Greg Siskind on Immigration Law and Policy

A Lesson in the Chain of Command

My friend Palma Yanni blogs today on the new AILA report showing that ICE is widely ignoring the prosecutorial discretion memorandum. She says what many of us have been saying - ICE officials who ignore the commander in chief need to go.

GOP in More Trouble with Hispanics than President

If President Obama does well with Hispanic voters next year, it will be due in large part to the GOP wasting a huge opportunity to convince those voters that they are worth supporting. Interestingly, in a new poll released by Univision, Rick Perry is doing worse with Latinos than Mitt Romney, surprising given that Perry has the more moderate positions on immigration issues of interest to the Hispanic community. Of course, that may be due to some of the highly publicized gaffes made by the Texas Governor. The President's support is getting closer to the levels he was at early in his presidency which may be the result of his shifts in immigration policy over the last few months.

Lottery Draws Half as Many Applicants

Surprising. But the State Department explains the drop based on the Bangladeshi bar on applying this year. That's the country with by far the most applicants over the last several years. The number could drop further next year if a bill that would impose an entry fee becomes law. That bill has already passed the Senate.

Justice Department Asks Supreme Court to Pass on Arizona Case

It's an interesting strategy. The Circuit Court has thrown out much of SB1070 so if the Supreme Court passed, that would be a major blow to those in Arizona who pushed for the law. On the other hand, if the Supreme Court took the case and ruled against Arizona, it would shut down new laws like the ones in Georgia and Alabama. Tough call.

Voters Boot Architect of Arizona's SB1070

Buh bye Russell Pearce! Not only did you lose, you lost BIG.

NFAP Report: L-1 Denials in India are Soaring

More evidence that the White House's welcome mat for entrepreneurs is more rhetoric than reality. From NFAP:

– The number of L-1 visas issued at U.S. posts in India declined by 28 percent from 2010 to 2011, according to data obtained from the U.S. Department of State in a new report by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP), an Arlington, Va.-based policy research group. The official data from the State Department show that L-1 visa approvals went from 35,896 in Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 to 25,898 in FY 2011, a drop of approximately 10,000 visas. At the same time that L-1 visas issued in India declined by 28 percent, L-1 visas issued in the rest of the world rose by 15 percent (from 38,823 in FY 2010 to 44,820 in FY 2011), according to State Department data. (FY 2011 data are considered preliminary by the State Department but any changes in the final data are typically minor, according to a State Department official.)

Increased denials of L-1 visas when attempting to transfer personnel into the United States from India on L-1 visas is having a negative impact on growth, projects and product development in the United States, according to companies. “The release of the L-1 visa data makes it difficult for U.S. government officials to argue that nothing different is going on in India when compared with the rest of the world,” said Stuart Anderson, executive director of the National Foundation for American Policy. Anderson served as head of policy and counselor to the Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service from August 2001 to January 2003. “The information that L-1 visas declined in India comes after the U.S. embassy in Delhi announced the number of H-1B visas issued there increased from 2010 to 2011. A decline of 28 percent in L-1 visas issued in India from 2010 to 2011 at the same time that employers have seen an increase of 15 percent in L-1 visas issued in the rest of the world, using the same law and regulations, indicates something is amiss.” 

India has one of the hottest economies on the planet and we are slamming the door on entrepreneurs from those countries expanding operations in the US which very often result in hiring of US employees. Exactly the wrong policy for our times.

Rick Perry Backs Work Visas for Illegally Present Immigrants

Pretty bold considering what we usually hear from the right side of the aisle. Perry says he still doesn't support "amnesty". This is pretty shrewd because the antis have been effective in defining any measures that would deliver a legal status as unacceptable. By defining amnesty to basically be the granting of a green card or path to citizeneship, it opens up the possibilty to look at more centrist solutions that could potentially attract bipartisan support. Perry hasn't revealed specifics, but he is supporting guest worker visas for people currently out of status without a path to a green card. The hardcore advocates on both sides of the debate are likely to attack Perry's idea with some pro-immigration advocates rejecting any plan lacking a path to citizenship and some antis opposing anything short of lifetime banishment. I say Mr. Perry is on to something. Compromise and get past this issue so we can focus on developing an immigration system that meets the needs of the country and is enforced effectively and efficiently. A guest worker plan would deal with the bigger problem of how to normalize the status of those here without status. Some would eventually get green cards through the normal paths after waiting in the queues in a particularly category. For the rest, they'll have something far more preferable to the status quo.

USCIS Caves and Approves Visa for Entrepreneur

Good for Amit Aharoni! The lesson? Get ABC News to report on your unjust denial. Otherwise, good luck. That's not how it should work. Poor quality decisions and outrageous requests for evidence should be the rare exception, but despite what USCIS insists, this is so common that it is truly a scandal. USCIS is sabotaging America's economy and costing untold numbers of Americans jobs and thankfully more and more media outlets are reporting on this phenomenon.

USCIS Denies Visa to Head of One of Silicon Valley's Hottest Startups

From ABC News. This despite the fact that Amit Aharoni has already secured venture capital funding of $1.65 million and created jobs for nine Americans. The basis for the denial - that Aharoni's job doesn't require an advanced degree. The company has plans to hire hundreds of American workers in the coming couple of years, but those jobs might all end up in Canada. Thanks USCIS!

Here's another example of the disconnect between what we hear from the White House and what we see on the ground. The Administration is telling us that it welcomes applications from entrepreneurs. And here we see examiners issuing absurd decisions. Mr. Aharoni noted in the ABC interview that he feels humiliated. And that's something we hear over and over again. We see it at US Consulates abroad where consular officers make applicants feel like petty criminals. We see it with USCIS adjudications where you are presumed to be committing fraud and scamming the system. This is hardly the welcome mat we used to have in this country encouraging people to settle here.

I have a couple of questions for USCIS? Why don't you require college degrees of your adjudicators? You have examiners making determinations in complex business, science, arts and other cases where the person lacks any background at all in the subject matter.  My understanding is that a high school diploma isn't even a requirement and certainly not a college degree. I'd love to be wrong on that and expect someone at USCIS will correct me if that's not the case. It's only speculation, but I would venture to suggest that the number of poor qualify denials of employment-based cases would drop significantly if the requirements to be an examiner in those cases was raised.

And why do examiners get to issue decisions anonymously? A signature means someone is holding themselves publicly accountable for their actions.  USCIS examiners should be required to sign their decisions and no longer remain anonymous. I'm not aware of any other federal agency that operates this way whether it's the IRS auditing your tax returns or the SEC investigating your trading activity. I've asked this question to senior USCIS officials in the recent past and they look dumbfounded as if they can't believe that an examiner's anonymity might affect their behavior. But the adjudication system has become one in which examiners are effectively one-person star chambers. We hear about the consequences of this when an Amit Aharoni gets denied. How many others lack the fame and resources to get our attention, however?

New Republic: ICE Officials Ignoring White House Mandate on Prosecutorial Discretion

TNR reports on what immigration lawyers widely know to be the case. ICE officers and attorneys nationwide are basically ignoring the August prosecutorial discretion memo ordering them not to pursue deportations against individuals on the low priority list. When is ICE Director Morton going to start firing people who disobey orders coming straight from the President? This is gross insubordination and surely grounds for termination. DHS Secretary Napolitano has indicated that cases already in the system would take three months to review, but new cases are not supposed to be pursued without reviewing them under the August memo first. And there are lots of indications that this is not happening.