Bender's Immigration Bulletin
Bender's Immigration Bulletin -- Immigration Law News

• Cross-border Posadas turn Nogales into Bethlehem
  NOGALES, Ariz.: "With border agents, Customs officers and police looking on, a group of Catholics here turned the international border into Bethlehem and sang Christmas songs into a green metal grille separating the United States and Mexico. The Saturday afternoon "Posada on the Border" was a dramatization of Mary and Joseph's search for lodging in Bethlehem the night of Jesus' birth. Re- enactments occurred simultaneously on both sides of the international line, with those on the U.S. side incorporating border politics into their performance."
• Bianco detainee granted legal status as minor in U.S.
  "Hours before Eliseo Garcia turned 18 years old, a U.S. immigration judge granted him special legal status based on his age. Mr. Garcia, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, is one of the first of the 361 Michael Bianco Inc. workers arrested in the March 6 immigration raid to win legal permanent residency." Standard-Times, Dec. 14, 2007.
• Florida Serbs grateful, still worried
  "The St. Petersburg men were charged as part of a nationwide sweep by the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to find soldiers involved in the massacre of Srebrenica, where thousands of Bosnian Muslims were executed. Dozens of Serbs were arrested in Arizona, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Oregon, Wisconsin and Illinois." St. Petersburg Times, Dec. 16, 2007.
• Ninth Circuit on BIA clarity
  "The BIA denied the motion to reopen on the ground that DHS's opposition was not based solely on Lopez-Ramirez's unadjudicated visa petition, but did not analyze the grounds relied on by DHS nor specify which reasons were not based on the unadjudicated petition. Accordingly, we remand for clarification of how Velarde applies to the reasons given by DHS for opposing Lopez-Ramirez's motion and why these reasons are or are not based on Arthur." Lopez-Ramirez v. Mukasey, Dec. 10, 2007.
• NNIRR Will Issue Scathing Report on Human Rights Violations in U.S.
  "Over-Raided, Under Seige will report how the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is leading a new type of assault on the lives, rights and well-being of immigrant families, workers and communities in the U.S. The summary report will also offer recommendations to prevent further human rights violations against these communities." NNIRR, Dec. 14, 2007.
• Businesses Will Fight Immigration Legislation
  "A broad coalition of Virginia business interests, including some of the most powerful trade groups in the state, has created an organization to oppose laws that would punish employers with undocumented workers on their payrolls." Washington Post, Dec. 15, 2007.
• Hire an Illegal Worker, Lose Your Business
  "In the 20-plus years since starting out as a cook, Jason LeVecke has built up one of the biggest restaurant chains in Arizona. He now boasts 1,200 employees manning 57 Carl's Jr.s across the state--ten of them added this year alone. But on Jan. 1, a new law takes effect in Arizona that would severely punish businesses caught hiring illegal immigrants. So LeVecke is looking for growth outside his home state, and will build 25 new restaurants in Texas. Unless the legal situation improves, he says: "We won't add any new sites in Arizona. It's too great a risk."" Business Week, Dec. 13, 2007.
• In love with love
  "The honeymoons are over for a 26-year- old woman who authorities say was married at least 10 times. Eunice Lopez has been charged with bigamy, accused of marrying 10 men between 2002 and 2006 without divorcing any of them, federal immigration authorities say. ... Prosecutors say she charged her husbands an unspecified amount to help them secure immigration status and continued asking the men for money long after the wedding, threatening to expose them if they didn't pay." AP, Dec. 15, 2007.
• Lexis version of Taing (widow penalty case)
  "This Court agrees with the Ninth Circuit's interpretation of Section 201(b)(2)(A)(I). Mrs. Taing remains an immediate relative and ought therefore have her Applications adjudicated as such." Taing v. Chertoff, D. Mass., Dec. 12, 2007.
• "Laser Visa" fee increase
  "On January 1, 2008, the fee to apply for any non-immigrant visa to enter the United States, including tourist, business, student and other visas, will increase to $131 dollars world-wide. This same fee increase will also apply to Border Crossing Cards (commonly known as “Laser Visas”) for applicants in Mexico." DOS, Dec. 13, 2007.
• 287(g) pushback in Illinois?
  "A group of Lake County business leaders urged the sheriff's department Thursday to reconsider its application to the federal government to let officers deport illegal immigrants convicted of a crime. The Waukegan Leadership Council sent a letter dated Dec. 10 to Sheriff Mark Curran and held a news conference Thursday opposing the application for 287 (g) certification." Daily Herald, Dec. 14, 2007.
• Announcement Regarding Adoption In Vietnam
  "In recent months, US Embassy Hanoi and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Ho Chi Minh City have seen an increase in the number of irregularities appearing in orphan petitions and visa applications in Vietnam. This has resulted in a similar increase in the issuance of Notices of Intent to Deny." DOS, Nov. 2007.
• Application Fees for Non-Immigrant Visas to Increase On January 1, 2008
  "Effective January 1, 2008, the application fee for a U.S. non-immigrant visa will increase from $100 to $131. This increase allows the Department to recover the costs of security and other enhancements to the non-immigrant visa application process." DOS, Dec. 13, 2007.
• Arizona Is Split Over Hard Line on Immigrants
  "A new Arizona law against employing illegal immigrants has shaken businesses, scared workers, delighted advocates of stricter immigration controls and added to tensions in a state split over who belongs here and who does not." New York Times, Dec. 14, 2007.
• Arizona squeeze on immigration angers business
  "Arizona businesses are firing Hispanic immigrants, moving operations to Mexico and freezing expansion plans ahead of a new law that cracks down on employers who hire undocumented workers." Wall Street Journal, Dec. 14, 2007.
• Border Patrol launches tear gas, pepper spray into Mexico
  "In an escalation of clashes between U.S. Border Patrol agents and rock-throwing smugglers, agents have begun launching pepper spray and tear gas into densely populated Mexican border neighborhoods, according to witnesses, Mexican authorities and human rights groups." Los Angeles Times, Dec. 14, 2007.
• Crossing From Mexico The Old-Fashioned Way, Powered by Forearms
  "This is Mexico's most old-fashioned border crossing. No motorized craft takes cars from Gustavo Diaz Ordaz to Los Ebanos, a speck of a place with only about 400 souls. The engine is in the 46-year-old Soto's forearms. When passengers want the barge to move faster, they jump out of their cars and join him on the rope line." Washington Post, Dec. 14, 2007.
• Eleventh Circuit on FARC
  "[B]ecause we find past persecution, we grant Bolivar Soler's asylum petition in part and remand to the BIA to allow the government an opportunity to rebut the presumption of well-founded fear of future persecution ... ." Soler v. Attorney General, Dec. 10, 2007.
• I-485 mandamus victory: Zhu
  "[T]he more than four year delay of Zhu's immigration application is unreasonable. The Court is mindful of the government's national security concerns in processing applications, but this does not give the government the right to indefinitely delay Zhu's application." Zhu v. Chertoff, W.D. Mo., C.D., Dec. 11, 2007.
• Matter of Carachuri-Rosendo, 24 I&N Dec. 382 (BIA 2007)
  Matter of Carachuri-Rosendo, 24 I&N Dec. 382 (BIA 2007) - "(1) Decisional authority from the Supreme Court and the controlling Federal circuit court of appeals is determinative of whether a State drug offense constitutes an “aggravated felony” under section 101(a)(43)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)(B) (2000), by virtue of its correspondence to the Federal felony offense of “recidivist possession,” as defined by 21 U.S.C. § 844(a) (2000). Matter of Yanez, 23 I&N Dec. 390 (BIA 2002), followed. (2) Controlling precedent of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit dictates that the respondent’s Texas conviction for alprazolam possession qualifies as an “aggravated felony” conviction by virtue of the fact that the underlying alprazolam possession offense