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New Asista Newsletter

Dear Readers:

This edition of the ASISTA Newsletter includes a Q&A with VSC from April of this year, as well as the second of a two-part article on U Visa applicants with criminal histories by ASISTA consultants Annie Benson and Jonathan Moore of the Washington Defender’s Immigration Project.

Our Updates section includes information on the two draft memos from CIS that affect U Visas, and several other recent events with practice pointers and summaries. Finally, our FAQ features a questions on VAWA cancellation of removal and adjustment.

Click here to read more.

Suspect Midwives List

Travis County leads nation in deporting 'noncriminal' immigrants, groups find

Sheriff said he questions findings but will look into whether conclusions drawm from compiled data are accurate.

By Tony Plohetski

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Updated: 12:34 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2010
Published: 10:35 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2010

Undocumented immigrants with no criminal histories are being deported from Travis County at a higher percentage than any other county in the United States, according to government statistics obtained and analyzed by several advocacy groups.

According to the groups, 82 percent of deportations of jail inmates through a federal fingerprint-sharing program in Travis County were of “noncriminals,” such as those with no violent histories.

The statistics were compiled by officials for national advocacy groups, including the Center for Constitutional Rights, which obtained raw data through a federal freedom of information request to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Travis County Sheriff Greg Hamilton, alerted to the statistics Tuesday, said he questions what the numbers show.

“We are going to have to do some looking into this,” Hamilton said. “I think those numbers are skewed, but we will find out.”

The expulsions have happened in recent months as federal agents nationally began reviewing fingerprints of inmates booked into county jails through a database-sharing program called Secure Communities. Federal officials have said the program helps identify and prioritize criminal immigrants who threaten public safety.

However, immigration advocates said the number of deportations of Travis County inmates highlights a problem with the program:
People with no criminal histories are being removed.

“Secure Communities is marketed as a program that has as its mission targeting the worst of the worst – the most dangerous criminals most likely to present a danger to their communities,” said Bridget Kessler , clinical teaching fellow at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University in New York , who was involved
in the effort to compile the numbers. “So 82 percent doesn’t seem to represent the mission of the program at all.”

Critics said the program is similar to the Arizona law that makes local police and sheriffs central to enforcing immigration laws.

Federal officials said Tuesday that Secure Communities is in place in all 25 counties along the U.S.-Mexico border; the Obama administration wants it operational nationally by 2013.
According to statistics from October 2008 through June of this year, 46,929 people identified through Secure Communities were removed from the country. Of those, 12,293 were considered noncriminals.

California had the highest percentage of immigrants deported who had carried out serious crimes. In Georgia, 39 percent of 624 immigrants removed were noncriminals, the highest among all states, statistics showed.

Travis County led all counties with the highest percentage of deported noncriminals, the advocacy groups reported.

Sheriff’s spokesman Roger Wade said the department has a policy of not talking to inmates, suspects or crime victims about their immigration status. He said if inmates are targeted by federal officials because of immigration, officials release them to various agencies, including ICE, when they are ordered by a judge.

On Tuesday, several Austin immigration advocates said they were not surprised by the Travis County statistics.

Thomas Esparza Jr., an Austin immigration lawyer who opposes the program, said, “What we told the county commissioners is that this
was going to sweep the wheat up with the chaff, and that’s obviously what’s happened here. They’re very efficient here in Travis County. Everybody gets a hold put on them.”

Nicole True, an Austin criminal defense and immigration attorney, said the program unfairly targets immigrants accused of minor, nonviolent offenses and makes Austin immigrants less likely to report crimes.

“It would make more sense if immigration (enforcement) focused on violent felonies … where most people in the community would agree that that’s a dangerous person,” True said. The program “breaks apart a lot of families and creates a lot of fear.”

tplohetski@statesman.com; 445-3605

Additional material from staff writer Jeremy Schwartz and The
Associated Press.

USCIS Updates on Filing Location Changes

Greetings:

 The below messages as well as the attached may be of interest to you.  Please feel free to share with you affiliates, members, partners, associates, colleagues, and constituents.

Best regards,

Jack Jaggers – Community Engagement Officer

USCIS Texas Service Center

Dear Stakeholders –

As part of an overall effort to transition the intake of benefit forms from Service Centers to USCIS Lockbox facilities, USCIS has announced revised filing instructions for forms I-129F, I-140, I-539, I-817, I-130 and I-526.  Centralizing form and fee intake to a Lockbox environment allows USCIS to provide customers with more efficient and effective initial processing of applications and fees.  Please see the attached Updates for more information.

In addition, the Office of Public Engagement invites you to a listening session with the Office of Intake and Document Production on Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 2:00pm (EDT). The Office of Intake and Document Production is responsible for the intake of petitions/applications and fees through the USCIS Lockbox facilities, the approval or denial of fee waiver requests, and the generating of acceptance or rejection notices. USCIS is interested in hearing your suggestions and concerns on these topics.  If you are interested in participating, either in person or via telephone, you can RSVP by responding to this email or find additional information on the Upcoming National Engagements page at www.uscis.gov.    

Kind regards,

Office of Public Engagement

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

www.uscis.gov/publicengagement

Hello everyone,

USCIS has experienced some technical difficulties with the Form I-797C, Notice of Action – Fingerprint Notification.  Between July 8 and August 4, 2010, USCIS did not print and mail this form to asylum applicants living in California and Arizona.

What You Should Do:

Go to the nearest USCIS Application Support Center (ASC) for fingerprinting and biometrics collection before your asylum interview if you:

§         Live in California or Arizona

§         Received an Asylum Interview Notice for an interview scheduled for August 2010

§         Have not received a Fingerprint Notification

§         Have not had your fingerprints and biometrics collected in the last 60 days for your asylum application. 

You should take the following with you to the ASC:

§         Your Asylum Interview Notice

§         Any dependent family members included on your asylum case

§         Photo identification, such as a passport, valid driver’s license, national ID, military ID, State-issued photo ID, or USCIS-issued ID, for you and all family members (if any) 

More information can be found on our website:  

Fingerprint Notification for California and Arizona Asylum Applicants

Please share with your colleagues and affiliates.

Regards,

Mary Herrmann

Office of Public Engagement, Community Relations

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Washington DC 20529

Hello everyone,

Please see below a list of Federal Register notices from July 26 – August 9, 2010. A list with links to these notices is also available in the Laws section of the USCIS website at USCIS Federal Register Announcements. Proposed form revisions are generally posted along with the notice and are available at www.regulations.gov.

July 26, 2010

• 30-day revision of a currently approved information collection for Form N-644, Application for Posthumous Citizenship (75 FR 43535)

   Comment period expires 8/25/2010

 

August 9, 2010

• Final Rule: Employment Authorization for Dependents of Foreign Officials (75 FR 47699)

   Effective date of 8/9/2010

• 30-day extension of a currently approved information collection for Form G-639, Freedom of Information/Privacy Act Request (75 FR 47822)

         Comment period expires 9/8/2010

• 30-day extension of a currently approved information collection for Form I-643, Health and Human Services Statistical Data for Refugee/Asylee Adjusting Status (75 FR 47824)

         Comment period expires 9/8/2010

The following notices will expire in the next two weeks:

• Form I-243, Application for Removal (75 FR 32799)

   Comment period expires 8/9/2010

• Form I-777, Application for Replacement of Northern Mariana Card (75 FR 32799)

   Comment period expires 8/9/2010

• Form I-865, Sponsor’s Notice of Change of Address (75 FR 32801)

   Comment period expires 8/9/2010

• Form I-694, Notice of Appeal of Decision Under Section 210 or 245A of the Immigration and Nationality Act (75 FR 39271)  

         Comment period expires 8/9/2010

• Form N-644, Application for Posthumous Citizenship (75 FR 41216)

         Comment period expires 8/16/2010

• Form I-821, Application for Temporary Protected Status (75 FR 41215)

         Comment period expires 8/16/2010

• Form I-687, Application for Status as Temporary Resident Under Section 254A of the Immigration and Nationality Act (75 FR 41215)

         Comment period expires 8/16/2010

• ICE Final Rule: Electronic Signature and Storage of Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification (75 FR 42575)

         Effective date of 8/23/2010

Thank you,

Courtney

Courtney A. Winship

U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services

Office of Public Engagement