To prevent secure document tampering, counterfeiting, and fraud, USCIS will begin producing on Oct. 24, 2019 a new security-enhanced U.S. travel document, which is a booklet that looks similar to a U.S. passport and serves dual purposes.

The new travel document will include a variety of secure features:

• Redesigned booklet cover
• Four montages containing three images, each of notable U.S. architecture, used throughout the booklet
• A combination of first-, second- and third-level security features (overt, covert and forensic)
  • Overt is something you can see with the eye, such as the central image of the Statue of Liberty.
  • Covert is something that requires a tool, such as a magnifying glass, to see fine detail artwork.
  • Forensic is something that requires laboratory examination.

Prior versions of the travel document will remain valid until their expiration date.

On Tuesday , October 29, 2019, U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy and Steve Daines (R-Mont.) introduced legislation requiring the government to have reasonable suspicion or probable cause to search or seize Americans’ electronic devices at the border.

Currently at the border, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) can search through a traveler’s electronic devices without any suspicion at all. CBP officers can also request that a traveler provide their password or passcode, and seize the device if the traveler refuses.

The Leahy-Daines bill forces the government to obtain a warrant before conducting forensic searches of such devices. It also requires the Department of Homeland Security to collect statistics on these searches and seizures and report them to Congress.

“No American should have to relinquish all of their privacy rights to their cell phones, laptops and other electronic devices, simply because they are coming home from a trip abroad,” said Leahy.

“Americans do not lose their Fourth Amendment rights at our borders,” said Daines.

In an unprecedented transatlantic air transport deportation this month ( October 2019) Mexico deported 310 Indian nationals to New Delhi according to the National Migration Institute (INM).

INM said the deportees had been scattered in eight states around Mexico, including in southern Mexico from where many Indian migrants enter the country, hoping to transit to the U.S. border.

The move follows a deal Mexico struck with the United States in June, vowing to significantly curb U.S.-bound migration in exchange for averting U.S. tariffs on Mexican exports.

Most of the deportees were from India’s northern Punjab state.

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele and U.S. Ambassador Ronald Douglas Johnson announced on Monday, October 28, 2019, that the United States government will extend temporary protected status for more than 200,000 Salvadorans living in the U.S. The program allows Salvadorans to stay in the U.S. and avoid deportation proceedings and allows them to get work permits.

The announcement was posted by video to Twitter and said the two countries have signed an agreement extending TPS for one year. The usual renewals had been for 18 months.

The Department of Homeland Security has not made any announcement.

Our law office is currently looking to hire a full-time immigration attorney. The job description is found below:

Research legal issues and provide advice and representation before EOIR courts and USCIS offices. Case management of family-based and employment-based residency applications and petitions. Non-immigrant work visas and other temporary visas, waivers of inadmissibility, DACA, VAWA. Must be knowledgeable of consular processing, removal defense, motions and appeals to BIA, BALCA, etc. Must be familiar with Texas family law and Texas business law and have excellent writing skills. Min. 12 months of experience as Immigration attorney/law clerk required; Texas State bar license in good standing; Email resumes to: admn@adanvega.com

A Texas federal judge issued a ruling on Friday, October 11, 2019, blocking the Trump administration from diverting $8.1 billion in federal funds to build a wall along the U.S. Mexico border. The federal judge indicated that President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency at the border is unlawful.

On Friday, October 11, 2019, a New York federal judge blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a rule that would penalize immigrants for using public assistance programs, including housing subsidies and health benefits.

A presidential proclamation published in the FEDERAL REGISTER on September 30,2019 suspended the immigrant or nonimmigrant entry into the United States of

• individuals connected with the Maduro government in Venezuela,
• certain officers of the Venezuelan military and police,
• all members of the organization known as the National Constituent Assembly of Venezuela,
• individuals who act on behalf of or in support of the Maduro regime and
• individuals who derive significant financial benefit from transactions or business dealings with persons described in the proclamation and
• family members of persons described in the proclamation.

U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on September 27, 2019 granted the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction and issued an order blocking DHS from implementing the July 23, 2019, Federal Register notice that expanded expedited removal to many individuals who are in the interior of the United States or have been in the United States for more than 14 days. The judge found that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their claims under the Administrative Procedure Act.