A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that part of the state’s new, and highly controversial immigration enforcement law, also known as SB 4, can go into effect, even as a legal challenge to the law continues. Last month, a district judge in San Antonio blocked the part of the law that forced jail officials to honor all federal detainer requests.

Under the 5th Circuit ruling, local governments can no longer prohibit police officers from asking those they lawfully stop about their immigration status. The fact that police are allowed to ask about immigration status, rather than being told that they must, or must not ask, gives individual officers a great deal of discretion.

However, the 5th Circuit agreed that to stop police chiefs and mayors and so forth from advocating sanctuary city policies would violate the free speech clause.

A police officer on the street may be able to ask about the immigration status of a person, but he may also know that his chief has spoken out against it. This suggests that a politicized police officer who is averse to immigration will take one approach, and someone who is comfortable with immigration will take a different approach.

SB 4 includes penalties for local officials who do not comply with federal detainer requests, including criminal sanctions. Those penalties remain in effect for those portions of the law the court allowed to remain in place.

Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez, a critic of SB 4, announced after the appeals court ruling that her office will now comply with all detainer requests.

USCIS Resumes Premium Processing for Some Categories of Applicants Seeking H-1B Visas

Versión en español

Sept. 18, 2017

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) resumed premium processing today for all H-1B visa petitions subject to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 cap.

Premium processing has also resumed for the annual 20,000 additional petitions that are set aside to hire workers with a U.S. master’s degree or higher educational degree.

USCIS previously resumed premium processing H-1B petitions filed on behalf of physicians under the Conrad 30 waiver program, as well as interested government agency waivers and for certain H-1B petitions that are not subject to the cap.

Premium processing remains temporarily suspended for all other H-1B petitions, such as extensions of stay.

USCIS plans to resume premium processing for all other remaining H‑1B petitions not subject to the FY 2018 cap, as agency workloads permit.

However, remaining petitioners may submit a request to expedite their application if they meet the specific agency criteria. USCIS reviews all expedite requests on a case-by-case basis, and requests are granted at the discretion of the office leadership.

Applicants must submit entries for the DV-2019 DV program electronically at dvlottery.state.gov between noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4), Tuesday, October 3, 2017, and noon, Eastern Standard Time (EST) (GMT-5), Tuesday, November 7, 2017.

Eligible applicants can submit an Electronic Diversity Visa Entry Form (E-DV Entry Form or DS-5501) online at dvlottery.state.gov.

Starting May 1, 2018, applicants will be able to check the status of an application by returning to “dvlottery.state.gov”, clicking on “Entrant Status Check”, and entering the unique confirmation number and personal information. “Entrant Status Check” will be the sole means of informing the applicant of the selection for DV-2019.

The New York Times published a collection of reaction from some top business leaders and companies who expressed their disapproval of President Trump’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals ( DACA ) program. The following is a sampling:

• Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, tweeted that his company would fight for the people affected by Trump’s action to be “treated as equals.”
• Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg said the announcement marks “a sad day for our country.”
• Roger A. Iger, chairman and chief executive of the Walt Disney Co., tweeted: “Rescinding DACA is cruel and misguided. Dreamers contribute to our economy and our nation.”