Trump Halts Immigration to the United States

On Monday evening, the President announced that he was going to sign an Executive Order to temporarily halt immigration to the United States. On Tuesday, he held a press conference where he answered questions about immigration, and this Houston immigration lawyer and Miami immigration lawyer watched almost the entire press conference.

Ever since the President’s announcement on Monday, I have been inundated by calls, emails and messages asking about the effect of the new immigration ban. Unfortunately, there has been nothing in writing, but only leaks about what might be in the ban. Even at yesterday’s press conference, the President did not reveal much, other than there would be a temporary halt.

I will follow-up with another blog post in a day or two analyzing the President’s Executive Order halting immigration, once it is written and signed, which he predicted would be today or tomorrow.

Here’s what we know directly from the President. It will be a temporary halt. The reason for it, as he stated yesterday, is to protect American jobs that have been lost due to the coronavirus pandemic. He made it very clear however, that he was not halting immigration because immigrants can bring coronavirus to the United States, but rather he was halting immigration to protect American jobs.

As a lawyer, this is very interesting that a President can cancel existing laws “to protect the job market,” especially when those laws were passed with protecting the job market in mind. Moreover, it is being done without any empirical study on the effect of immigration and the  current job market. Of course, prior studies have shown the contrary, how immigration and immigrants actually improve the overall job market by becoming consumers,  creating jobs and through investment.

While it may sound good and logical to the average person………halt immigration to protect American jobs……….the consequences of allowing a President to cancel existing laws passed by Congress and signed by prior presidents, can have very serious repercussions in the future. This can set a very dangerous precedent.

Moreover, our country has a long history of  debating and passing immigration laws where there has always been a tug-of-war between the pro-immigration lobby and the labor lobby. Historically, and we are talking about many decades, the labor lobby (unions, etc) have wanted to limit immigration in order to protect American jobs. So, as Congress would pass laws about immigration, there would always be compromise in order to protect the American labor market.  As a result, our immigration laws have been passed with certain rules already built-in to protect the labor market for American workers. It is no simple task for any company to bring in foreign workers, and it can take years with various levels of proof being submitted to the government to show that American workers are not being displaced.

The Executive Order to halt immigration reminds me of the Obama Executive Order to extend DACA-like protection to parents of U.S. citizens who are presently in the country. In that situation, the courts stopped the Obama program saying that he cannot extend immigration laws by Executive Order. It would be interesting to see if the courts say that Trump cannot limit or halt the laws by stopping immigration, by Executive Order. Like many past Executive Orders about immigration by President Trump, this new Executive Order  will be immediately challenged in court, and no doubt, be temporarily enjoined from being enforced by a federal judge. As with his other Executive Orders, it will likely end up in the Supreme Court, and if recent precedent holds true, the Supreme Court will allow the temporary ban, perhaps in a more narrow fashion.

I will not speculate as to what forms of immigration will be banned, because the Order itself is coming at any moment and it will be specific.  However, from his press conference and from the leaks so far, it seems that it will affect only immigrants who are currently outside the U.S., and not immigrants who have cases pending for work permits or green cards inside the U.S.  Of course, I could be wrong and we will just have to see what it actually says.

Will the Order have an effect on applications for immigration such as extensions of B-2 visitor status or E-2 investor status, or even H-1B or L-1 visa status? The answer is almost certainly, no. That would be way too broad to get past the Supreme Court in my opinion. Will it stop an immigration lawyer like me from submitting visa petitions for my clients? The answer is that it is very unlikely to have that effect. All indications are that it is a temporary halt on a very narrow basis, as affects people entering the United States from abroad. So, for people here, it almost certainly will not halt the immigration situation within the United States………but we will see, so,watch for my update.

Finally, as a practical matter, there is already an effective immigration halt because immigrant and non-immigrant visas are issued by U.S. Consulates and U.S. Embassies around the world and they have all been closed since last month and are not issuing any visas. Additionally, most airlines are no longer flying into the United States, so that even those with visas cannot get into the country right now.

Bruce Coane is a Houston immigration lawyer and Miami immigration lawyer who is Board Certified in Immigration & Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He may be reached at bruce.coane@gmail.com or by phone at 305.538.6800 or 713.850.0066. The website is http://www.coane.com.

Immigration Cases continue to be Processed

While many offices close and the population shelters in place, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is open for business (via mail and online filings) and continues to process cases.

Our office also remains open, although most consultations these days are done by phone, WhatsApp, FaceTime or Skype. The front desk in all three of our offices is still manned by our excellent staff who continue to receive in-person packages and materials from clients and vendors. We also continue  to do  in-person appointments.

The USCIS has stopped interviewing at local offices and has canceled naturalization ceremonies which is very unfortunate. But, with social distancing, such large ceremonies would have been impossible. Hopefully they will resume in the near future, otherwise their backlog of cases will be almost insurmountable with further delays in adjudications.

As for foreign visitors to the USA and others on non-immigrant visas, many are in quite a predicament. If a non-immigrant worker such as H-1B or L-1 worker gets laid off, they can’t exactly leave the country right now, and they can quickly fall out of status once their grace period expires. And, those on ESTA or B-2 visitor status with expiration dates fast approaching have a serious dilemma where they cannot leave the USA and where there are limitations on extending status.

This Houston immigration lawyer and Miami immigration lawyer continues to work tirelessly, both at home and at the office to preserve the legal rights of clients and to timely file applications so that clients do not miss critical deadlines.

As for immigration courts, the courts that handle jail cases are still operating on a daily basis. The regular immigration courts that handle cases for foreign nationals who are not in jail, have canceled cases through April 10. That will most likely be extended in light of the president’s announcement extending social distancing for another 30 days.

For further information, you may contact the  author, Bruce Coane, who is a lawyer Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and is available 24/7 at bruce.coane@gmail.com. He may also be reached at 713.850.0066 and 305.538.6800 during the week. The website is http://www.coane.com.

L-1 Visa Lawsuit Filed to Overrule USCIS Denial

This past week, our law firm sued the federal government in U.S. District Court in Miami, over the denial of an extension of an L-1A, intracompany transfer working visa.

Our client, from Europe, had started his branch office in the USA and has over 10 American workers in Florida. The USCIS, a branch of the Department of Homeland Security had already previously approved him for an L-1A visa to work in the United States. After starting the business here and hiring more than ten employees, it was time to file for an extension of his stay in L-1A status.

In denying the extension of stay and rendering the business owner out of status, the  government now claimed that he was not a manager or executive who managed management employees, even though all the evidence submitted indicated that he was the CEO of the U.S.-based company.

President Trump, through an executive order, has stated that the government would give a more difficult time to intracompany transfer workers, but he did not say the USCIS should not follow the law and should not approve cases that clearly qualify under the law.

This Miami immigration lawyer and Houston immigration lawyer has been suing the federal government on improperly denied immigration visa cases for over thirty years. Normally, such cases are resolved in favor of the foreign national, based on my own personal experience. Moreover, if the government waits for the federal judge to overrule their decision, the federal government is often on the hook to pay attorney’s fees of the foreign national.

The government is expected to file an answer to the lawsuit in the next 60 days, with a 2021 trial date most likely on the horizon.

About the author: Bruce Coane is a Miami immigration lawyer and a Houston immigration lawyer and is Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Mr. Coane practices immigration law in all 50 states and has clients all around the world.He may be reached at bruce.coane@gmail.com or at 713.850.0066 or 305.538.6800

Colapso Inmigratorio… ¿TPS? Soñadores? ¿Migración de cadena?

A medida que nuestro sistema de inmigración continúa siendo noticia de primera plana, he observado como todo el sistema se derrite literalmente. Como Abogado de Inmigración Certificado por la Junta directiva, mi trabajo consiste en encontrar soluciones como una barricada tras la barricada puesta ante mis clientes individuales y comerciales. En este reciente artículo en la revista Playboy, fui citado en relación con la revocación de TPS y permisos de trabajo para más de 200,000 personas de El Salvador en los Estados Unidos.

http://www.playboy.com/articles/what-could-happen-if-the-president-actually-tries-to-deport-200-000

No, estas 200,000 personas no son miembros de la pandilla MS-13, más bien han sido completamente investigados y pasaron todos los controles de seguridad. A medida que el presidente y sus designados revocan programa tras programa y cierran caminos para la inmigración, los ciudadanos regulares se defienden. Como mencioné en el artículo anterior, hay soluciones disponibles para los salvadoreños, pero ninguna será tan fácil como simplemente renovar su estatus TPS y permisos de trabajo como lo han hecho durante más de una década.

Con respecto a los Dreamers, el problema ha estado causando la amenaza de cierres del gobierno. Por supuesto, todo el asunto fue creado cuando nuestro Presidente revocó el estado Dreamer (DACA) para los cientos de miles de jóvenes que salieron de las sombras para solicitar este beneficio del gobierno, con la promesa de permisos de trabajo al registrarse. A diferencia de TPS, su servidor, abogado de inmigración de Houston y abogado de inmigración en Miami les informa que no hubo nada “temporal” sobre el programa DACA. Fue establecido por una orden ejecutiva del Presidente Obama, que el actual Presidente ha revocado, creando así el problema DACA.

No es mi trabajo criticar al presidente, así que permítanme señalar que estoy de acuerdo con él en que debería haber una solución permanente para DACA, pero revocar y cancelar el programa puede no haber sido la mejor manera de llegar a esa solución. Por otro lado, tal vez el Presidente lo vio como una forma de presionar al Congreso para tratar el tema, aunque a expensas de los cientos de miles de jóvenes que tienen que preocuparse diariamente por su estatus migratorio.

Finalmente, está la noción de inmigración en cadena, una frase que jamás escuché en mis décadas de experiencia como abogado de inmigración en Houston. Quizás debería comenzar por decir que me especializo en la migración en cadena, junto con mis otras especialidades de inmigración, pero a decir verdad, esa frase no existe en ninguna parte de la ley. Como Abogado de Inmigración Certificado por la Junta Directiva, no tengo idea de qué es la migración en cadena.

Según algunos de los discursos del Presidente, al parecer se refiere a nuestro sistema de inmigración basada en la familia. Según nuestras leyes, hay dos formas principales de inmigrar a los Estados Unidos, De acuerdo a nuestras leyes, la inmigración basada en negocios y la inmigración basada en la familia. También hay otras formas, como los refugiados, etc., pero estas son las dos formas principales de inmigrar.

La inmigración basada en la familia es nuestro sistema legal donde los ciudadanos estadounidenses pueden traer a su cónyuge, padres y / o hijos. Un ciudadano de EE. UU. También puede patrocinar a un hermano o hermana, pero esa categoría de inmigración generalmente toma de 15 a 25 años, dependiendo del país de origen. Por lo tanto, mediante la migración en cadena, ¿el régimen actual trata de evitar que un ciudadano estadounidense patrocine a su esposo o esposa nacido en el extranjero para que viva con el en los EE. UU? ¿Pretenden evitar que los hijastros nacidos en el extranjero o los abuelos que a menudo cuidan a los niños, vengan a los Estados Unidos? Esta es una cuestión aun sin responder.

Como la frase “migración en cadena” no existe en la ley, tal vez signifique revocar toda inmigración basada en la familia, o tal vez sea un concepto en desarrollo revocar la mayor cantidad de leyes posible que permitan la inmigración basada en la familia. Cabe recalcar que las mismas leyes basadas en la familia que permiten a mis clientes de Noruega patrocinar a sus padres o hijos para venir a Estados Unidos son las mismas leyes que permiten a mis clientes haitianos y filipinos patrocinar a su cónyuge e hijos y padres para que vengan a los Estados Unidos

Espero que este artículo les ayude a entender el debate actual sobre inmigración. Es importante saber exactamente qué dicen realmente la ley y las regulaciones federales, en lugar de generalizar y afirmar que todos los que cruzan la frontera ilegalmente son traficantes de drogas y pandilleros MS-13 (¡no podría estar más lejos de la verdad!), O que todos los inmigrantes (o un gran porcentaje) son criminales. Estoy seguro de que el mismo pequeño porcentaje de la población inmigrante que es criminal, coincide (o es incluso menor) con el porcentaje de estadounidenses nativos que son criminales. Notarás que aquellos que buscan detener la inmigración legal a este país no citan ningún estudio o estadística válida, sino que citan un accidente automovilístico o un asesinato cometido por un inmigrante, mientras que miles de incidentes similares, tristemente, son cometidos por estadounidenses nacidos aquí todos los días.

Finalmente, prometí mencionar el “colapso”. A medida que el régimen actual cancela los programas de inmigración y busca nuevas leyes para deportar a tantas personas como sea posible, también se están desacelerando y luchando contra la aprobación de casos legales de inmigración en todo el país. Para las empresas con trabajadores extranjeros aprobados, el gobierno ha anunciado que volverán a visitar esas aprobaciones y, en muchos casos, están reclamando errores en las aprobaciones y cancelando permisos de trabajo o revocándolos. Esto se ve en todo el país con los permisos de trabajo válidos H-1B y L-1. En nuestro bufete de abogados, afortunadamente, hemos tenido éxito en la lucha y en mantener a nuestros trabajadores extranjeros de nuestros clientes legítimamente empleados, pero no es fácil y es costoso. En otros casos, se acumularon grandes retrasos en la inmigración legal, mientras que al mismo tiempo, el gobierno ha insistido en acelerar los casos de deportación.

Para obtener más información, su servidor,  abogado de inmigración de Houston y abogado de inmigración de Miami puede ser contactado en bruce.coane@gmail.com, o al 713.850.0066 o 305.538.6800.

Immigration Meltdown…..TPS? Dreamers? Chain Migration?

As our immigration system continues to be front-page news, I’ve been watching the entire system literally melt down. As a Board Certified Immigration Lawyer, it is my job to come up with solutions as roadblock after roadblock is placed before my individual and business clients. In this recent article in Playboy magazine, I was quoted in connection with the revocation of TPS and work permits for over 200,000 people from El Salvador in the U.S.

http://www.playboy.com/articles/what-could-happen-if-the-president-actually-tries-to-deport-200-000

No, these 200,000 people are not MS-13 gang members, rather they have been fully vetted and passed all security checks. As the president and his appointees revoke program after program and shut down paths to immigration, regular citizens are fighting back. As I mention in the article above, there are solutions available for Salvadorans, but none will be as easy as simply renewing their TPS status and work permits as they have done for over a decade.

With regard to Dreamers, this issue has been causing the threat of government shutdowns. Of course, the whole issue was created when our president revoked Dreamer status (DACA) for the hundreds of thousands of young people who came out of the shadows to apply for this government benefit, with the promise of work permits for registering themselves. Unlike TPS, this Houston immigration lawyer and Miami immigration lawyer reports that there was nothing “temporary” about the DACA program. It was established by an executive order of President Obama, which the current president has revoked, thus creating a DACA problem.

It is not my job to criticize the president, so let me point out that I do agree with him that there should be a permanent solution to DACA, but revoking and canceling the program may have not been the best way to reach that permanent solution. On the other hand, perhaps the president viewed it as a way to put pressure on Congress to deal with the issue, albeit at the expense of the hundreds of thousands of people who have to worry daily about their immigration status.

Finally, there is the notion of chain migration, a phrase that I never heard before in my decades of experience as a Houston immigration lawyer. Perhaps I should start saying that I specialize in chain migration, together with my other immigration specialties, but truth be told, that phrase exists nowhere in the law. As a Board Certified Immigration Lawyer, I have no idea what chain migration is.

According to some of the president’s speeches, it apparently refers to our system of family-based immigration. Under our laws, there are two main ways to immigrate to America, namely business-based immigration and family-based immigration. There are other ways too, such as refugees, etc, but these are the two main ways to come here.

Family-based immigration is our legal system where U.S. citizens can bring over their spouse, parents and/or children. A U.S. citizen can also sponsor a brother or sister, but that category of immigration typically takes 15 to 25 years, depending on country of origin. So, by chain migration, does the current regime seek to stop a U.S. citizen from sponsoring their foreign-born husband or wife from living with them in the U.S.? Do they seek to stop foreign-born step-children or the grandparents who often babysit, from coming to the U.S.? This is an open question left up to anyone’s guess.

Since the “chain migration” phrase does not exist in the law, maybe it means to revoke all family-based immigration, or maybe it is a developing concept to revoke as many laws as possible that allow family-based immigration. I will note that the same family-based laws that allow my clients from Norway to sponsor their parents or children to come to America, are the same exact laws that allow my Haitian and Filipino clients to sponsor their spouse and children and parents to come to the U.S.

I hope this article helps in understanding the current immigration debate. It is important to know exactly what the law and federal regulations actually say, rather than to generalize and claim that all illegal border crossers are drug dealers and MS-13 gang members (couldn’t be further from the truth!), or that all immigrants (or a large percentage) are criminals. I’m sure that the same small percentage of the immigration population that is criminal, matches (or is even less than) the percentage of native born Americans who are criminals. You will notice that those who seek to stop legal immigration to this country do not cite to any valid studies or statistics, rather they cite to a car accident here or a murder there that was committed by an immigrant, while thousands of similar incidents, sadly, are committed by local born Americans every day.

Finally, I promised to mention the “meltdown.” As the current regime cancels immigration programs and seeks new laws to deport as many people as possible, they are also slowing down and fighting the approval of legal immigration cases across the country. For businesses with approved foreign workers, the government has announced they will re-visit those approvals and in many cases, they are claiming errors in approvals and canceling work permits or revoking them. This is seen across the country with those on valid H-1B and L-1 work permits. At our law firm, thankfully, we have generally been successful in fighting back and keeping our foreign worker clients legitimately employed, but it is not easy and it is expensive. On other cases, huge backlogs have been created for legal immigration, while at the same time, the government has insisted on expediting deportation cases.

For further information, this Houston immigration lawyer and Miami immigration lawyer may be reached at bruce.coane@gmail.com, or at 713.850.0066 or 305.538.6800.