BY WALTER EWING BY LINDA NWOKE
Arecent and unexpected surge of migrants that began as early as May has arrived in New York City, causing a swell of people staying in NYC shelters. In a briefing, Mayor Adams addressed the current wave of nearly 3,000 newly arrived migrants. Mayor Adams, Department of Social Services Commissioner Gary Jenkins, and other officials address the surge asking the Federal Government for assistance in the matter. Many people travel to the United Moving to the US from Latin & Hispanic Countries? ....22 Bond Hearings for Asylum Seekers Are Latest Casualty ....7
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What You Need to Know about the New Proposal to Update The RegistryTemporary Protected Status: What You Need to Know continued on page 12 26 Court Street, Suite 701, Brooklyn, NY 11242 Tel: 718-243-9431 Email: immjournal @aol.com Protecting God’s Children From Distant Lands www.theimmigrantsjournal.com August 11, 2022FREE The Immigrant’s Journal A Journey for a Better Life & Justice Vol. 171 D.A. Bragg: Immigration Lawyer Sentenced to State Prison ....2 Immigrant Advocates Slam Texas Gov for Busing Migrants to NYC as Callous Political Ploy ....5 Understanding the Three Pillars of a Healthy Relationship ....21 Biden Administration Ends Trump-era ‘Remain in Mexico’ Policy ...8 Brian Figeroux, Esq.
Editorial credit: Ryan Rodrick Beiler / Shutterstock.com States on different types of visas. However, there are special visas, like the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) visa. It serves as a humanitarian solu tion by providing the nationals of cer tain countries who are experiencing problems that make it unsafe for depor tation to those countries. Ten countries currently benefit from this arrangement. The U.S has granted citizens from the following countries (in approximates) Afghanistan, Ukraine, Venezuela (320,000), El Democrats in the House of Representatives have introduced a bill that would allow undocu mented immigrants who have lived in the United States for at least seven years to legalize their status. The bill would change a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act known as “Registry,” which allows certain long-term residents of the United States who are undocu mented—or present in the country under a temporary legal status—to apply for Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) status (also known as a green card). To qualify, an undocumented immigrant must have entered the United States on or before a specific date (the “registry date”), must have resided continuously in the country since that date, and must be able to demonstrate “good moral charac ter.” All green card applicants need to pass extensive criminal and nationalsecurity background checks. Since creating the registry provision in 1929, Congress has advanced the registry date four times. The last time was in 1986, when the registry date was changed to January 1, 1972—meaning that only immigrants who entered the ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS:
D.A. Bragg: Immigration Lawyer Sentenced to 1-3 Years in State Prison
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Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., on August 3, announced the sentencing of New York City-based immigration lawyer, CARLOS MORENO, 61, for unlicensed practice of law, through which he collected thousands of dollars in legal fees from undocumented immi grants. Between September 2017 – when Moreno was suspended from the bar –and late September 2018, Moreno took on new clients, practiced law, and gave legal advice to scores of undocumented immigrants. In some instances, even pre dating his suspension, MORENO defrauded clients by falsely claiming that undocumented immigrants who have resided in the United States for over a decade could secure legal status, a fraud known as the “10-Year Green Card Scam.” As a result, some of his clients were unknowingly placed at risk of removal from the U.S. MORENO plead ed guilty in New York State Supreme Court to Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree and Practice of Law by an Attorney who has been Disbarred, Suspended, or Convicted of a Felony. He was sentenced to 1-3 years in state prison. “These New Yorkers sought legal serv ices from Mr. Moreno in order to apply for permanent residency in the place they already call home. Instead, he took their fees and placed them in situations that put them at risk of deportation,” said District Attorney Bragg. “If you believe you or someone you know has been a victim of this type of fraud, we urge you to call our office’s Immigrant Affairs Unit hotline at (212) 335-3600. Interpreters are available to assist nonnative English speakers and we encour age all to reach out regardless of immi gration status.” As admitted in the defendant’s guilty plea, from August 2015 to September 2018, MORENO misled two clients into believing that he, as their attorney, could submit an application for permanent res idency based on their 10 years of living in the United States. In both cases, he submitted an asylum application without their knowledge or consent. MORENO failed to inform these clients that the meritless asylum application that he sub mitted would be rejected and would trig ger removal proceedings. Despite being suspended from practic ing law in 2017, MORENO continued to act as an attorney for clients. One client hired him in August 2015 and paid approximately $3,100 in fees. In May 2018, more than a year after his suspen sion, he continued to represent this client without informing him that he was not permitted to practice law. On May 30, 2018, he met with this client in his Manhattan office, gave him legal advice, and misrepresented the status of the client’s immigration case. The second client hired MORENO as her attorney in September 2017 – six months after he was suspended – and paid him $3,500 in legal fees. In total, MORENO received over $140,000 in legal fees from multiple clients.
Immigration Fraud Recent immigrants seeking residency or citizenship are often preyed upon by criminals who steal from them through a variety of schemes. The District Attorney offices of all the Ciy’s boroughs offers assistance to immigrants regradless of their immigration status. It is also advised that you seek the advise of different attorneys, in particu lar, one that is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). Brian Figeroux, Esq of the Law Firm of Figeroux & Associates has been a member of AILA for over 20 years. Visit www.askthelawyer.us or call 855768-8845 for a consultation.l Manhattan DA Bragg Photo courtesy: Manhattan DA’s Office
What kind of scams target members of immigrant communities?
Recent immigrants seeking residency or citizenship are often preyed upon by criminals who steal from them through a variety of schemes. For example, deceitful attorneys or individuals purporting to be attorneys may demand sums of money in exchange for services they do not intend to provide or are not licensed to provide.
With these draconian measures, some one who looks Hispanic—whether they are a citizen, often going back genera tions in this country, especially in states like Texas or Arizona, which used to be Mexican territory—is in imminent dan ger; permanent residents, temporary visa holders, and undocumented people are also at risk. No one carries their passport or green card pinned to their forehead. Therefore, it’s expected that the National Guard soldiers and police will rely on the use of racial profiling. And that’s not the only issue: add in serious violations of civil rights and irreparable harm to the state’s economy. But those damaging consequences aren’t of importance to Republicans like Abbott, since they prefer to use immi grants as sacrificial scapegoats, like always, for their political advantage at election time. Who can forget the effects of two laws, SB 1070 in Arizona and HB 56 in Alabama? America’s Voice was in both states reporting firsthand about the effect of these laws on the Hispanic population. Not only did they sow fear in the undoc umented immigrant community, but among Latinos in general; citizens who feared being detained at any moment, solely because of the color of their skin; or, in other cases, for speaking English with an accent. Not to mention the dam age both measures had on the states’ economies.InAlabama, for example, many crops were lost because undocumented people who worked in the fields left, for fear of being detained. Local businesses lost the customers who frequented them and the state itself lost out on sales taxes, having fewer consumers. It’s that politicians like Abbott exploit the immigration issue for political rea sons without thinking about or, worse still, understanding the impact that these measures can have on Hispanics who are voters and perhaps even voted for him— without thinking about the damage that can be inflicted on their own economy or state’sThisimage.matters so little that they even resort to other, more sinister strategies— as if the self-inflicted damage was not already enough. For example,
Whether through state laws, city ordinances, executive orders, or federal measures, if antiimmigrant Republicans have anything in common it’s that they are operating from the same, old playbook: promoting— and, oftentimes, implementing—mea sures that pretend to combat undocu mented immigration but end up inflicting damage on minority communities. Those targeted are often Hispanics, especially through the use of racial profiling and the violation of civil rights. It’s an image that they created of them selves and which they cannot fight, not even the most moderate conservatives, since their silence in the face of the sub jugation of the political sect that has formed in response to former President Donald Trump has forever harmed their principles and values. If anything remains from all that, no one knows because they have permitted a racist and anti-immigrant movement to keep their party hostage to this day, out of conven ience.Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas who issued an executive order authoriz ing the Texas National Guard and Texas Department of Public Safety to detain undocumented immigrants and return them to the border—based on the argu ment that the administration of Joe Biden has shirked its federal responsibility to control the borders—provides the most recent example. Additionally, the socalled Operation Lone Star, another joint mission between the Texas Department of Public Safety and the state’s National Guard began in March 2021, supposedly to control undocumented immigration and illegal drug trafficking. This situation is proof that, from their perspective on race and power, the gov ernor is willing to undermine federal law, in frank defiance of a democratic govern ment he attacks every other day, in order to position itself before potential voters, scarcely months before the next election. Basically, in addition to the fact that these measures usurp the federal role of approving and enforcing immigration laws, and are purely political games to maintain the support of voters who make up their base, these initiatives are also the perfect recipe for the use of racial profil ing.Operation Lone Star, for example, which has been allocated some $4 billion from state coffers and engaged 10,000 members of the National Guard, does not wind up “protecting” the border, but criminalizing immigrants in order to deport them in an expedited fashion, alleging that there is supposedly an “invasion,” despite the fact that many are coming, paradoxically, to find protection in the United States.
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The Immigrant's Journal Legal & Educational Fund, Inc. is an organization dedicated to the educational and economic empowerment of all immigrants and immigrant organizations here in the United States. We at the Journal recog nize the enormous contribution of immigrants to this country economically, socially and polit ically. Since September 11, 2001, however, immigrants have increasingly been discriminat ed against and Congress has passed legisla tion curtailing the rights of immigrants here in the U.S., broadly claiming that immigrants are a threat to ''National Security.'' We at the Journal believe that these charges are unfounded, unsubstantiated and exaggerated.
What is the significance of bringing such a xenophobic and racist person to the United States at the very moment an epic battle is being waged to eradicate anti-immigrant sentiment from this coun try? Obviously it is both a cynical and dangerous provocation, with incalculable consequences, about which Republicans simply do not care. Moreover, they also do not care that their racist rhetoric and claims of an “invasion” have lethal consequences such as the El Paso, Texas massacre, which is coming up on its third anniver sary August 3, and where the white supremacist Patrick Crusius shot 23 peo ple in a Walmart store, motivated by the hate speech, intolerance, and fanaticism that intensified against minorities, often Latino minorities, during Donald Trump’s presidency. When it comes to Abbott’s executive order, Democrats and activists in Texas have denounced the initiative’s danger and, in the case of Operation Lone Star, the daily Texas Tribune and ProPublica reported that according to state records, the Department of Justice will be investi gating potential civil rights violations. SB 1070 was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2012, and HB 56 was blocked by lawsuits, until a set tlement was negotiated in 2013 between the state, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and civil rights groups who sued, arguing the law’s unconstitu tionality. Alabama permanently blocked the law’s most onerous provisions. But their footprint, as nasty as it is prej udicial, will remain in perpetuity, like a dress rehearsal for the future that we reached this century, irremediably. Republican extremism has intensified and the party has continued to take gov ernorships and state assemblies that are fertile ground for this type of measure, as we see in Texas. Worse still, the midterm elections are near, where the potential exists for the Republicans to re-take con trol of one or both chambers of Congress. And it’s expected that they will push a migration agenda as extremist as the fig ures who control the Republican Party. MARIBEL HASTINGS DAVID AMERICA’S VOICE
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TORRES
Republicans have invited the prime min ister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, to partic ipate in the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas this week, knowing the neo-Nazi tint of this European politi cian’s ideas. Last month, Orban said: “There is a world in which European peoples are mixed together with those arriving from outside Europe. Now that is a mixed-race world. And there is our world, where people from within Europe mix with one another… This is why we have always fought: we are willing to mix with one another, but we don’t want to become peoples of mixed-race.”
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Anti-immigrant Republican Extremism Positions Itself and Intensifies
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l BY
• You can ask if they have a judicial warrant: If they say No, you do not have to let them in. You may say, “I do not want to speak with you.” If they say Yes, you can ask them to slide it under the door. To know if it is a judicial warrant, look to see who signed the warrant. A judicial warrant is a warrant from a court, signed by a judge. For example, judge signatures may have “Honorable/Hon.” “Judge” “Justice” or “Magistrate” in front of them.
What can I do if ICE is inside my home?
Know Your Rights
• You can tell them if there are children or other vulnerable residents in your home.
What can I do if ICE stops me on the street or in public?
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• If ICE starts to search rooms or items in your home, you can tell them, “I do not consent to your search.” You can continue to repeat this if they continue to search without consent.
• You do not have to immediately open the door for ICE and you do not have to speak to ICE.
• Before you say anything, you can ask, “Am I free to go?”
• In an emergency, such as a threat to public safety or a threat to someone’s life, ICE can come in without asking your permission. If this happens, you still do not have to speak to ICE.
What can I do if ICE is at my door?
• If ICE is looking for someone, you do not need to speak. If you choose to speak, you can ask ICE to leave contact information. While you do not need to tell ICE where the person is located, providing false information puts you at risk.
• If ICE enters your home without your permission, you can tell them clearly: “I do not consent to you being in my home. Please leave.” Saying this may not always stop them, but it may help any future legal case.
• From behind the closed door, you may ask them who they are and to show their badge, ID or business card through the window or peephole or to pass it under the closed door.
If they say Yes: you can say, “I don’t want to answer your questions” If they say No: you can say, “I want to silent.”remain If ICE agents try to search your pockets or belongings, you can say, “I do not consent to a search.” If they search you anyway, you cannot physically stop them, but clearly saying it may be important in any future legal case. with ICE If approached by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents, you have rights! Call 855-768-8845 for an ConsultationImmigration
This fact sheet gives only general information. It is not legal advice. Consult an attorney for legal advice. English
Mayor Adam Press Secretary Fabien Levy said Abbott was using "human
Murad Awawdeh, Executive Director, New York Immigration Coalition: "Texas Governor Greg Abbott continues to prove he's a cold-hearted publicityseeking bigot, bent on bolstering his polling numbers no matter who pays the cost. In this case, it's vulnerable asylum seekers who have been dragged into his games of political retribution. His cal lousness has real consequences and hurts the individuals and families who have come to the United States fleeing perse cution, violence, and climate disaster as they are lawfully entitled to do. This cri sis is self-manufactured and puts vulner able immigrant families in the crossfire. The New York Immigration Coalition will continue to work with NYS Governor Hochul, NYC Mayor Eric Adams, and the NYC City Council to ensure that everyone who makes their way to our city can transition and inte grate successfully. Greg Abbott may not value the safety and well-being of new comer immigrant families, but New York always has and always will be a welcom ing city for all immigrants."
In April 2022, Governor Abbott direct ed the Texas Division of Emergency Management to charter buses to transport over 5000 migrants from Texas to Washington, D.C. Many of the migrants have continued their journey to New York City. As a result, New York has seen an uptick of new asylum seekers who need shelter and other services in a few short months. As one of the few cities in America with the right to housing laws, New York City must provide emergency shelter for every unhoused person.
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Immigrant Advocates Slam Texas Gov for Busing Migrants to NYC as Callous Political Ploy beings as political pawns," calling it "a disgusting, and an embarrassing stain on the state of Texas." Levy said New York would continue to "welcome asylum seekers with open arms, as we always have, but we are ask ing for resources to help do so," calling for support from federal officials. Manuel Castro, Commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs, said, "Governor Greg Abbott is continu ing to play with the lives of human beings. We think this is cruel, disgusting, and pure cowardice." Castro explained that some migrants were confused about arriving in the Big Apple and relief work ers who met the buses said many had no idea they were coming to New York City. "I spoke to another family who thought they were coming to Maryland. And their paperwork from immigration says that they were going to these destinations, but they were lied to in Texas, and now they're being sent to New York City," CastroMeanwhile,said. the Border Network for Human Rights (BNHR), along with local immigrant and civil rights partners, held GovEditorialAbbott.credit: Carrington Tatum / Shutterstock.com
On Friday, August 5, Governor Greg Abbott announced the arrival of the first group of migrants bused to New York City from Texas. The migrants are being dropped off this morning on a green bus at Port Authority Bus Terminal at Gate 14. In addition to Washington, D.C., New York City will now be a drop-off location for the busing strategy as part of the Governor's response to the Biden Administration's open border policies overwhelming Texas communities.
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"Because of President Biden's contin ued refusal to acknowledge the crisis caused by his open border policies, the State of Texas has had to take unprece dented action to keep our communities safe," said Governor Abbott. "In addition to Washington, D.C., New York City is the ideal destination for these migrants, who can receive the abundance of city services and housing that Mayor Eric Adams has boasted about within the sanctuary city. I hope he follows through on his promise of welcoming all migrants with open arms so that our overrun and overwhelmed border towns can find relief."
AManhattan judge ruled Friday to throw out the New York City education department’s budget and allow the City Council and Mayor Eric Adams to reconsider how to fund schools this year. Judge Lyle Frank ruled in favor of two teachers and two parents who filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court last month, claiming that the city violated state law when it approved the education department’s budget for this fiscal year. The extraordinary ruling means that until the City Council revisits the budget, New York City must fund the school sys tem at the same levels it did last fiscal year, which could mean at least a tempo rary boost in funding for most city schools. As many advocates, educators and union leaders celebrated the ruling, the city filed a notice to appeal hours after the judge published his decision. “Obviously there are many, many court cases that have a huge impact on the city budget, but to implicate the process and require a redo or a do-over seems unprecedented,” said David Bloomfield, a professor of education, law, and public policy at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center. Like several of his predecessors, schools Chancellor David Banks had used an “emergency declaration” to cir cumvent a vote on it by the Panel for Education Policy, a largely mayoral appointed board that approves spending and “Whatcontracts.was most in question was whether the Emergency Declaration put forth by the Schools Chancellor on May 31 was a valid exercise of the Chancellor’s powers,” Frank wrote in his three-page decision. “The Court finds that it was Thoughnot.”the lawsuit focused on the budget approval process, the push to take action was prompted by Adams’ $215 million cuts to schools, which he said were necessary because of declining enrollment. City Comptroller Brad Lander, who estimated the cuts were closer to $370 million, has said the city has enough stimulus funding leftover from last year to cover the cuts. City Council has also determined that the overall cut is closer to $365 million, based on data they received from the education department, according to new council analysis obtained by Chalkbeat. The education department budget last year was roughly $32 billion, about $1 billion greater than this year, largely propped up by federal stimulus dollars that are now drying up. The judge’s decision only affects the education department’s portion of the budget, and does not make recommenda tions on how much funding should have gone to schools this year. However, budget experts said altering the educa tion department’s budget could result in changes to other parts of the city’s over all financial plan.
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Frank also said that his ruling should not prevent the allocation of additional funds from sources such as the federal government going to schools, nor should it prevent the implementation of the dyslexia program the education depart ment is creating. (The education depart ment had argued that funding for such programs would be held up because of the“Students,lawsuit.) teachers, and parents need finalized budgets to ensure they are on track for a smooth opening next month,” City Hall spokesperson Amaris Cockfield said in a statement. “We are disappointed in the judge’s ruling, and will be taking immediate steps to appeal.”Principals may find it helpful to receive a boost of funding now, as many may still be hiring and planning out classes. However, funding levels could potential ly change again after city lawmakers reconsider the budget. More School Aid Likely Adams had planned to phase in the cuts over two years, using some stimulus dol lars to soften the blow, and argues that cuts are necessary now in order to avoid even sharper slashes if enrollment con tinues to fall. However, many educators and advocates have questioned the preci sion of the city’s enrollment projections, and have argued that schools still need all possible dollars as students continue to recover from the pandemic. The City Council overwhelmingly approved the budget in June, but many council members apologized for their vote after public outcry over the school cuts. It’s likely that the majority of coun cil members will push to reverse the cuts. Forty-one of the city’s 51 council mem bers have called on the mayor to use stimulus funding to restore the cuts. But it remains to be seen how much money they’ll push for or where those dollars will come from — given that the city is legally required to have a balanced budget. The ruling offered no timeline for when or how the city needs to redo the education budget. While the judge’s order said the city must return to expenses and “spending levels” from last fiscal year, there’s no specific language on how the city should do Citythat. officials, who are appealing, did not comment on how they would comply with the order. The city’s overall financial plan could suddenly be out of balance, said Andrew Rein, president of the fiscal watchdog, Citizens Budget Commission Additionally, depending on the city’s interpretation, officials could distribute funding the same way as they did last year. That would send increases to more than three-quarters of the city’s roughly 1,600 public schools and cuts for the rest, according to an analysis from Lander. Or the city could do something differ ent, such as spend the same amount of money from last year but distributes it differently.“Idon’tthink the wording in the order is clear enough for us to understand that,” said Ana Champeny, vice president of research for the Citizens Budget com mission.Many schools, in the meantime, have spent the summer excessing staff and cutting back certain programs as they dealt with smaller budgets. Nina Demos, principal of P.S. 503 in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park, said she would welcome more funding, but it’s late in the summer to drastically alter how she would spend money without more cer tainty.Her school saw 20% less funding for hiring staff and building classes, accord ing to a Chalkbeat analysis. Demos may get money back in the winter because she’s already enrolled 40 more students than the city projected. Between declining enrollment and lack of funding for hiring new staff, she’s cut three classes from her school. For now, she’s put several clubs, such as dance, and after-school programs on hold until she’s sure she has the money to operate them.The news of the judge’s ruling and lack of clarity over what happens next, she said, means that “nothing is certain,” including whether her school might get more money before the school year starts in about a month. “Then you get a windfall of money, and it’s like, well how to spend it now?” she said. “You could get it in January when the spending deadline is March.”l This story was originally published by Chalkbeat, a nonprofit news organiza tion covering public education. This story was published on August 5, 2022 by THE CITY.
Judge Orders Redo for NYC Schools Budget After Cuts Challenged
BY REEMA AMIN, CHALKBEAT AND AMY ZIMMER, CHALKBEAT
Parents and education advocates rally on Thursday, Aug. 4, in front of a Manhattan courthouse before a hearing on the lawsuit against NYC schools budget process.Reema Amin / Chalkbeat
For almost two decades, asylum seekers taken into Border Patrol custody who passed a “credible fear” interview have been eligible to seek release from detention on bond while they go through the asylum process. But now that right is gone. On July 29, a federal district court in Washington erased a key legal victory which had kept the Trump administration from eliminat ing those bond hearings. The order was the inevitable result of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Garland v. Aleman Gonzalez , which limited the power of courts to order bond hearings in class action cases. For now, certain people who pass asy lum screening interviews may be detained for months or even years with out the opportunity to ask an immigration judge to release them during their asylum proceedings. Padilla v. ICE is a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of people who enter the United States between ports of entry, are put in a fast-tracked deportation process called expedited removal, and who pass an initial screening interview about their In April 2019, the Trump administration tried to eliminate bond hearings for these asylum seekers in a decision by thenAttorney General William Barr called Matter of M-S. But in July 2019, right as the decision was to go into effect, the dis trict court in Padilla issued a preliminary injunction ordering the government to provide class members with bond hear ings as part of their constitutional right to due process. This order remained in effect until last Friday, July 29. But its fate was sealed in the Supreme Court’s Aleman Gonzalez decision. In Aleman Gonzalez , the Supreme Court held that lower courts cannot issue class-wide injunctions to force the government to act (or not act), with respect to the implementation of cer tain immigration laws—including the immigration detention statutes. Since the Padilla injunction was similar to the one that the Supreme Court ruled against in
Bond Hearings for Asylum Seekers Are Latest Casualty of the Recent Supreme Court Term Aleman Gonzalez, it too could no longer beThankfully,upheld. the Padilla case is not over. The district court still has to reconsider its original decision that class members have a constitutional due process right to a bond hearing, following the Supreme Court’s 2020 decision in Department of Homeland Security v. Thuraissigiam , which limited due process rights for cer tain recent arrivals. The district court will also need to consider whether to issue declaratory relief—a statement of what the law requires, without a specific order instructing the government to do some thing—or other relief on the remaining legal claims. In the meantime, these asylum seekers are left without bond hearings. While they may try to pursue individual habeas petitions demanding a bond hearing, this still leaves many people at risk of lengthy detention. But the government could still act. Nothing prevents the Biden administra tion from protecting the due process rights of asylum seekers by releasing these people—all of whom have been screened and found to have a credible fear of persecution—on parole.l
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BY EMMA WINGER
WANTED:AGENTSESTATEREAL
.Editorial credit: Jose Carrera / Shutterstock.com
Background Approximately 70,000 migrants were subject to the policy, known officially as Migrant Protection Protocols, from when then President Donald Trump introduced it in January 2019 until Joe Biden sus pended it on his first day in office in January 2021, fulfilling a campaign promise.Migrants were allowed to return to the United States to pursue their cases during the early months of Biden’s presidency, often from squalid, dangerous, ad hoc camps or strained shelter accommoda tion in towns a short distance over the border into Mexico. Then it was reinstated. Migrants fleeing to the US were again halted at the border and made to stay out of the US. This, combined with a policy of regular expul sions at the border under a heavily criti cized pandemic rule seemingly to curb Covid-19, known as Title 42, has driven thousands to make unauthorized cross ings, often repeatedly. The results were deadly for some – including surrendering to failed smuggling dealings, the twirling waters of the Rio Grande in Texas, or the desert further west. From December to June, almost 6,000 persons were subject to the policy. Nicaraguans account for the most significant number, with others from Cuba, Colombia, and Venezuela.
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Shelter for the migrant caravan of Central Americans heading to the United States
CHRIS
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First, this policy leaves many vulnerable asylum seekers in dangerous and unsafe circumstances, including those in which their lives may be at risk, they may not be able to access health services and human itarian aid, and they may face deporta tion.Second, making asylum seekers wait in Mexico to access protection is profound ly concerning from a due process and access to justice perspective. This policy impacts those who have shown that they have a credible fear of persecution; nonetheless, it will make them wait in Mexico without access to family, legal, or social support. Undoubtedly, this will make it more difficult for those subject to the policy to assert their asylum claims successfully and risk retraumatizing them in the unsafe conditions in which they are forced to wait.
Trump had made the policy a center piece of his border enforcement.
Why is the Remain in Mexico policy harmful? What are the concerns with this policy? Making vulnerable people wait to access asylum protection and due process in Mexico is concerning for several reasons.
Biden Administration Ends Trump-era ‘Remain in Mexico’ Policy TOBIAS APPLYNOW! It's time to make a career choice that you will LOVE. Send equitysmartrealty.comresumeyourtoinfo@
On Monday, August 8, the Biden administration announced it would wind down the use of a controversial immigration policy known as Remain in Mexico, which denies US entry to migrants seeking asylum while their claims are pending. A federal court removed a final procedural hurdle pre venting it from doing so. The court said in a 5-4 ruling that the Biden administra tion acted properly in seeking to end the “Remain in Mexico” policy. The timing had been questioned since the US Supreme Court ruling on June 30 that the Biden administration could end the policy. Homeland security officials had been mostly quiet, explaining that they had to wait for the court to certify the ruling and for a Trump-appointed judge, Matthew Kacsmaryk, in Amarillo, Texas, to lift his injunction. Last week, the Supreme Court certified its ruling, and opponents of the policy had been increasingly outspoken about the Biden administration’s reticence on Remain in Mexico, calling for an immediate end to it. The following is the statement from DHS: “We welcome the US District Court’s decision, which follows the US Supreme Court’s June 30 decision, to lift the injunction that required DHS to reim plement the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) in good faith. DHS is committed to ending the court-ordered implementa tion of MPP in a quick and orderly man ner. Individuals are no longer newly enrolled in MPP, and individuals current ly in MPP in Mexico will be disenrolled when they return for their next court date. Individuals disenrolled from MPP will continue their removal proceedings in the United States. As Secretary Mayorkas has said, MPP has endemic flaws, imposes unjustifiable human costs, and pulls resources and per sonnel away from other priority efforts to secure our border. The Department will provide additional information in the coming days. MPP enrollees should follow the directions on their court documents and tear sheets to appear for their scheduled court date as required.DHScontinues to enforce our nation’s immigration and public health laws, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Title 42 public health order as required by court order. Individuals encountered at the Southwest Border who cannot establish a legal basis to remain in the United States will be removed or expelled.”
Immigration advocates decried the poli cy calling it inhumane for exposing migrants to extreme violence in Mexico and making access to attorneys far more difficult.
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Today's real estate market is geared toward sellers. There are only so many homes on the market and the good ones tend to go fast! Most homes have multiple showings and offers within the first few days. Because of this, it is important that you are ready to go once you start looking for homes. So, how can you prepare now, so you are ready to act fast and find the home of your dreams? Here are some things that you need to do now. Select a real estate professional. You should never go through this process alone. A good real estate professional will make the whole process go much more smoothly. He or she will be able to lend their expertise so that you are ready to go, when you do find a good home. Get your paperwork in order. If you are going to need to finance your new home, it is important that you start collecting all of the necessary documents. You are going to need tax returns, pay stubs, and other paperwork in order to get a mort gage loan. Go even further and get preapproved. You will be more ready to put a contract on a home if you are preapproved for a loan. If there are multiple offers on a home, they may not even consider any that aren't backed by a mortgage loan. Know exactly what you want and need. You shouldn't waste your time looking at homes that aren't what you want, so it is a good idea to start jotting down your thoughts when it comes to what you want and need in a home. How many bed rooms do you need? How many would you prefer? What about bathrooms? What style of home are you looking for? All of this will help your real estate professional point you in the right direction. Before you even dream of buying a home, it is important to meet with a real estate professional and a mortgage lender. This step will save you a lot of hassle down the road. It also helps to have a good idea what you are looking for in a home, so you don't waste your time look ing through homes that are nothing like you
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Paralegal work is intellectually challeng ing and involves a range of high-level skills. The most successful paralegals are problem-solvers and innovative thinkers. Paralegals must become subject matter experts in their specialty areas and mas ter legal procedure, research, drafting, and other skills. They must stay on top of ever-changing laws and new legal trends and developments while interfacing with attorneys, opposing counsel, vendors, staff members, clients, and others. The work is varied, and each day brings new challenges.
Acareer as a paralegal (also known as a legal assistant) can be a wonderfully fulfilling pro fession. Paralegals perform legal, regula tory, and business-related research for lawyers working at their organization. Most of the time, paralegals work for law offices, non-profits, corporations' legal departments, or courts. These profession als also provide legal support services to attorneys. They assist lawyers in filing motions, memoranda, pleadings, and briefs in various court systems and accompany lawyers to see clients and go to court. Here are five great things about being a paralegal:
3. Easy Career Entry
The paralegal field is one of the fastestgrowing professions on the globe. The U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, predicts the employ ment of paralegals and legal assistants by over 25 percent, much faster than the average for all occupations. Among the factors driving this growth is client demand for cheaper, more efficient delivery of legal services. Since hourly rates charged by attorneys are typically double or triple the rates of paralegals for the same task, law firm economics man dates the increased use of paralegals to minimize costs. As a result, a paralegal career is one of the hottest non-lawyer jobs in the legal industry.
Ready to Take the Leap? A career as a paralegal can be rewarding professionally and personally and offers a unique opportunity to help others; options vary, depending on the parale gal's practice area. Paralegals in the pub lic interest sector help poor and disad vantaged segments of the population with legal issues ranging from protection from domestic abuse to assistance preparing wills. Ready to take the leap, the next step? Call us at 718-722-9217 or visit www.freeparalegal.org to complete your registration which includes pay ment.l
4. Intellectual Challenge
5 Reasons to Become a Paralegal
1. Rise in Pay Paralegal compensation has risen steadi ly in the past decade. As paralegals per form a broader and more complex range of tasks (paralegals even represent clients in court in certain countries and administrative tribunals), their earnings continue to rise. The average paralegal salary hovers at around $50,000 per year, but paralegals often make more through bonuses. Overtime hours can also add significant cash to a paralegal's pay check.
2. Explosive Employment Outlook
Unlike lawyers who must complete seven years of formal education and pass the bar exam to practice law, you can become a paralegal in as little as a few months of study.
BY THE CHAMBER COALITION
JOBS & RECESSION 10 Orientation is Monday, Sept. 12, 2022 Join us via Zoom at 6pm VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.THEIMMIGRANTSJOURNAL.COM FOR MORE IMMIGRATION NEWS & UPDATES
5. Rising Prestige As paralegals perform more complex and challenging work, paralegal prestige is rising. Paralegals are no longer simply lawyer's assistants; they assume corpo rate management roles, leadership roles in law firms, and entrepreneurial roles in independent paralegal businesses. Over the years, paralegals have transcended the image of glorified legal secretaries to become respected legal team members.
Thousands of immigration court cases have been dismissed this year for an astonishing reason: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has failed to file the most basic paperwork with the courts. According to a report released last week by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) of Syracuse University, tens of thousands of cases across the country were being closed over CBP’s failure to complete what it called a “ministerial task.” TRAC received data through Freedom of Information Act requests that showed judges are closing these cases because the Notice to Appear (NTA)—the sum mons that initiates a court proceeding— was not being filed with the courts. There are generally two steps for an immigration court removal proceeding to be initiated against a noncitizen. First, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official determines that they believe someone is in the United States unlawfully. When this occurs at or near the border, generally CBP makes the determination that the person is inadmis sible and should be removed. CBP will issue an NTA to the noncitizen, which contains the reasons why the official has determined they do not have permission to be in the United States and orders them to appear at a particular immigra tion court at a certain time and date. Then, as a purely administrative step, CBP must file the NTA with the court system itself through an online portal. CBP has skipped this second step in thousands of cases, resulting in the cases themselves being dismissed. There has been a dramatic increase in cases being closed for this reason in the last year. According to TRAC, this seems to coincide with when CBP itself was given the responsibility of filing the NTAs with the courts, as opposed to ICE. However, around the same time the process was also centralized, using the relatively new electronic EOIR Courts and Appeals System (ECAS) filing sys tem, which should make filing the NTAs a simple process. The effects on the courts vary widely. The Miami “Dedicated Docket” set up for asylum seekers arriving from the bor der has had an extraordinary 81% of cases so far in 2022 closed due to the lack of a filed NTA. While not universal, it seems that the Dedicated Dockets are more likely to be affected than the regu lar dockets, even in the same city. The Dedicated Dockets program began in May 2021. The departments of Homeland Security and Justice promoted the program as a way to speed up immi gration court cases. Dedicated Dockets are in 10 cities and 11 courts (there are two in New York City). Besides Miami, the Boston Dedicated Docket had 62% of its cases closed for lack of a filed NTA, place—such as U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services—only to have it transferred to the courts, with USCIS itself finally filing the NTA in the court system.The report revealed a huge waste of time and money, with noncitizens not knowing whether they need to show up for court and courts closing cases that should otherwise be adjudicated. It is yet another example of our profoundly bro ken immigration system.l
IMMIGRANTS’ CONCERNS 11 VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.THEIMMIGRANTSJOURNAL.COM FOR MORE IMMIGRATION NEWS & UPDATES
■ Call the Commission: 212.676.3090 with Denver, New York, El Paso, and Los Angeles Dedicated Dockets all over the national average for closed cases as well. Yet other courts in New York, for example, had far fewer cases closed for thisBecausereason.the data only shows the court where the case was closed, but not which CBP offices are involved, TRAC was unable to determine if there was a pattern of specific CBP field offices responsible. Whether it is one field office or several that are responsible, it is clear that CBP is failing to complete a basic administrative task that is affecting tens of thousands of people this year. The failure to file the NTA has caused enormous confusion amongst nonciti zens and their counsel. It can also inter fere with a noncitizen’s appropriate and timely processing of an application. While for some, the closure of a removal proceeding may be welcome, for others it can delay requests for asylum and other relief. The noncitizen is being given the NTA, making it appear to them and their attorneys that a removal case has begun—and yet the case may not actual ly have CBP’sstarted.failure to file NTAs also affects where an application should be filed. For asylum seekers, it can be the difference between a defensive or affirmative appli cation. It may also lead to large delays on applications for Employment Authorization Documents for asylum seekers, whose EAD applications are tied to when their asylum applications are filed. Because of the confusion as to whether there is an open immigration court case, asylum seekers and attorneys are having to file applications in one
How to participate:
■ Attend a public hearing in person or virtually: 8/16 5:30 – 9 pm Museum of the Moving Image, Astoria 8/17 5:30 – 9 pm Lehman College, The Bronx 8/18 5:30 – 9 pm Staten Island Borough Hall 8/21 3:30 – 7 pm Medgar Evers College, Brooklyn 8/22 5:30 – 9 pm Schomberg Center, Harlem Visit nyc.gov/districting for interactive maps and more information
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New Report Reveals Widespread Failures by DHS To Prosecute Immigration Court Cases BY REBEKAH WOLF
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Process of Awarding a TPS
The program has received bipartisan sup port from Democrats and Republicans since its creation over three decades ago, but it has also sparked controversy. Former President Donald Trump sought to end TPS for many migrants to restrict immigration. Still, the attempt was chal lenged in court, causing delays.
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TPS: What You Need to Know / continued from page 1 Salvador 252,000), Honduras (80,700), Haiti 56,400), Nepal 14,600), Syria (7,000), Nicaragua (4,500), Burma (1,600), Yemen (1,400), Sudan (805), Somalia (400), and South Sudan (80) such benefits under the program. Since the program's inception, the U.S. government has granted TPS to nineteen countries, including Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Angola, Herzegovina, Bosnia, Kuwait, and Liberia. Recently, Haitians, Burmans, and Venezuelans qualified for the program, and there are over four hun dred thousand TPS holders in the coun try. What is the Temporary Protected Status? TPS, as popularly known, is a temporary designation that allows beneficiaries to reside in the U.S lawfully. Also, it grants multiple entries into the country, for the duration of the emergency, without dreading the possibility of being placed into removal proceedings for lacking a visa or Migrantsstatus.from the designated countries can legally reside in the United States for up to eighteen months, although not con sidered lawful permanent residents or U.S. citizens. Many migrants have law fully lived under the program for several years in the United States. Additionally, TPS recipients can apply for permanent residency designations separately if eligi ble. How It All Started George H.W. Bush enacted the TPS pro gram under his administration in 1990. Hence, eligible citizens or nationals from select countries to maintain refugee sta tus, work authorization, temporary juridi cal immigration, or protection from Department of Homeland Security (DHS) deportation. The U.S. Congress approved it as a pro gram that allows migrants whose home countries are unsafe the right to tem porarily live and work and, though for an extensible duration in the country. It is renewable with designated periods rang ing from six to 18 months; however, the U.S. government can renew the status indefinitely.Congressendorsed the program as part of the Immigration Act of 1990 as humanitarian relief to citizens of coun tries suffering natural disasters, protract ed unrest, or conflict. Salvadorans flee ing civil war were the first to benefit from the program. For countries to qualify for this program, they must be experiencing an environ mental disaster such as drought, hurri cane, or earthquake, armed hostilities like civil wars, or there must be proof of abnormal emergencies that considerably affectConsequently,citizens. once a country's desig nation expires, the beneficiaries return to their original immigration status before receiving TPS. Most often, it is an undoc umented status, accompanied by the threat of deportation to their country of origin.The few options available include applying for temporary work or student visas. Those whose adult children or spouses are citizens or legal residents could become eligible to stay legally in the country.
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Challenges to the TPS
The combination of the U.S. Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security is responsible for renewing, des ignating, or eliminating a country's TPS eligibility. The Secretary can extend TPS after a review of a country's conditions to a 6-, 12- or 18-month extension made 60days before the expiration of the TPS designation.Whilethe Secretary of the DHS grants eligible foreign-born individuals the sta tus when they apply, an extension only applies to those who already have TPS status. Foreign nationals who arrive after the designated start date are eligible for status if TPS is re-designated for their country.
The Debate Over the Policy Supporters of TPS affirm that it serves as an effective humanitarian tool for people
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Where Do They Work? An estimated 130,000 TPS holders work as essential workers across the indus tries, especially in healthcare and food services. Male TPS holders work in con struction/painting, driving/delivery, cleaning buildings or houses, gardener, cook, or store clerk. Female TPS holders often work as cleaners, childcare min ders, cooks, clothing factory workers, or store clerks. Countries with Current TPS According to a DHS report of March 2021, over 300,000 migrants from ten countries reside in the United States under TPS. The number is expected to grow to over 500,000 since President Biden's extensions for South Sudan and Haiti, and new designations for Venezuela, Afghanistan, Ukraine, and Myanmar.
The Biden Administration Despite the arguments, President Joe Biden granted TPS status to four addi tional countries after assuming office. In March 2021, the Bidens administration gave TPS designations to Myanmar and Venezuela due to ongoing humanitarian crises. It announced a new eighteenmonth appointment for Haiti following weeks of political unrest there in May. DHS also extended TPS benefits for nine other countries, including Nepal, El Salvador, and Somalia, due to COVID19. In March 2022, Afghanistan and Ukraine became eligible after Russia invaded the latter; and South Sudan's conditions worsened. DHS extended pro tections to South Sudanese. In June 2021, the Supreme Court ruled that becoming a TPS holder does not override a previous unlawful entry into the country. The rul ing disqualified many migrants seeking to transition from TPS to permanent res idency.
What Happens to TPS Holders of Terminated Designated Countries'? While an average TPS recipient can spend over two decades in the United States, those whose country's TPS desig nation is expiring have fewer options to remain, especially previously undocu mented Presently,residents.several lawsuits challenging the terminations of TPS, such as for Haiti, Honduras, and Nepal, are pending as the court has blocked them, so the sit uation remains unclear.l
TPS: What You Need to Know / continued from page 12
The nationals of a designated country file for status during a specified registration period and have been on the ground in the U.S. since a fixed date receive TPS. Who Grants the Status Both the U.S Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security to the Country have the authority to designate a country, but the Secretary of homeland security to individuals.
Quick Facts About Temporary Protected Status (TPS) Who is Eligible for TPS?
Where Do Most TPS Holders Live Within the United States? While they reside all over the country, most live in six states: California, Florida, Texas, New York, Virginia, and Maryland. They also reside in Washington DC, Los Angeles, Miami, Houston, and Boston. Many TPS migrants who live in New York are from El Salvador, Honduras, and Haiti. How Do TPS Holders Contribute to the U.S. economy? The annual pre-tax salary or wage contri butions of TPS holders from El Salvador, Honduras, and Haiti is over $4.0 billion to the nation's gross domestic product. They also contribute over $6.5 billion over ten years to the overall Social Security and Medicare contributions.
What are the Benefits of TPS? TPS holders cannot be removed from the U.S. nor detained by DHS based on their immigration status They are eligible for travel authorization and an employment authorization docu ment (EAD). How Many Individuals Currently Have TPS? Over 400,000 foreign nationals from Afghanistan, Venezuela, Burma, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Central Americans make up the majority of TPS holders.
living in the United States who cannot safely return to their home countries. For example, El Salvador and Honduras remain the world's most dangerous coun tries; civil wars and humanitarian crises still ravage South Sudan and Yemen, while Russia continues its assault on Ukraine. Therefore, supporters of migrant rights are pushing for a TPS reform to make it easier for migrants to obtain permanent residency. Economic experts claim that the pro gram has economic benefits as having a larger employed immigrant population is beneficial. At the same time, removing TPS holders will hurt the economies of U.S. cities where many TPS beneficiaries reside.Alternatively, critics argue that an orig inally temporary designation should not become an automatic permanent pro gram. Some policymakers maintain that ending TPS designations after a set peri od is consistent with the program's goal of providing a temporary haven for indi viduals rather than a path to permanent residency.
Editorial credit: Ryan Rodrick Beiler / Shutterstock.com a day of action across Texas border cities on Saturday, August 6. The day of action is to denounce the racism, xenophobia, and white supremacy spreading across the State of Texas fostered by Gov. Gregg Abbott's anti-immigrant rhetoric and agenda. For the first time, multiple border cities and counties unite to condemn Gov. Abbott's Operation Lone Star, which is responsi ble for the migrant deaths along the border and the misuse of Texans' money to fund anti-immi grant policies and operations. Gov. Abbott has been continuously attacking immigrant communities through abusive and dis criminatory policies that target and criminalize vulnerable immigrants coming to the U.S. seek ing safety and a better future. Gov. Abbott's Operation Lone Star and his recent order to arrest and return migrants to the US-Mexico border completely disregard human rights laws, separate families, and violate the migrants' and asylum seekers' right to seek protection. These policies criminalize and incarcerate immigrants, pushing them to undertake dangerous routes to access the country, which, in many cases, lead to death, as is the case of the recent tragedy in San Antonio, Texas, where 53 migrants died in a tractor-trailer. Immigrant advocates at the border decried these policies and the dangerous spread of invasion rhetoric, which stokes fear and resentment, dehu manizes immigrants, escalates violence, and calls for establishing humane immigration policies that welcome migrants in an orderly, just, and digni fied manner.l
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VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.THEIMMIGRANTSJOURNAL.COM FOR MORE IMMIGRATION NEWS & UPDATES HOW TO GET A GREEN CARD 14 country on or before that date could apply to become LPRs. This date is now so far in the past that very few undocu mented immigrants currently living in the United States qualify. According to government data, 58,914 individuals became LPRs under the registry provi sion between Fiscal Year (FY) 1985 and FY 1989. But only 11,191 did so in the 1990s. That number fell to 2,319 in the 2000s and 911 in the 2010s. The bill introduced on July 20, “Renewing Immigration Provisions of the Immigration Act of 1929,” would create a rolling registry date allowing undocumented immigrants who have lived in the country for seven years or more to apply for LPR status. A total of 46 Democrats have endorsed the bill. If enacted, this bill would enable mil lions of undocumented immigrants who are long-term residents of the United States to become LPRs. The Department of Homeland Security estimates that 9.6 million of the 11.4 million undocument ed immigrants who were present in the United States in 2018 had lived here for at least nine years. Not all undocumented immigrants who came to the United States seven or more years ago would be eligible to apply for LPR status under the registry provision.
Immigrant
The Registry continued from page 1 Advocates Slam Texas Gov/ from
Some would not qualify due to criminal convictions or extended periods of absence from the country. But it is likely that most of them wouldCongressqualify.has the power to legalize the status of mil lions of undocumented immigrants who have called this country home for many years. And, by passing this bill, Congress could accom plish this by simply chang ing one line in a law that is already on the books. This “rolling registry” would cre ate a statute of limitations for being undocumented that would permit people to get a green card so long as they hadn’t committed any serious offenses during their time without status. This could give millions of people the opportunity for a second chance and would prevent the growth of an undocumented population. Unfortunately, the bill likely faces strong opposition, and is unlikely to be able to garner the 60 votes it would need to clear a Senate filibuster. Although the bill is unlikely to pass this year, it repre sents the strongest support in decades for what used to be the routine practice of updating the registry date. l
Debunking Major Myths About Immigrants’ Socioeconomic Status in the US
Opponents of immigration often claim that European immigrants who came to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries are radically different than the Latin Americans and Asians who immigrate here today.
The book, Streets of Gold: America’s Untold Story of Immigrant Success, was written by Ran Abramitzky and Leah Boustan. The authors recently discussed their book in a webinar held by the American Immigration Council. The authors draw upon their own groundbreaking research comparing the Europeans who came to this country between 1880 and 1920 with the Latin American and Asian immigrants who have arrived since 1965. Contrary to popular belief, they find that today’s immigrants are in fact very similar to immigrants a century ago. They move up the economic ladder and integrate into U.S. culture at the same rate. Their research also indicates that immigration over the past century-and-a-half has not harmed the majority of U.S.-born work ers.These findings contradict the assertions of anti-immigrant activists that immi grants today are less successful and less willing to assimilate than the European immigrants who came before them—and that immigrants inevitably displace U.S.born workers in the job market.
Groundbreaking research
• The
BY WALTER EWING continued on page 16
VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.THEIMMIGRANTSJOURNAL.COM FOR MORE IMMIGRATION NEWS & UPDATES IMMIGRANTS’ MATTERS 15
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The authors of Streets of Gold devoted more than a decade to building the largest immigration database that has ever existed. They began by mining the millions of genealogical records avail able through Ancestry.com and then linked these records with historical cen sus data, birth certificates, Social Security records, tax records, interviews with immigrants, and congressional speeches about immigration. Combined, this data enabled the authors to track the socioeconomic progress of millions of individual immigrants and their children over time, starting in the 1880s and extending all the way to the present. This data set covers two peak periods in the history of immigration to the United States. The first began around 1880 and lasted until roughly 1920. During this period, most immigrants came from Europe. After the U.S. gov ernment implemented highly restrictive immigration quotas in 1924, immigration plummeted. Once those quotas were lift ed in 1965, immigration began to rise again. This second peak period of immi gration has lasted to the present time. Most immigrants during this most recent period have come from Latin America and Asia. Immigrants and their children are upwardly mobile Streets of Gold reveals that today’s immigrants from Latin America and Asia move up the economic ladder just as fast as immigrants who came from Europe in the late 1800s and early 1900s. However, this has never been a rapid rags-to-riches
A new book by two economic histori ans disproves that by examining several of the most widely held myths about eco nomic success and cultural integration among immigrants and their children.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is publishing an update to its Policy Manual to clarify that a current or former service member who received an uncharacter ized discharge may be eligible for natu ralization under sections 328 and 329 of the Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA).Previously, USCIS had interpreted the requirement for a separation “under hon orable conditions” in INA 328 and INA 329 to require a separation characterized as either Honorable or General-Under Honorable Conditions. This policy guid ance changes the USCIS interpretation of “under honorable conditions” to encom pass Uncharacterized discharges as well as Honorable and General-Under Honorable Conditions discharges. This interpretation aligns with a Department of Defense instruction on the interpretation of discharges and with a recent district court decision. This guid ance will be effective upon publication of the Policy Manual update and will apply to all pending and future applications. Applicants whom USCIS previously denied can submit a new application without fee.l
story. It often took decades for European immigrants to move from low-paid jobs to higher-paid jobs, just as it does for Latin American and Asian immigrants today.Another striking similarity between immigrants of the past and those of the present is that their children are more upwardly mobile than the children of U.S.-born Americans from similar eco nomic circumstances. This held true in the past for the children of immigrants who came here from Italy or Russia, and it holds true today for the children of immigrants who came from Mexico or Laos. One reason for this is that immi grant parents are more likely than U.S.born parents to settle in economically dynamic locales with more opportunities for upward mobility. Immigrants integrate into U.S. culture Abramitzky and Boustan also describe how present-day immigrants integrate into U.S. culture just as quickly as immi grants in the past. Over time, immigrants are (and always have been) increasingly proficient in English and more likely to move out of immigrant enclaves, give their children more American-sounding names, and marry spouses from other countries of origin. Immigrants don’t steal jobs Another major finding in Streets of Gold is that immigrants don’t steal jobs from U.S.-born workers. Most immigrants and U.S.-born Americans are not competing for the same Immigrantsjobs.tend to fill high-skilled or less-skilled jobs for which labor demand is high, but the supply of U.S.-born workers is relatively low. Job competi tion is greatest between immigrants who have just arrived in the United States and immigrants who have already lived here for several years. Immigration policy should be based on facts Opponents of immigration try to scare politicians and the public into supporting anti-immigrant policies by arguing that most of today’s immigrants aren’t as suc cessful, upwardly mobile, or willing to become “American” as European immi grants who came here a century ago. But as Streets of Gold demonstrates, these kinds of arguments are based on myth and stereotype—not fact. And the fact is that immigrants today are follow ing a path very similar to the path of immigrants a century ago.l
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Debunking Major Myths
continued from page 15
USCIS MilitaryConditions”“UnderInterpretationUpdatesofHonorableforNaturalization
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“For example, in California, the level of wastewater virus is very similar to (reported Covid levels) in January, when more people were getting tested,” explained Chin-Hong. Based on this data, current case rates would be far higher than the 130,000 daily infections now being reported. A summer surge of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), which can cause Covid-like symptoms, could also explain why a lot of people have received nega tive results on their home testing kits, said“TheShaffner.rapidtests are also less apt to give you a positive result in this BA5 era… that is why the CDC keeps focusing on hospitalizations, because they remind us that there is this important public health problem.”Therapeutics such as PAXLOVID have proven to be effective in preventing more severe diseases, mostly among older adults. And there is a monoclonal anti body that can be given to some people who are resistant to PAXLOVID. But experts insist that vaccines remain the most essential tool to fight the virus. “We know we have too many deaths, like 430 a day,” says Chin-Hong. “We have to manage (the virus) and we have the tools to do that right now,” he con cluded.
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l BY JENNY MANRIQUE EMS CONTRIBUTOR
Now is Not the Time to Drop Our Guard on Covid, Experts Say Health experts say that even as more people are vaccinated and boosted, the corona virus is here to stay. And they warn that future vari ants will likely keep medical practition ers and researchers on their toes as they work to keep both infections and the severity of infections down. Their message to the public is, don’t let your guard down. “COVID is going to be with us for the foreseeable future,” said Dr. William Schaffner, professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. “We're struggling to figure out how we can keep this virus down and minimize its damage, and still at the same time enjoy a reasonably normal life.”Schaffner was among a panel of speak ers for a July 29 media briefing organ ized by Ethnic Media Services on the lat est Covid variant, and the mounting questions around the pandemic and vac cineCOVIDefficacy.19 cases, deaths, and hospital izations are once again on the rise in the US. More than two-thirds of Americans have tested positive for COVID, includ ing President Joe Biden, who again test ed positive for the second time in a case of Covid rebound. The BA5 subvariant of Omicron is now responsible for more than 78% of infections in the country, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But public health experts say the fig ures could represent a severe undercount, with many people failing to report posi tive results from at-home tests. Shaffner stressed that updated vaccines will continue to be an essential part of the broader strategy. “We need more durable, long-term protection against a broader array of different variants, the ones we know and the ones we don't know yet,” he said. “We would like vaccines that abort and prevent the actual infection at the surface of the mucous membranes, not just vaccines that protect against seri ousNasaldisease.”vaccines, which can be adminis tered via a spray or dropper, are gaining more attention among clinical researchers and could offer another route to increasing vaccination rates. The NovaVax vaccine, recently authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was licensed for an initial twodose series, but not yet for a booster. But Dr. Ben Neuman, professor of biol ogy and chief virologist of the Global Health Research Complex at Texas A&M University, has his doubts. “NovaVax vaccine is fine, but it's about two years too late,” he said, adding the drug does not replicate the virus as effec tively as other vaccines. “NovaVax has this very delicate spike protein that is transported and protected very carefully; a little bit survives to go into your body… With the mRNA vaccine, you get perfect pristine spikes exactly the way natureNeumanintended.”noted that to date there have been 15 mutations of the Omicron vari ant, including the newer BA.5 and BA2.75 subvariants, for which the cur rent vaccines appear less effective. “We are still vaccinating against the 2019 virus and it is now late 2022,” he said. “We have a problem.”
Nearly a third of Americans remain unvaccinated, while a majority of Covidrelated deaths are occurring among peo ple 65 and over, including those who have been Speakersvaccinated.stressedthat masks continue to play a critical role in slowing the spread of the virus, particularly for those who are at high risk because of age or underlyingCurrentlyconditions.nostate mandates mask wearing in public, though several states still require mask wearing in high-risk settings, including hospitals and longterm care facilities. In April, a federal judge struck down the Biden administration’s mask require ment for public transit, airlines and trans portation hubs. The Justice Department is expected to appeal the ruling. Meanwhile, one-third of Americans have managed to avoid being infected by the virus altogether. According to Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, associate dean for Regional Campuses at the University of California, San Francisco, four factors help explain this trend. Some people may be genetically dis posed to having higher resistance to the virus, said Chin-Hong, something doc tors saw during the early years of the HIV/AIDS crisis. These individuals could play a role in future research on therapeutics for Covid, Chin-Hong noted.Behavior could be another factor, “as some people in the same household may be taking more precautions” in terms of wearing a mask or having close contact with other people. The timing of vaccines also plays a role, as the risks of infection have fluctuated over time during the pan demic.Finally, says Chin-Hong, some people may have been infected and just did not realize it, either because they were asymptomatic or because they were neverChin-Hongtested. believes that wastewater inspections can help to clarify the picture around actual infection rates. Unlike relying on tests and self-reporting, waste water can help researchers understand the extent to which the virus is spreading within a community.
Choosing An Es tate Attorney
Stacy Young Board Certified Holistic Health Coach
Organizing your estate can be overwhelming without the help of an expert. With the assistance of an estate planning attorney, you can discuss your vision for your assets before death. Don’t risk creating a plan that doesn’t specify your decisions to the exactWhendetails.searching for a specialized attor ney, it’s important to chat with a few dif ferent experts in your area. Make sure you feel comfortable in their office as the discussions of finances and final wishes can be intimate. Once you find several attorneys to interview for the role, here are some questions you should ask before deciding: How Long Have They Been Practicising Estate Planning Law? Many general attorneys will advertise that estate planning is a part of their practice. They can be a great help when creating legal documents like a will, health care directives and power of attor ney. However, if your financial situation is more complicated, an experienced estate planning lawyer will have better knowledge of the ever-changing laws and know how to protect your legacy. You should also know how long they have been in practice. Someone who has extensive experience in the industry has likely discovered flaws in previous cases and has learned how to correct them. Ensuring your final wishes are in good hands, is great peace of mind for both you and your loved ones. Do They Regularly Update Plans? To stay on top of your estate, find an attorney who offers an updating and maintenance program. The service may cost more, but they will contact you throughout the year and discuss new techniques, life-changing events which may impact your plans and alterations to laws.Working with a lawyer who stays in contact with you about your estate plan ensures your documents will be up-todate when it’s needed. How Do They Charge? Estate planning is necessary to prepare your family before your death. Ask about the fees the attorney charges. During the interview, find out if he or she charges a fixed rate or hourly. You don’t want to be surprised with unex pected fees.l If your
haveplanningexperiencedsituationfinancialismorecomplicated,anestatelawyerwillbetterknowledgeoftheever-changinglawsandknowhowtoprotectyourlegacy.
Contact: Are you looking to get into the health business?wellness&
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Final Thoughts Breaking free from an abusive relation ship is possible. If you or someone you know is in an abusive relationship, using the tips provided in this article can help. However, it's important to remember that every situation is different. So, make sure to tailor the tips to your specific situation. Lastly, don't forget to reach out for help from a hotline, domestic violence shelter, or support group if you need it.l BY MARY CAMPBELL
GREEN CARD SLAVERY?
It can be hard to break free from an abusive relationship. If you're feeling trapped and helpless, know that you are not alone. There are many people who want to help you, and there are steps you can take to get yourself out of this situation. Hopefully, these tips will help empower you and give you the strength to leave your abuser.
Don’t put up with ABUSE anymore! Whether married or not, whether your spouse is a U.S. citizen or Green Card Holder, we can get a Green Card for you and your children PLUS a divorce. Call 855-768-8845 now for a consultation! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
Legal Assistance for Immigrants Any victim of domestic violence — regardless of immigration or citizenship status — can seek help. An immigrant victim of domestic violence may also be eligible for immigration-related protec tions. If you are experiencing domestic violence in your home, you are not alone. A specialized immigration attorney should always be your first point of con tact regarding immigration questions and concerns. You can also listen to Ask the Lawyer Radio Program on WVIP 93.5FM on Thursdays, 10pm-11pm, and Sundays, 11pm to 12am. The program provides excellent information and an opportunity for a confidential, legal con sultation. The number to call is 855-7688845. You can also visit www.ask thelawyer.us to schedule an appointment. Domestic violence is against the law regardless of one’s immigration status. Be a loving family member, good friend, and caring neighbor: please share this information.
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Tip #2: Get Help from a Domestic Violence Shelter or Organization
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Tip #3: Create a Safety Plan If you've decided to leave your abuser, it's important to create a safety plan. This plan should include steps for how you'll get out of the situation safely. It should also include a place to go where you'll be safe from your abuser. Your safety plan should be tailored to your specific situation. To do this, con sider where you plan to go, who you'll call on for help, and what you'll do if your abuser finds you. It's also important to have a few things packed and ready to go in case you need to leave quickly. This could include a change of clothes, money, important documents, and med ications. Tip #4: Create or Join a Support Group Joining or creating a support group can be helpful for victims of domestic vio lence. In a group setting, you'll be able to share your experiences with others who understand what you're going through. This can be a powerful way to heal from the trauma of abuse. Support groups can provide valuable information and resources. They can also offer emotional support and help normal ize your experience. If you're interested
Tip #1: Reach Out Although it can be hard to do, the first step is to reach out for help. Talk to someone you trust about what's going on. This could be a friend, family member, therapist, or hotline worker. It's impor tant to have someone to talk to who will understand and support you. By opening up and talking about what's going on, you're taking back some of the power that your abuser has over you. You're also building a support system of people who can help you through this difficult time.
How to Break Free from an Abusive Relationship: Tips for Victims in joining a group, ask your therapist, hotline worker, or domestic violence organization for recommendations. Tip #5: Don't Lose Hope Many abuse victims lose hope, but this is an important thing to hang on to. Remember, you are not alone. There are people who care about you and want to help you. You have the power to make decisions about your life, and you can get through this tough time. Moreover, even if you might feel hope less right now, remembering that thou sands of people have been in the same situation and have recovered can help you have faith in yourself. You can do this too.
There are many organizations out there that can help victims of domestic vio lence. These organizations can provide you with resources, information, and support. They can also help you create a safety plan if you decide to leave your abuser.Ifyou're not sure where to turn, start by doing an internet search for "domestic violence shelter" or "domestic violence organization." You can also call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-SAFE if you are in the US, or your local hotline.
Understanding the Three Pillars of a Healthy Relationship
In his 1998 study on romantic rela tionships, American psychologist Robert Sternberg identifies three key elements to a successful coupling: Passion, intimacy and commitment. It's normal for relationships to go through shifts in how strong each of these ele ments is, and certainly possible for a strong relationship to exist from time to time with one of them missing. However, the ideal is to have all three, creating what he calls 'consummate love'. Here are what the different combinations mean and how they may relate to the type of relationship you're in.
A Different Kind of Love Triangle Sternberg's love triangle has nothing to do with a third person, but rather relates to the three pillars he identifies as exist ing in the ideal relationship. When pas sion, intimacy and commitment all exist, it's called consummate love, and the chance that both people are satisfied is very high in this case. Each of these elements is important, but alone are not enough to sustain a healthy relationship: Pure passion is just infatuation, while nothing but intimacy is little more than friendship, and commit ment alone is 'empty love', where each person perhaps stays together for practi calIt'spurposes.alsopossible for two of these ele ments to exist without the third. Fatuous Love When passion and commitment exist without intimacy, the relationship is exciting, but somewhat shallow. Your sex life may be great and your promise to stay together solid, but if you can't share a laugh now and then and enjoy some kind of friendship, it may be difficult to truly bond. Companionate Love Commitment and intimacy without pas sion make for a warm yet flat relation ship. While you may get on like the best of friends, sharing in-jokes and hobbies, and decide to spend your life together, most people would agree that sex and a level of exciting passion is important to keep the spark going. Without passion, you're more companions than lovers.
BY JANET HOWARD
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Romantic Love Passion and intimacy without commit ment may take your breath away, but cannot last unless both partners can decide to stay together. These relation ships may be short-lived if there's doubt over your future. These are often referred to as whirlwind romances because they're thrilling but short-lived. The Perfect Mix Where all three elements exist, consum mate love can bloom. The reason these types of relationships last is that there's little lacking. There's the thrill of pas sion, the security of commitment and the closeness of intimately knowing each other and getting on. Of course, even where these three are present there may be a heavy balance to one or two of these without much emphasis on the third. For example, a couple with a healthy sex life and strong commitment may enjoy doing certain things together but sometimes argue about what to do in their down-time. It's important to remember that no relation ship is completely perfect, as everyone is an individual and it's impossible to agree and be connected on every level all of the time. However, by addressing if any of these elements is missing in the relation ship, a couple can begin to work on improving what may be lacking in order to restore balance and create a happier life as a couple.l
explanationsmovingsearchedresearchsearchwww.immigrantsjournal.com,Publication,usedtheanalyticstoolSEMrush.TheirrevealedfiveofthemostquestionsonGoogleabouttotheUnitedStates.Herearetheonallquestionsand
Countries: What You Need to Know (www.askthelawyer.us) or call 855-7688845 and schedule a consultation.
3. How to move to the United States legally from home? To answer the most asked question: “How to move to the United States from Latin and Hispanic countries?” experts from the Law Firm, Figeroux & Associates, www.askthelawyer.us, 855768-8845, revealed: “There is no single answer to this ques tion, as different options of migration routes are available to immigrants who want to visit or live in the United States. The most common route people take to live in the United States for more than six months is to get a work visa, H-1B or H2-B, or a visitor’s visa for vacation, B1/B2. An employment visa provides sponsorship and a path to permanent res idency.There are other visa options if you are exceptionally wealthy or have a familial connection to the United States. For example, an investor visa with at least a US$500,000.00 or a one million financial requirement. Student visas also allow you to live in the United States, but you would need to apply for other visas after graduation as they do not directly lead to permanent residence.” Please visit the Law Firm of Figeroux & Associates
Please visit the Law Firm of Figeroux & Associates, www.askthelawyer.us or call 855-768-8845 and schedule a tele phone consultation.
answers to the most asked questions!
l BY JOURNAL STAFF
5. Can my spouse or fiancée move to the United States? In response to the question of “Can my spouse or partner move to the United States?” the Law Firm of Figeroux & Associate, www.askthelawyer.us — pro vides some comfort to any couples facing long-distance relationships across coun tries:“The answer is mostly yes, if you are married, in a civil partnership, or have a fiancée. A family petition or fiancée visa is what you could go for when applying. However, even though one person is a United States citizen or has already set tled in the United States, your application still needs to go through the full process with all the required legal documents. For example, you may need proof of relationship status, combined income, and documents translated to English.”
Moving to the US from Latin & Hispanic
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2. Should I move to the United States? As starting a new life in another country can be stressful and unpredictable, immi gration can be one of the most complex decisions. Whether it’s because of friends or family, food or weather, our ties at home are likely to make us hesitant when facing this choice. To help you feel more prepared for decision-making, experts from the Immigrant’s Journal answered the commonly searched question, “Should I move to the United States?” “If you want to move to the United States for a different lifestyle, it’s a per sonal choice. Don’t rush into any deci sion before you collect all the informa tion. You need to make sure you’re famil iar with the rules and regulations in the United States, which may be different from your home country. For example, as a legal or non-legal resident, you will have access to some free healthcare and free state schools; but you may also want to be aware of state, city, and federal taxes where applicable and a higher income tax than at home. It is necessary to weigh these positives and negatives and consider how important these are for you.”
The opportunity of migration can be exciting, daunting, and reward ing. Many nationals from the Latin and Hispanic countries are turning their attention to the United States, the land of opportunity for a new life. They typically move to states like New York, California, Texas, Florida, and Georgia, which offer the possibility to move somewhere with no language barriers for English speakers and fewer language barriers for Spanish speakers. With infla tion, recession, political instability, crime, and abuse of women in Latin & Hispanic countries increasing, more immigrants want to come to the United States. So, how do you make the transi tion?To help you better prepare to move or to identify if it is the best option for you, immigration researchers from the Immigrant’s Journal
1. How much does it cost to move to the United States? Finances are one of the most popular rea sons people want to start a new life abroad. However, this can already be a challenge, from visas to flight tickets and fees before settling in the United States. In response to the commonly searched question, “How much does it cost to move to the United States?” experts from the Immigrant’s Journal answered: “It is essential to get a basic idea of how much it might cost you before making your immigration decision. We recom mend you consider costs in terms of visa application fees, national healthcare sur charge, flight tickets, the shipping fees for your belongings, housing deposits, etc. Unfortunately, most immigrants, especially from Latin and Hispanic coun tries enter the United States unlawfully at the United States border through Mexico, seeking political asylum, refugee status, Temporary Protected Status and enter Without Inspection.”
4. What are the legal requirements to move to the United States? Another popular question related to mov ing to the United States from America is: “What are the legal requirements to move there?” To answer this question, the Law Firm of Figeroux & Associates —www.askthelawyer.us — shared the following from a legal expert’s perspec tive:“It is imperative to check if you have a right to reside in the United States, and, as mentioned before, a visa application is needed to work. Please be aware that the United States requires that all submitted applications must constitute a “valid application,” including correct personal information, fees paid in full, legal iden tity documents, and genuine answers to immigration history, such as the number of refusals received, etc. You could always seek professional help from an immigration lawyer if you struggle to handle visas or immigration needs.” Please visit the Law Firm of Figeroux & Associates — www.askthelawyer.us or call 855-768-8845 and schedule a tele phone consultation.
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