Posts Tagged ‘Illegal Immigrants’
Another 1000 Companies to be Audited by ICE
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced last week that it will be expanding its audit program and that it has notified 1000 companies last week that they would have to undergo a review. ICE, in its first audit, reviewed 654 companies and fined 61 of the 654 companies audited.
According to ICE, the audit is the Obama Administration’s plan to crack down on companies that hire and rely on such illegal workers and to reduce illegal immigration by forcing companies to get rid of unauthorized workers.
Although the identity of the 1000 companies to face an audit was not revealed, ICE officials suggested that audits will affect private companies are involved with infrastructure operations like gas and electric utilities and contractors on military bases but not retailers and manufacturers of nonessential goods.
Typically, an audit consists of ICE officials checking each worker’s E-Verify form, known as an I-9, to confirm that the employees were eligible to work before they were hired.
Does the U.S. need an exit monitoring system for visitors?
The arrest of Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, the 19-year-old Jordinaian who was accused of plotting to blow up Dallas skyscrapers has drawn attention from both parties of Congress that the U.S does not have an efficient system in place to trace foreign visitors on expired visas and that the US needs a universal electronic exit monitoring system. Mr. Smadi is a most recent example of a visitoir who entered the country legally but overstayed his visa.
It is estimated that about 40 percent of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States came on legal visas and overstayed their visas. In FY ’09, of the 39 million temporary foreign visitors that were admitted in to the US, it is estimated that approximately 200,000 may have overstayed their visas and remained in the US.
Although the Department of Homeland Security officials express concern that the an universal exit control system can be an expensive and daunting option with more than one million crossings a day, it is one of the few ways to assure a systematic follow up that the visitors have departed and not overstayed their visas.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., has indicated he would attempt to apply federal stimulus funding to the building of an exit monitoring system.
Sharp Increases in Prosecution of Federal Immigration Cases in Obama Administration
The latest data obtained by the Justice Department for the months of 2009 (i.e. from January to September 2009) reveals that prosecution of federal immigration cases has continued to surge in the Obama Administration. It is estimated that if prosecution continues at the same rate for the remaining part of 2009, the total will be more than 90,000 prosecutions, indicating an increase of 14.1 percent from last year.
The States registering the largest number of immigration prosecutions are Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, California, Florida, and New York. For more information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) click here.
H-1B September 2009 Update
In the H-1B count released by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) the H-1B cap subject petitions count was 46,000 as of September 18, 2009 and approximately 20,000 petitions qualifying for the advanced degree cap exemption had been filed. USCIS will continue to accept both cap-subject petitions and advanced degree petitions until a sufficient number of H-1B petitions have been received to reach the statutory limits, taking into account the fact that some of these petitions may be denied, revoked, or withdrawn.
USCIS has warned that it will deny or revoke all petitions filed by an employer for the same H-1B worker if more than one filing was discovered. So, if multiple petitions are discovered by the USCIS, it will retain all fees and either deny the petitions or, if the petition was approved, USCIS has the right to revoke the petition.
USCIS Unveils its Redesigned Website Today
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has unveiled its re-designed website today. The re-designed USCIS website looks pretty impressive and definitely seems more user-friendly and navigable at first glance than its previous website.
The new Customer Tools section makes it a lot easier for users to navigate and find what they are looking for right on the USCIS homepage and users can check filing fees, file an application online, check the case status, as well as sign up for updates.
My Case Status has replaced the Case Status Online and a new option has been added for users to receive alerts through text messages sent to their phones. This way, users that sign up for text alerts will get a text message letting them know when an update has been made to their case.
My Case Status feature has been greatly enhanced and provides information to users about their individual case as well for the first time gives users access to national volumes and trends associated with key immigration petitions. This feature will, no doubt, greatly improve user satisfaction as it gives users a better understanding of what to expect in terms of processing times and is a step by the agency towards greater transparency.
My Case Status provides information to users on:
- what processing step their case is in;
- where that particular step falls in the process as a whole;
- national goals and average processing times; and
- specific processing time for the office where their case is spending.
The Where to Start section on the left side of the homepage is another useful feature that helps users to find content more easily and a provides a one-stop shop for immigration purposes. The feature enables users to retrieve the eligibility criteria and application procedure for the immigration procedure sought.
The Forms tab too is more user focused and rather than simply listing form numbers, the re-designed dashboard categorizes forms by areas such as Employment based forms, Green card based forms, or Citizenship and Naturalization based forms.
All in all, a thumbs up for the redesigned USCIS website which seems more user-friendly, easier to navigate, and less overwhelming for users.
Effective Today Federal Contractors and Subcontractors Required to Use E-Verify
Effective today Federal Contractors and Subcontractors will be required to use the E-Verify system, an electronic system to verify their employees’ eligibility to work in the United States, if their contract includes the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) E-Verify Clause.
Companies awarded a contract with the E-Verify clause on or after September 8 2009 will be required to enroll in E-Verify within 30 days of the contract award date. E-Verify must be used to confirm that all new hires, whether employed on a federal contract or not, and existing employees directly working on these contracts are legally authorized to work in the United States.
The U.S District Court Judge Alexander Williams Jr. rejected an emergency motion for an injunction by U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups to delay the mandate while a federal appeal is pending. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups argue that that it is illegal for the government to extend E-verify to contractors through an executive order and that E-Verify will put greater liability on employers and employers will incur a cost burden to modify their payroll systems or existing personnel.
E-Verify, which compares information from the Employment Eligibility Verification Form (I-9) against federal government databases to verify workers’ employment eligibility, is a free web-based system operated by the Department of Homeland Security in partnership with the Social Security Administration (SSA). The system facilitates compliance with federal immigration laws and helps to deter unauthorized individuals from attempting to work and also helps employers avoid employing unauthorized aliens. Although the the E-verify system will reduce hiring of illegal immigrants by verifying documentation it is not fool proof as it fails to verify identities of employees and thus illegal workers using the identities of other workers who are authorized to work in the U.S. could continue to do so.
For more information on the program see here:
Secretary Napolitano Announces an Additional $30 Million in Grants to Effectively Enforce Immigration Laws
Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), announced an additional $30 Million in Operation Stone Garden to support security initiatives along the southwest border, particularly states along the U.S.-Mexico border, which are Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.
Operation Stonegarden’s grants will enhance DHS’s capabilities to effectively deter violence, enforce immigration laws and combat illegal trafficking.
The $30 Million additional funds supplement the $60 million in Operation Stonegarden grants announced by Secretary Napolitano in June. Based on greater risk, heavy cross-border traffic and border-related threat intelligence, more than 84 percent of fiscal year 2009 Operation Stonegarden funds will go to the Southwest border—up from 59 percent in fiscal year 2008.
To see the breakup of how much is going to each state see: http://www.fema.gov/government/grant/opsg/index.shtm
Share your opinion: Do you think this is monies well spent?
National Name Check Backlog Eliminated
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced elimination of FBI National Name Check Program backlog. USCIS Acting Deputy Director Michael Aytes said, “Our close partnership with the FBI has resulted in the accomplishment of this significant achievement with national security as its foundation.”
This means that there will be no backlog for most name check requests and that 98 percent of name check requests submitted by the USCIS to the FBI will be completed within 30 days and the remaining 2 percent within 90 days.
Next steps in the adjudication of cases that were previously delayed as a result a pending FBI name check request may now include updating fingerprint results, scheduling interviews, requesting additional evidence and other reviews to determine whether the applicant is eligible for the requested immigration benefit.
New H-1B Count for FY 2010
On May 26, 2009 USCIS updated the count of H-1B petitions received and counted towards the H-1B cap on the USCIS website.
As of May 22, 2009, approximately 45,700 H-1B cap-subject petitions had been received. Also, USCIS has received approximately 20,000 petitions qualifying for the advanced degree cap exemption. USCIS will continue to accept both cap-subject petitions and advanced degree petitions until a sufficient number of H-1B petitions have been received to reach the statutory limits.
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