Asylum Application Granted for George J West & Assoc Client
George J. West & Associates has learned that its client’s asylum application has been approved. The application was by a courageous young woman from Nepal whose fight for democracy in that country was met with disdain and brutal treatment at the hands of the “Maoists.” We were certainly very grateful that this woman could seek refuge in the United States.
TPS Extended for El Salvadorans
AILA’s (American Immigration Lawyers Association’s) website has announced that Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano has “extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for eligible nationals of El Salvador for an additional 18 months, beginning March 10, 2012, and ending Sept. 9, 2013.” People from El Salvador who are already benefiting from TPS and who wish to extend their TPS status must re-register
during the 60-day re-registration period that runs through March 12, 2012.
GJ West & Assoc. White Collar Client Sentenced to Half Normal Guideline Sentence after Extensive Assistance and Stunning $500 Million Payment by Google
George J West & Associates’ client Mr. David Whitaker, who pleaded guilty to fraud charges, was sentenced to 70 months, less than half the sentence originally envisioned under the Sentencing Guidelines. Over several years, Mr. Whitaker assisted in uncovering Google’s practice of accepting payments for advertisements of rogue pharmacies. As a result of the investigation, Google paid an unprecedented $500 million to the U.S. in exchange for a non-prosecution agreement.
DHS Secretary Napolitano Confirms TPS Extension for Haitians
DHS Secretary Napolitano announced an extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti beneficiaries, which will be effective 7/23/11, and will allow eligible beneficiaries to remain in the U.S. for an additional 18 months, through 1/22/13. SOURCE: AILA INFONET.
May 2011 Visa Bulletin
The U.S. Department of State has published the May 2011 visa bulletin. It can be found here.
President Obama to Hold Immigration Reform Forum
President Obama will hold a forum to discuss immigration reform. At the meeting, parties will discuss fixing the country’s “broken immigration system.” Democratic supporters of Obama, particularly in the Hispanic community, have been disappointed in the lack of movement to change the immigration system as yet, and were heartened to hear the issue was back on the table.
ICE Announces Deportations Begin Anew to Haiti
ICE announced recently that it has begun deporting Haitian nationals back to Haiti, ending a months-long halt to deportations after the devastating earthquake there. Critics and many immigration lawyers are calling the renewed deportation effort appalling as conditions in Haiti have remained the same since the earthquake and even have worsened with an outbreak of cholera and disorder in the camps housing 1.2 million homeless.
2010 Naturalization Numbers
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has released the number of people who became U.S. citizens via naturalization in 2010. In 2010, the total number of persons naturalizing was 619,913.
Secure Communities Implemented, incl. Providence
The Providence Journal reports that Secure Communities has been implemented throughout Rhode Island, including in Providence, whose police department had requested to opt out. Attorney General Kilmartin maintains that local police departments may not opt out. Secure Communities checks fingerprints of those arrested against the federal immigration database to identify those who are here illegally. Opponents of Secure Communities say it creates unnecessary tension between police and the immigrant community and disrupts families long-established in this country to deport people who have not committed any crimes.
Report from Fed Reserve Bank urges Immigration Law Reform
A report issued in March 2011 by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas urges immigration reform for the good of the U.S. economy. We are losing valuable employees particularly in the engineering, math and science sectors (STEM for short) because of our broken visa/ greencard system. Attorney Carl Shusterman writes at length about this report on his site as others have reported, for instance here.
