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May 29, 2008
IMMIGRATION LAW UPDATE:
Proposed Change in TN Status
Duration
Department
of Homeland Security and the USCIS have proposed
a rule that would change the period of admission time or TN work status
from one year to three years. A TN is a temporary work visa, valid for only
one year, for citizens of Canada and Mexico, who have the required
experience or degree in a TN approved category (for example, Engineers are
listed, but Financial Analysts are not included). The proposed rule, if
accepted, would allow persons who apply for a TN an additional two years of
TN status without applying for an extension. For more on the TN
classification, please see the
Clark Hill website.
US Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) Updates
Below are summaries of
recent efforts by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as they
enforce laws related to employment of persons not authorized to work in the
US.
ICE Raid in Pottsville, Iowa
On
May 12th, ICE agents raided a meat processing facility, Agriprocessors,
Inc., in Pottsville, Iowa. Over 300 people were arrested, and 297 have been
convicted. ICE has stated that "Based on the number of criminal
convictions, this is the largest criminal worksite enforcement operation
ever in the United States." ICE confirmed that persons facing criminal
charges were provided with court appointed attorneys when they were
charged, and the defendants consulted with those attorneys with the
assistance of interpreters before entering guilty pleas. However, critics
of the raid have complained that the court appointed attorneys had no
immigration law training, and as a result, many of the due process rights
of those arrested were violated.
Former UFCW Representative Found Guilty of Harboring Illegal Workers
On May 8th, a former United Food and Commercial Workers union representative
was found guilty for harboring illegal workers, by conducting union
orientations at the Swift & Co. meat processing facility, and
concealing that some employees were in the country illegally. The
conviction can carry up to a 5 year prison sentence, and up to a $250,000
fine.
ICE Arrests 33 workers at Raid at a New US Courthouse in Virginia
On
May 8th, ICE arrested 33 workers at a construction site for a new
federal courthouse in Virginia. This is consistent with other ICE raids of
construction sites, where employees who lack work authorization are
frequently employed.
State Immigration Law Updates
New state laws continue
to be passed that deal with US immigration law issues. Below is a summary
of some of the latest developments.
New Laws Increase
The National
Conference of State Legislatures reports that at least 1,106
immigration-related bills had been introduced in 44 states, just for the
first quarter of 2008. The top three areas of immigration bill activity
include law enforcement, identification documents and employment according
to the report.
New Mississippi Law Requires E-Verify
Mississippi
bill SB 2988, requires that employers to use the electronic system to
verify the immigration status of their employees (E-Verify).
The law provides that employers are not liable for hiring undocumented
workers so long as they use the E-Verify system. For large employers, the
new law becomes effective July 1, 2008. In addition, this new law provides
for felony punishment (jail sentence of over 1 year) for persons who work
without authorization, and a fine of $10,000 or less. Under federal law,
working without authorization is a civil offense.
Proposed Changes to the H-2B Process
Introduced
The US Department of Labor (DOL) has introduced proposed changes to the
H-2B visa program for temporary workers. The H-1B Visa requires that the
employer prove that the need for a foreign national worker is a one-time
occurrence, a seasonal, peakload, or intermittent need, and that there are
no US workers available for the job, after completing an advertising
campaign. The DOL says the new rules would reduce bureaucracy. For more on
the H-2B visa, see our
Immigration webpage.
Comment Period Closes for
No-Match Rule
The Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) received critical comments from business, labor and
immigrant rights groups on the supplemental proposed rule on
"no-match" letters. As discussed in previous
Immigration Updates, the Social Security Administration (SSA) sends
employers a "no match" letter asking the employer to resolve any
discrepancy between an employee's name and his/her social security number
(SSN) and SSA's records The rule would also require the SSA to inform
employers of their liability if they fail to resolve the discrepancies.
Opponents argue that the rule ignored fundamental flaws in the Social
Security database, created administrative burden for DHS, and would cost
employers more than $1 billion a year. DHS has set no timetable for
implementation in order to "insure a quality review of the
comments."
"Trusted Traveler"
Pilot Program
A pilot international
registered traveler program, referred to as International Registered
Traveler (IRT) will be operated by Customs and Border Protection in an
effort to allow for the expedited clearance of pre-approved low-risk air
travelers into the US. For more information on this new program, see the US
Customs and Border Protection website on Global
EntryTM.
Visa Priority Dates - June Visa Bulletin
The June Visa Bulletin
has been posted. For a copy of the May Visa Bulletin, visit the
Department of State (DOS) website. For a summary of priority dates and
how these dates impact US green card processing, please visit our previous
Immigration Updates.
USCIS and FBI Release Plan to Eliminate Backlog
of FBI Name Checks
In a joint effort to eliminate
the backlog of name checks for Naturalization cases that remain
pending, the USCIS and FBI have established a method of prioritizing and
resolving these delays. The goal is to resolve the most difficult name
checks within 90 days or less.
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