Ms. AA came to Beach-Oswald in September of 2017 concerned because she had not received any updates from Immigration regarding her I-751, Petition to Remove the Conditions on Residence. Ms. AA had a two year green card given to her after the green card application filed by her  U.S. citizen husband was approved.

Throughout the course of her marriage, Ms. AA was subjected to constant physical and emotional abuse by her U.S. citizen husband.  Her husband boasted about his extramarital affairs and constantly threatened her physical well being as well as her presence and safety in the U.S. To make matters worse, their young daughter was also subjected to the same abuses. 

Ms. AA found the courage to leave her husband and move herself and her daughter into a shelter. When she came to BOILA, she was eager to complete her immigration process. Unbeknownst to Ms. AA, her husband had been keeping her immigration notices from her, so when USCIS sent a Request for Evidence on her pending I-751 petition, Ms. AA never received it. 

BOILA immediately entered appearance as attorney of record and started working to timely respond to the initial Request for Evidence.  We collected ample documentation to show the bona fide nature of the marriage between Ms. AA and her husband, as well as, numerous medical documents and protective orders to attest to the physical abuse she sustained. 

Finally, after responding to two Requests for Evidence,  Ms. AA was scheduled for an interview before and Immigration officer. 

BOILA was right by Ms. AA's side during her interview, and even though the officer asked very difficult and personal questions about her marriage and the abuse she suffered, Ms. AA answered all of the officers questions. Two weeks after her interview, Ms. AA received her approval notice and her 10 year green card. Next year, she will be eligible to file for naturalization. 

On June 28, 2018, USCIS issued a new policy memo outlining specific instances in which a Notice to Appear would be issued to non-citizens who appear before a USCIS officer in an attempt to receive an immigration benefit.  removal proceedings against a non-citizen.   Rather than allowing a non-citizen an opportunity  to correct instances of skepticism noted by a USCIS officer, the non-citizen will be immediately put into removal proceedings.   While USCIS officers have always had the authority to issue Notices to Appear, this policy expands the circumstances in which Notices to Appear will be issued.  

Briefly, the policy memo states that USCIS is now required to issue a Notice to Appear to a non-citizen in the following circumstances:

The consequences of this new policy are not only unnecessary but will cause an already overwhelmed immigration court system to become further backlogged, providing further delays to non-citizens who are in most need of relief. Further it will drain immigration court resources to focus on cases that could have easily and expeditiously been decided by a USCIS officer. USCIS must also now stretch its resources to focus on immigration enforcement, which is the primary responsibility of ICE. Lastly, this policy will have a chilling effect on non-citizens who may be eligible for benefits but are now discouraged from applying out of fear that they will be subject to unjust enforcement by ICE officers who are sadly rapidly gaining a negative reputation for their unchecked and hostile attitudes and actions towards non-citizens.    

 

This policy shift has the effect of turning USCIS into an enforcement agency rather than a benefits agency, which up until recently has been its primary focus. This policy also will bring about a negative impact on the immigration courts as it will refer non-citizens to court adding to the already massive backlogs. This policy change is sadly in line with the Trump administration's hostile attitude towards non-citizens.  

The policy implemented in this guidance restores the adjudicators full discretion to deny applications, petitions, and requests without first issuing an RFE or a NOID, when appropriate. This policy is intended to discourage frivolous or substantially incomplete filings used as "placeholder" filings and encourage applicants, petitioners, and requestors to be diligent in collecting and submitting required evidence.  

If the required documentation is not submitted with the initial application or petition, USCIS, in its discretion, may deny the benefit request for failure to establish eligibility based on lack of required initial evidence. Examples of filings that may be denied without sending an RFE or NOID include, but are not limited to:     

The July 26th Court imposed deadline for the Department of Homeland Security  to reunite families separated at the border has officially passed, and although hundreds of children have been released back into their parents care, DHS  has also held many families and excluded them from the reunification process. 

Out of approximately 2,500 hundred separated, roughly  1,442 children ages 5 to 17 have been reunited with their parents. Most have been released from government custody while their deportation process continues. But there are still more than 700 children that have not been reunited with their parents and remain in government custody. 

For the families that have been reunified, their immediate concern is deportation.  There are nearly a thousand parents that were issued final orders of deportation before they were ever reunited with their children. There are many other parents that waived their rights to reunification before deportation. Posing the question, whether or not they knew what they were signing and were aware of their rights to seek asylum or other relief. There is widespread belief that parents are being coerced or pressured into signing the waivers without proper explanation of their actions. 

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has extended the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for nationals of Yemen for 18 months.  The TPS extension will be through March 3, 2020.  Over 1,200  Yemeni will now be able to renew their status.

DHS has declared Yemen as the "world's worst humanitarian crisis".  Yemen has been in a civil war since 2015 and the country conditions have only worsened since then.  In addition to the violence resulting from the war, Yemen has also had one of the worlds worst Cholera epidemics ever recorded, as well as a host of other diseases such as Diphtheria.

The extension of TPS for Yemenis was needed in order to protect these nationals and insure they're protected and stay out of harms way.