 2009 and 2010, the county requested $1,685,302, which has been approved but not yet reimbursed.

The DOJ’s audit found several instances in which the county requested funds and was reimbursed for cases that did not meet SWBPI guidelines.

The largest discrepancy was in the case of pre-trial detention. The county received excess funds of $125,987 in 15 cases for which the number of pre-trial detention days claimed was greater than the actual number.

In 28 other instances, the county received excess funds for cases that were submitted for reimbursement for pre-trial detention costs but did not meet the guidelines. These cases represented excess funding of $61,570.

Additional improper reimbursements included claiming per diem rates in excess of the guidelines of the program and claiming funds for a case that was a probation violation rather than a federal case.

SWBPI has provided funding to dozens of state and county governments in California, Arizona
, New Mexico and Texas. In addition to the Doña Ana County audit, DOJ performed an audit of the New Mexico Department of Public Safety, in which improper reimbursements were also found.

In 2008, the Inspector General’s Office performed an audit of the SWBPI program itself and determined that the OJP was not adequately administering the program. At that time, OJP did not require supporting documentation of reimbursement requests and had no procedures to review applications for accuracy or monitor cases to ensure that they met eligibility guidelines.

Stewart Rabinowitz is President of Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, P.C. Mr. Rabinowitz is Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. To contact a Dallas immigration lawyer or Dallas immigration attorney visit Rabinowitzrabinowitz.com

According to the report, 159 million nonimmigrants were admitted to the United States in fiscal year 2011. This includes I-94 admissions and two other categories of visitors who are exempt from I-94 requirements: business travelers and tourists from Canada and individuals from Mexico who possess Border Crossing Cards. I-94 admissions were 33 percent of the total, or about 53.1 million nonimmigrants.

Of the I-94 admissions, the top countries of origin were Mexico, Japan and the United Kingdom, with Germany, Canada, France and Brazil also accounting for large numbers of visitors. Temporary visitors for business or pleasure made of the vast majority of I-94 admissions, at 87 percent of the total. Temporary workers made up 6.4 percent, while students accounted for 3.4 percent.

Not surprisingly, the summer months saw the largest number of I-94 admissions, with more than 5 million visitors in each of the vacation months of July and August. The month of December also saw more than 5 million I-94 admissions. Approximately 40.6 million temporary visitors were visiting for pleasure, compared to 5.7 million business travelers.

The report states that of the approximately 2 million temporary workers and trainees admitted in 2011, about 900,000 were professional workers admitted under the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Another nearly 500,000 admissions were from workers in specialty occupations.

Approximately 1.8 million students were admitted, with nearly all of them being academic students. A much smaller number of vocational students and families of students were admitted.

An additional category of I-94 admissions is accounted for by diplomats and representatives of foreign governments or nonprofit organizations and their families. This group made up 377,830 of the I-94 admissions in 2011.

The DHS report also examined the mode of travel employed by nonimmigrant visitors, categorizing them by land and non-land admissions. Non-land admissions totaled 33.9 million, while land admissions accounted for 19.2 million. Visitors from Mexico and Canada accounted for the vast majority of visitors who arrived by land.

Stewart Rabinowitz is President of Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, P.C. Mr. Rabinowitz is Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. To contact a Dallas immigration lawyer or Dallas immigration attorney visit Rabinowitzrabinowitz.com

The OIS report addresses “green card” recipients who are persons granted lawful permanent resident status and have the unrestricted right to live and work in the U.S. The LPR data were collected from administrative records of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and are categorized by the residents’ countries of origin, the states they reside in, the years they obtained LPR status and whether such persons are eligible to become naturalized citizens.

The report estimates that a total of 13.1 million LPRs were living in the United States at the beginning of 2011. Fifty-nine percent of the total obtained LPR status between 2000 and 2010. OIS estimated that approximately 8.5 million LPRs were eligible to be naturalized.

The OIS issues reports such as this one to assist the government in assessing the effect of immigration on the country. The numbers are estimates because sources such as the U.S. Census do not count subcategories of non-citizens, such as LPRs, unauthorized immigrants, students and temporary workers.

Between 2010 and 2011, the total LPR population is estimated to have increased by 3.3 percent, while the LPR population eligible to become naturalized citizens increased by 5.7 percent. The increase in the LPR population overall is slow because, although the number of LPRs increase, this is offset by LPRs who become naturalized citizens.

The report also organizes data according to the year that LPR status was achieved. The years 2005 to 2010 account for 43 percent of the total, with 37 percent between 1990 and 2004, and the remaining 20 percent of LPRs having obtained that status before 1990.

The OIS categorizes LPRs by country of birth. Mexico is the leading source of LPRs, accounting for 3.3 million, or 25 percent of the total. The next leading countries of origin were China and the Philippines, which each accounted for 0.6 million LPRs. India and the Dominican Republic were each the countries of origin for 0.5 million LPRs.

The report also provides data regarding the state of residence of LPRs at the time that LPR status was obtained. The leader is California, with 3.4 million LPRs, or 25.9 percent of the total. New York, Texas and Florida were each estimated to have more than 1 million LPRs.

Stewart Rabinowitz is President of Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, P.C. Mr. Rabinowitz is Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. To contact a Dallas immigration lawyer or Dallas immigration attorney visit Rabinowitzrabinowitz.com

Visa unavailability represents a complete exhaustion of visa numbers for the affected countries in the EB-2 category for the current fiscal year. According to the Department of State, there has been high demand for numbers by applicants with priority dates earlier than the August 15, 2007. The Department explained that the demand is primarily based on cases which had originally been filed with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) for adjustment of status in the EB-3 category, and are now eligible to be upgraded to EB-2 status. It opined that the potential amount of “upgrade” demand is not currently being reported. Many applicants worldwide in the EB-3 category desire to alleviate their frustration with visa availability delays. Current EB-3 visa wait times can exceed a decade and by obtaining a new labor certification and an approved EB-2 visa petition based on a job offer that requires a masters degree or its equivalent, the applicant can reduce his or her wait by several years.

According to the Department, it was evident that the continued availability of EB-2 numbers for countries other than PRC and India was being jeopardized for the balance of fiscal year 2012 by such high demand, and Department took the necessary step of making the EB-2 numbers for PRC and India “Unavailable” in early April, 2012 for the remainder of FY-2012.

With the start of fiscal year 2013 in October, 2012, EB-2 visa numbers will again be available for PRC and India within the new fiscal year’s annual numerical limitations. The Department reports that it will try to return EB-2 availability for PRC and India to a cut-off date of May 1, 2010, a date which had been reached in April, 2012.
The Department also reports that based on the current rate of demand, it may be need establish an EB-2 cut-off date for all countries other than PRC and India.
Finally, as a measure of the strength of demand in the EB-1 Priority Worker category, the Department advises that in the next few months, EB-1s, presently current worldwide, may also face a cut-off date to limit use within the annual, statutory EB-1 visa allotment.

Stewart Rabinowitz is President of Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, P.C. Mr. Rabinowitz is Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. To contact a Dallas immigration lawyer or Dallas immigration attorney visit Rabinowitzrabinowitz.com

With a desire for increased understanding in the Western Hemisphere and closer people-to-people ties, the White House said that it hopes that the program will help participating governments through these exchanges work together to address common challenges including citizen security, economic opportunity, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability.

The foundation for the academic and research exchanges will be to develop new and existing relationships between institutions of higher education in the United States and in the Americas. Participating institutions will include universities, community colleges, and states. EducationUSA, a U.S. government-supported network of more than 100 advising centers located around the region, will play a leading role in making connections between U.S. institutions of higher learning and students throughout the hemisphere.

The U.S. government is partnering with other governments throughout the Caribbean and Latin America to make scholarships available to students who want to study abroad. Qualified students can gain access to advising and placement services, as well as timely access to information about opportunities for education in the United States and such crucial matters as visas.

The Administration welcomes and expects participation of the private sector. Donations from organizations, businesses and individuals can expand the reach of existing programs or create new avenues for educational opportunities that complement the goals of donors. The U.S. government works in concert with programs such as Gilman, Fulbright and the Global Undergraduate Exchange, to allow the private sector to help increase the number of exchange students or enhance their opportunities.

Brazil has emerged as a key partner in the exchange initiative. During summer 2012, the Department of Commerce and EducationUSA will be sponsoring an Education Mission to Brazil, with the goal of connecting approximately 60 U.S. institutions of higher learning with prospective students and university partners in Brazil.

In addition, Brazil’s President Rousseff has championed that country’s Science Without Borders campaign which aims to fund more than 100,000 Brazilian scholars and university students in the fields of mathematics and science to conduct research and study abroad over a four year period. The government will fund 75,000 students, with the private sector funding the rest. More than half of the students are expected to conduct their studies in the United States, contributing greatly to the goals of President Obama’s 100,000 Strong program.

Stewart Rabinowitz is President of Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, P.C. Mr. Rabinowitz is Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. To contact a Dallas immigration lawyer or Dallas immigration attorney visit Rabinowitzrabinowitz.com

The TPS designation for the Syian Arab Republic (Syria) was announced by Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, and will remain in effect through September 30, 2013. The designation ends the removal of Syrian nationals from the United States, and makes such persons eligible to apply for employment authorization. There is a 180-day registration period which ends on September 25, 2012.

Syrian nationals wishing to apply for Temporary Protected Status must meet certain eligibility requirements, including demonstrating that they have been continually present and resided in the United States since March 29, 2012. In addition, they must pass a thorough background check. Individuals who pose a threat to national security or who have a criminal background will not be eligible for TPS.

Since the beginning of of 2011, Syria has been wracked by widespread social protest and an often violent crackdown by security forces. The conflict is part of the larger Arab Spring movement, in which multiple Middle Eastern countries have experienced social and political revolutions, with varying degrees of effectiveness, some violent, some less so. In Syria, according to the United Nations, approximately 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict, and tens of thousands have been injured. More than 130,000 Syrian nationals have fled to neighboring countries to escape the violence.

The fighting has been most prominent in Homs, the third-largest city in Syria. Homs emerged as the center of the uprising, and government forces bombarded the city for months, leading to loss of life and destroyed buildings, before U.N. observers moved in.

The head of a U.N. observer mission in Syria has called on President Bashar Assad and the country’s rebels to observe a cease-fire. Major General Robert Mood, a Norwegian, faced an uphill battle, as skirmishes continued to break out throughout the country, and many observers feared the worst: civil war.

As the turmoil in their home country continues, Syrian nationals in the United States will be eligible for TPS granting Syrians in the U.S. With a safe haven for now. There are seven other countries currently designated for TPS: El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan.

Stewart Rabinowitz is President of Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, P.C. Mr. Rabinowitz is Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. To contact a Dallas immigration lawyer or Dallas immigration attorney visit Rabinowitzrabinowitz.com

Foreign nationals granted lawful permanent resident status have the unrestricted right to reside in the United States for as long as such persons choose, provided they make the United States their permanent home of all homes which they may have in the world.  Such persons have the right to join certain branches of the armed forces, live and work anywhere in the United States, and apply to become a citizen if they meet certain eligibility requirements.

In 2011, slightly more than 1 million people were granted LPR status in the United States.  Approximately 65% of these residents gained their status through a close family relationship with a U.S. citizen.  The top countries of origin for new LPRs were Mexico (14 percent), China (8.2 percent) and India (6.5 percent).

The statute governing United States immigration is the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), as amended.  Under INA, there are 2 principal vehicles through which foreign nationals qualify to immigrate:  through certain family relationships, or through certain offers of employment.  Once the family or employment based petition is approved, the foreign national either applies for an immigrant visa abroad, or if in the United States applies to adjust status to that of a lawful permanent resident.   Additionally, foreign nationals who hold refugee or asylee status can also qualify.

There are annual visa limits on preference-based immigration.  In 2011, the limit was 366,000, including 226,00 visas granted in the family sponsored categories, and 140,000 visas granted in the employment-based categories.  Another category is diversity-based preference, which refers to nationals of countries with relatively low rates of immigration to the United States.  Nationals of countries with fewer than 50,000 admissions based on employment or family preferences during the previous 5 years are eligible for the Diversity Visa Program. Many immigrant visa categories – both family and employment – are backlogged in that there is a substantial wait for a visa to become available.

Some applicants for LPR status are exempt from the above requirements, most notably immediate relatives of U.S. citizens.  This includes spouses and children of U.S. citizens, including children adopted abroad.  It also includes parents of U.S. children aged 21 and over.  The category of immediate relatives of U.S. citizens accounts for 40% of the flow of legal permanent residents, on average.

Stewart Rabinowitz is President of Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, P.C. Mr. Rabinowitz is Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. To contact a Dallas immigration lawyer or Dallas immigration attorney visit http://www.rabinowitzrabinowitz.com.

Apprehensions are an important indicator of illegal immigration. About a quarter of the persons CBP apprehended in FY 2011 were already in the FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System, which is a database of persons with criminal charges or convictions.

CBP’s agents and officers seized about 5 million pounds of narcotics at the country’s ports of entry – a significant increase since last year. The agency also intercepted about $120 million in undeclared currency.

Officers apprehended 8,195 illegal immigrants who were wanted for violent crimes such as murder, assault, rape and robbery. CBP turned away an estimated 215,600 persons attempting to enter the United States for criminal, health or national security reasons.

The agency’s agriculture team seized more than 1.6 million pounds of illegal meat and animal byproducts as well as plant materials. It also nabbed about 183,000 pests at ports.

Among the four states that border Mexico, Texas has the longest border, but Arizona had the border with the most apprehensions in FY 2011. Agents and officers in Arizona apprehended 129,118 persons while CBP in Texas caught 118,911. CBP in Texas seized 1.5 million pounds of drugs and $1.9 million in currency. New Mexico is the most dangerous state to attempt illegal crossings because of its treacherous desert terrain. Its low numbers show it to be an unpopular illegal location with fewer than 7,000 apprehensions.

CBP has significantly increased its presence at the border during the past three years. There were 21,444 Border Patrol agents in FY 2011, 886 more than the year before. The agency had another 20,500 officers working the border.

The agency’s focus on the border includes more than additional “boots on the ground”. CBP has brought in more thermal imaging units, non-intrusive inspection equipment, and more mobile surveillance equipment.

CBP drones now patrol the border from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean helping officers and agents on the ground with intelligence only available from the sky. The aircraft flew about 4,100 hours in FY 2011 and helped to apprehend 467 illegal immigrants and about 7,600 pounds of narcotics.

The agency also enrolled about 290,000 people into the CBP’s Trusted Traveler Program, with the goal of expediting the screening process for low-risk travelers through a series of background checks. Overall, more than 340 million travelers came to the United States in the last fiscal year.

Stewart Rabinowitz is President of Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, P.C. Mr. Rabinowitz is Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. To contact a Dallas immigration lawyer or Dallas immigration attorney visit http://www.rabinowitzrabinowitz.com.

The last actual Tehran embassy was shut down in 1980 after the catastrophic events of the hostage crisis in 1979. Since then, Switzerland has helped the United States carry out consular and humanitarian missions. After the U.S. created a USA darFarsi Facebook and Twitter account, it discovered that many people wanted to discuss American topics and opportunities.

“We know that the Iranian people remain hungry for information about the United States – information about travel to the U.S., educational opportunities, and our policies toward Iran and the rest of the world,” according to a State Department press release.

The website is in English and Persian and encourages freedom of expression and freedom of the press, two of America’s core values. The content focuses on multiple viewpoints, a democratic society, and America’s efforts to resolve conflicts with the Iranian government. Because the United States and Iran do not have diplomatic relations, the website is a key platform to educate each country’s citizens about American policy, culture, and citizenship. Outreach between Iranian and U.S. citizens is crucial to opening up the dialogue to create a more civil, open society for Iran’s citizens.

As Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said “…the young people of Iran carry within you both the ancient greatness of Persian civilization and the power to forge a country that is responsive to your aspirations.”

Virtual Embassy Tehran is made “…to offer you another perspective and another source of information so you can make up your own minds about the U.S., our concerns about the Iranian government’s activities at home and abroad, and our serious efforts to achieve a resolution to those concerns.”

Iranian students and business people who are looking to study, work, or attend a business conference in the U.S. can find more information on the site about visas and traveling to the United States. Beyond Facebook and Twitter, website visitors can access the site’s YouTube videos and blogs. Important links to U.S. government institutions and citizenship services are also given. Iranian traditions, holidays, and charitable contributions are mentioned too.

The news portion of the website gives breaking news and Middle East news from Voice of America. The website is in stark contrast to the Iranian government that “…tries to limit what its citizens see, hear, think, and feel…this very expensive endeavor is bound to fail in today’s increasingly interactive world,” according to the State Department.

Stewart Rabinowitz is President of Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, P.C. Mr. Rabinowitz is Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. To contact a Dallas immigration lawyer or Dallas immigration attorney visit http://www.rabinowitzrabinowitz.com.

More workers and resources are being allocated to visa adjudication by the Department of State as global travel still remains a vital national economic interest. At busy posts throughout the world, officers can interview 100 visa applicants or more on a daily basis. Sophisticated technologies such as biometric checks are being used to improve security-related measures for screening applicants along with multiple biographic checks. The Department is also increasing visa adjudicators, and targeting new hires that can assist in China and Brazil.

The posts in China and Brazil offer extended hours to conduct additional visa applicant interviews. In the last five years, visas have increased by 234 percent in Brazil and 124 percent in China. China saw an increase of 35 percent in fiscal year 2011 alone, and processed more than 1 million visa applications in just one year.

When there are increased seasonal demands for U.S. visas, the Department of State will add temporary duty officers to manage interviews and processes. Wait times worldwide are typically one week for an interview appointment, and student visa interview appointments at some posts take less than a week and a half.

Interview appointments for business travel can be expedited to make business travel more efficient. The Business Visa Center supports U.S. companies that want to attract foreign workers and clients to visit or attend conventions in the U.S. FY 2011 saw 3,500 requests for business travel to the United States.

Student visa interviews are also prioritized. International students bring economic, social, and intellectual benefits to the U.S. and generate close to $20 billion to the economy on an annual basis.

Stewart Rabinowitz is President of Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, P.C. Mr. Rabinowitz is Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. To contact a Dallas immigration lawyer or Dallas immigration attorney visit http://www.rabinowitzrabinowitz.com.

As background, Congress created the EB-5 Program as part of the Immigration Act of 1990 to encourage new international capital investment into domestic projects that would hire American workers. The program grants two-year conditional permanent resident status to immigrants who make at least a $1 million investment into a new or expanding business in the United States that will help create jobs, or $500,000 if invested in Targeted Employment Areas such as high employment or rural areas. The Program has an annual quota of 10,000 visas available. Just before the second anniversary, conditional resident investors must again file with USCIS and show the creation of 10 United States worker jobs consistent with the previously approved Business Plan, in addition to meeting other requirements.

USCIS’ adjudication process improvements include a new decision board that will help adjudicators reach a final decision on petitions. Department of Homeland Security Director Alejandro Mayorkas advised that DHS has hired economists and business analysts to help the adjudication team and a consulting firm to help streamline the entire process.

The agency already has introduced direct email contact between the USCIS adjudication team and petitioners from a Regional Center, which is part of a new pilot program under the EB-5 umbrella.

To give the adjudicators, the new consultants and the decision board a comprehensive policy, USCIS is creating an overarching policy memorandum for the EB-5 program to collect all of the relevant policies into one, and has recently released its first version of the memorandum.

The new overarching policy memorandum is intended to give the adjudicators a guide as they process applications, Mayorkas said, in addition to speeding up adjudication and yielding more predictable outcomes. Presently, USCIS takes about eight months to adjudicate an investor’s initial petition.

Stewart Rabinowitz is President of Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, P.C. Mr. Rabinowitz is Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. To contact a Dallas immigration lawyer or Dallas immigration attorney visit http://www.rabinowitzrabinowitz.com.

As evidence, Secretary Napolitano reports that DHS has doubled the number of Border Patrol agents since 2001 to 18,000 agents today, and is using highly sophisticated technology to significantly reduce the number of people trying to get into the United States illegally.

DHS, through the efforts of component agencies Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement has seen a 36 percent drop in the number of attempts to illegally cross the southwestern border over the past two years, she said. That is a third of the volume of such attempts at its peak. At the same time, seizure of guns, drugs and currency have all increased despite the drop in attempted illegally crossings.

Secretary Napolitano said the border is safer than it has been in decades and praised the hard work of CBP and ICE in achieving record levels of enforcement. “Let’s take the ‘border is out of control’ myth out of the equation,” she said. By “…using the claim that the border is not secure as a reason to block immigration reform is not reasonable…for the last two and a half years, [we] have seen dramatic declines in illegal immigration and dramatic increases in seizures.”

Secretary Napolitano also announced her agency’s current priorities for effective immigration enforcement. Top on DHS’ list is the identification and removal of public safety and national security threats, criminals and gang members, and deterring individuals from illegally crossing the southwestern border by detention of recent illegal crossers.

Lower on its overall list of priorities, DHS will continue its forensic I-9 workforce compliance audits rather than engage in worksite raids. Secretary Napolitano announced that the agency will continue its program of criminal prosecution for those employers who have been deemed to have engaged in egregious workforce compliance violations. Significantly, DHS will begin prioritizing the removal of those persons who repeatedly violate immigration laws, and for the first time as formal national policy, outline the appropriate use of discretion in deciding which cases the agency will prioritize for removal.

Stewart Rabinowitz is President of Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, P.C. Mr. Rabinowitz is Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. To contact a Dallas immigration lawyer or Dallas immigration attorney visit http://www.rabinowitzrabinowitz.com.