On April 17, the Alabama House of Representatives’ Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee approved a set of amendments to the state’s current immigration enforcement bill, commonly known as the Hammon-Beason Act, which would ease some very tough demands placed on the state’s contractors and their subcontractors. Though we still believe wholeheartedly that immigration should be under the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government, we do applaud the legislators for taking a second look in order to improve the bill. read more
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On April 17, the Alabama House of Representatives’ Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee approved a set of amendments to the state’s current immigration enforcement bill, commonly known as the Hammon-Beason Act, which would ease some very tough demands placed on the state’s contractors and their subcontractors. Though we still believe wholeheartedly that immigration should be under the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government, we do applaud the legislators for taking a second look in order to improve the bill.
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Most of us can probably agree that greater clarity on government regulations is a welcome development. So when the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) proposed on March 27, 2012 a new, more explicit and user-friendly version of the Form I-9, we were pleased. After all, simplifying the complex task of verifying employment eligibility throughout the workforce is good for everyone.
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A recent hearing by the House Immigration Subcommittee was truly disturbing. In case you missed it, the subject of the hearing held on Feb. 15 was a troublesome report released in January by the Homeland Security Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG). In essence, the OIG determined that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) management is pressuring its adjudicators into approving too many cases. Moreover, the OIG suggested that the agency is allowing members of the public to affect the outcomes of its cases.
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It is always worth taking a moment to celebrate when government gets something right. The Department of Homeland Security just did when it announced recently that its pilot Global Entry program will not only become permanent by March 7, 2012 but also expanded to include children under the age of 14. Through Global Entry, Washington has finally achieved its long-sought-after goal of providing expedited immigration and customs clearance to pre-approved, low-risk travelers coming into the U.S.
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On Wednesday, January 4th, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a rather unusual press release. Essentially the CBP labeled reports in a Canadian newspaper that someone had gotten into the United States by presenting only a digital image of his passport as “categorically false.” read more
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Lately, the issue of immigration enforcement is getting a lot of much-needed attention, though not necessarily the kind hardliners might like. In Alabama, for instance, in the span of less than two weeks, officers arrested not one but two managers of foreign automakers doing business in the state. These moves were ostensibly justified by the “Alabama Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act,” also known as the "Beason-Hammon Act." This law, enacted in June, is widely regarded as the most draconian of all state immigration laws to date.
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These days, it may seem that common sense is tougher to find in Washington than blue crabs in January. But in at least one agency, common sense seems to be finding its way into its policy making. On Nov. 17, the chief lawyer for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a new written directive calling on prosecutors to exercise more restraint, and yes, common sense, when it comes to deciding whether to deport individuals in the U.S. illegally. His announcement backs up an earlier statement by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano before the House Judiciary Committee that she and the Attorney General have formed working groups to focus on prioritizing some 300,000 deportation cases already pending. read more
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