January 2005 U.S. Immigrant Alert! Newsletter

by Lee Siu Hin Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2005 at 12:53 PM
siuhin@aol.com (213)403-0131 Los Angeles, CA USA

Please donwload our latest January 2005 U.S. Immigrant Alert! Newsletter

January 2005 U.S. Immigrant Alert! Newsletter
January 10, 2004
National Immigrant Solidarity Network
URL: http://www.ImmigrantSolidarity.org

To download the newsletter, go to the following link:
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/Newsletter/Jan%2005%20Issue.pdf

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In this issue:
1) What We Might Expect in the 109th US Congress in 2005
2) Immigration News Briefs from Across the Country
3) Ask Texas Senators to Sponsor the WISH Act
4) Information About the Network
5) Please Subscribe to the Newsletter

 

Progress Donations Resources to the Asia Quake Relief
URL: http://www.actionla.org/Actions/AsiaProgressive.htm

For the pasts several days, we had received several requests from different progress organizations to promote their humanitarian efforts in Asia, includes: Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia.

Notes: The information provided here is often not verified by others, dishonest even scams involving donations are a problem in general. Please use information carefully and at your own risk

For the complete donation resources , please check our lists of agencies accepts Donations:
http://www.actionla.org/Actions/AsiaAppeal.htm

Great tsunami Information Blog:
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Tsunami_Help

 

Immigration News Briefs
January 8, 2005
By: Coalition for the Human Rights of Immigrants (CHRI)

1. Court: Parolees Can Adjust Status
2. Court: US Can Strip Citizenship
3. TPS Extended for Salvadorans
4. TPS Expires for Montserratians

1. COURT: PAROLEES CAN ADJUST STATUS
On Jan. 5, the First Circuit US Court of Appeals in Boston ruled that
that immigrants who marry US citizens may obtain green cards--
even if they had been in deportation proceedings--without having
to leave the US or being barred from returning to the US for 10
years. The case, Succar vs. Ashcroft, was brought by Lebanese
native Wissam Succar, who arrived in the US in 1998 and applied
for asylum. In February 2001, while he was paroled into the US
and his appeal was pending before the Board of Immigration
Appeals (BIA), Succar married a US citizen, who applied for a
green card on his behalf. The case was an appeal of a BIA ruling
which deemed Succar ineligible for adjustment of status because
he is an "arriving alien."

The appeals court was asked to address the validity of a
regulation promulgated in 1997 by Attorney General Janet Reno, 8
C.F.R. 245.1(c)(8), which barred consideration of adjustment of
status for immigrants who have been granted parole status but
have been placed in removal proceedings. The government argued
that the validity of the regulation is not subject to judicial
review, and that in any case, the attorney general's right to
discretion must be upheld. The court disagreed on both points,
saying there is no statutory bar to review and that the
regulation is contrary to the language and intent of an earlier
statute, 8 U.S.C. 1255(a). The decision only covers deportation
cases in the First Circuit, though legal experts say it will
likely be applied in other circuits. [San Francisco Chronicle
1/7/05; Succar v. Ashcroft ruling 1/5/05 from
http://www.ca1.uscourts.gov/]


2. COURT: US CAN STRIP CITIZENSHIP
The Eleventh Circuit US Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled
unanimously on Jan. 4 that the federal government can strip Miami
resident Lionel Jean-Baptiste of his US citizenship even though
was naturalized before ever being convicted of a crime.
Government attorneys typically seek to revoke citizenship of
individuals accused of lying about a criminal record in their
naturalization applications. In this case, the government claims
Jean-Baptiste committed a crime while awaiting approval of his
application, and therefore illegally procured citizenship as a
person who was not of "good moral character." Jean-Baptiste
denies having committed the crime for which he was convicted in
Miami federal court. Andre Pierre, Jean-Baptiste's attorney,
plans to ask the appeals court to grant a new hearing before the
full court. If that fails, Pierre said he will go to the Supreme
Court. He does not expect the immigration service to act on the
case until all appeals are exhausted. [Miami Herald 1/5/05]


3. TPS EXTENDED FOR SALVADORANS
On Jan. 6, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
announced it will extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18
months--until Sept. 9, 2006--for nearly 248,282 Salvadoran
migrants, because El Salvador is still rebuilding from
earthquakes which hit in 2001. The status was due to expire in
March. Nationals of El Salvador who have been granted TPS must
register for the extension during a 60-day period starting Jan. 7
and ending Mar. 8. TPS beneficiaries are also granted an
automatic six-month extension of their employment authorization
document (work permit), until Sept. 9, 2005. [Miami Herald
1/6/05; USCIS Press Release 1/6/05]

Last Aug. 25, USCIS announced that TPS had been "redesignated"
for another 12 months for some 10,000 Liberians living in the US.
TPS for Liberians was due to expire on Oct. 1, 2004; they will
now be allowed to stay until Oct. 1, 2005. Liberians were first
granted TPS in 1991. [AP 8/26/04; Federal Register 8/25/04] On
Aug. 6, the USCIS announced a 12-month extension of TPS for
nationals of Somalia, allowing some 324 Somalis who have already
been granted TPS to live and work in the US until September 17,
2005. Somali nationals had until Oct. 5, 2004, to re-register.
Somalis were first granted TPS in 1991. [USCIS Press Release
8/6/04] On Nov. 1 USCIS announced an 18-month extension of TPS
for Hondurans and Nicaraguans who arrived after a 1998 hurricane
[see INB 11/6/04]. TPS remains in place for nationals of Burundi,
Liberia and Sudan. [New York Times 8/9/04]


4. TPS EXPIRES FOR MONTSERRATIANS
On Feb. 27, 2005, TPS is set to expire for 292 former residents
of the Caribbean island of Montserrat who came to the US after a
1995 volcano made most of Montserrat uninhabitable. In its
surprise notice last June 25, the USCIS argued that "the volcanic
activity causing the environmental disaster in Montserrat is not
likely to cease in the foreseeable future" and "therefore it no
longer constitutes a temporary disruption of living
conditions...." USCIS says the Montserratians can go to Britain.
Montserrat is ruled by the UK, but Monserratians in the US do not
automatically have British passports. [New York Times 8/9/04]

Monserratians and advocates are urging Congress to pass a bill
granting permanent residency to Montserratians who have TPS.
House bill HR 603 was introduced Feb. 5, 2003, by Rep. Major
Owens (D-NY) and has 45 co-sponsors; the Senate bill, S 2816, was
introduced last Sept. 20 by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY).
Activists can send faxes to Congress about the bill by entering
the "Act Now" section of the Professional Staff Congress of the
City University of New York website, http://www.psc-cuny.org/.
[Information from PSC CUNY and http://thomas.loc.gov/ websites]


 

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