On January 20, 2021 the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a MEMORANDUM directing U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to conduct a review of policies and practices concerning immigration enforcement. The Department-wide guidance includes a 100-day pause on certain removals while DHS…

This past Wednesday President Biden issued a battery of executive orders addressing several immigration issues. One executive order specifically mentioned the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. President Biden mandated in that executive order that DACA must be “preserved and fortified”. What does that mean? At the very least the DACA program will continue…

On January 20, 2017 when President Donald Trump assumed office, a total of 542,411 deportation cases were pending before the Immigration Courts throughout the U.S. Four years later at the start of 2021, the Biden administration will inherit a massive load of 1,290,766 cases—nearly two and a half times the level when Trump assumed office….

On January 19, 2021, the last full day of the Trump administration, Trump issued an executive order to defer for 18 months the removal of any national of Venezuela, or alien without nationality who last habitually resided in Venezuela, who is present in the United States as of January 20, 2021. Employment authorization will also…

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced on January 15, 2020 it will temporarily suspend in-person services at all field offices, asylum offices and application support centers on Jan. 19 and 20 to ensure the safety of our employees and individuals with appointments. USCIS will reschedule individuals who had appointments on Jan. 19 and 20 and…

USCIS will no longer issue stickers to extend the validity of a Form I-551, Permanent Resident Card (PRC), or Green Card. USCIS will instead issue a revised Form I-797, Notice of Action, receipt notice of Form I-90, Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card. The revised notice will extend the validity of a PRC for 12…

On December 23, 2020, the Office of the Chief Immigration Judge (OCIJ) updated the EOIR Practice Manual and changed the filing deadlines for non-detained cases from 15 days to 30 days prior to the hearing.

  DEFERRED ACTION FOR CHILDHOOD ARRIVALS (DACA)       What is DACA: On June 15, 2012, the Secretary of Homeland Security pursuant to an executive order issued by the Obama Administration, announced that certain people who came to the United States as children and meet several guidelines may request consideration of deferred action (DACA)…

During the 1st month (October) of the Fiscal Year 2021, the U.S. State Department noted that 8,687 immigrant visas were issued worldwide. The busiest U.S. consulate post in the world in Cd. Juarez, Mexico issued a total of 410 immigrant visas to spouses of U.S. citizens (IR1) during October 2020.

EOIR recently released statistics on pending cases, initial receipts, and total completions from FY2008 through FY2020. As of the end of FY2020, EOIR had 1,252,028 pending cases in the queue, and had completed 231,237 cases.