Seattle Immigration Lawyer Blog

Washington State appears poised in the next few days to be the seventh state in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage. It would go into effect on June 7, 2012. Assuming expected legal and referendum challenges fail, what would that mean for immigrant couples?

Visas and Green Cards for Binational Couples

Unfortunately, it will still be impossible to obtain a green card or permanent residence through sponsorship by a gay or lesbian US citizen or permanent resident spouse until Congress repeals the Defense Against Marriage Act (DOMA). DOMA prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriage for the purpose of marriage-based green cards. Because who can immigrate in what category is statutory, the Obama administration is not in a position to deviate from the existing spouse sponsorship statute even though his administration is not defending DOMA in some litigation. Such an important change to the marriage based immigration statute requires an act of Congress, and this Congress is not likely to repeal DOMA.

Visas for Dual Foreign National Couples

In the case where both partners in a couple are foreign nationals, for temporary visas, same-sex partners and spouses are not specifically recognized as dependents where one partner qualifies for a specific temporary business, family or student visa. Therefore, both partners have to qualify individually for their own visa types. However, there are some policy memos and provisions in the State Department's Foreign Affairs Manual that allow certain qualifying partners to come to the U.S. with the principal visa holders. The most frequently used visa for non-principal partners or spouses is the B-1/B-2 tourist visa. However, it is limited as to length of stay and ability to work is not authorized. These and other lesser known provisions are described in an earlier blog post at "Impact of DOMA on Bi-National Couples."

For dual foreign national couples seeking to immigrate permanently, the law presently does not allow the non-principal partner to qualify as a dependent. For example, if one partner qualifies for a business based green card, the other partner will need to qualify for his or her own green card category or may have to rely upon the restrictions of other temporary visas.

Binational Couples Where the Foreign Partner/Spouse is Out of Status

There are some avenues for relief from removal proceedings where an individual has a US citizen or permanent resident partner. They include cancellation of removal, asylum and various types of waivers of inadmissibility or deportability. None of them specifically allow consideration of the hardships to gay or lesbian US citizen or permanent resident spouses/partners. However, their hardships can come up in the exercise of discretion or possibly in relation to other citizen or green card qualifying relatives for whom hardship can be shown. Recently, there have been a few cases in which Immigration Judges have allowed consideration of the hardships to gay partners or spouses as a matter of discretion.

Continue reading "Same-Sex Marriage in Washington State: What Would That Mean for Immigrant Couples?" »

In an earlier post, Prosecutorial Discretion: "Backdoor Amnesty"? 9 Myths Debunked, I discussed the latest announcement from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), that it will work with the Immigration Courts to cull from its docket "low priority" cases. The August 18, 2011 announcement by Homeland Secretary, Janet Napolitano, makes reference to two June 17, 2011 memos from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) discussing the criteria ICE should be using to determine if and when it will exercise prosecutorial discretion. As mentioned in the earlier post, discretion comes into play when the agency decides, weighing the good facts with the bad for a particular individual believed to be in the U.S. without proper documents, whether to arrest, detain, place in removal proceedings, continue with removal proceedings, or carry out an order of removal. So, just what are the criteria ICE will consider, and what will the courts consider in deciding whether to keep a case on its docket? Keep in mind that there were actually two memos issued on June 17, 2011 addressing broader enforcement priorities and one devoted to victims and witnesses of crimes and plaintiffs in civil proceedings.

General Enforcement Memo

The broader, more general memo on civil immigration enforcement priorities, mentions these factors to consider in deciding whether to favorably exercise discretion:

• the person's length of presence in the United States, with particular consideration given to presence while in lawful status;
• the circumstances of the person's arrival in the United States and the manner of his or her entry, particularly if the alien came to the United States as a young child;
• the person's pursuit of education in the United States, with particular consideration given
to those who have graduated from a U.S. high school or have successfully pursued or are
pursuing a college or advanced degrees at a legitimate institution of higher education in
the United States;
• whether the person, or the person's immediate relative, has served in the U.S. military,
reserves, or national guard, with particular consideration given to those who served in
combat;
• the person's criminal history, including arrests, prior convictions, or outstanding arrest
warrants;
• the person's immigration history, including any prior removal, outstanding order of
removal, prior denial of status, or evidence of fraud;
• whether the person poses a national security or public safety concern;
• the person's ties and contributions to the community, including family relationships;
• the person's ties to the home country and conditions in the country;
• the person's age, with particular consideration given to minors and the elderly;
• whether the person has a U.S. citizen or permanent resident spouse, child, or parent;
• whether the person is the primary caretaker of a person with a mental or physical
disability, minor, or seriously ill relative;
• whether the person or the person's spouse is pregnant or nursing;
• whether the person or the person's spouse suffers from severe mental or physical illness;
• whether the person's nationality renders removal unlikely;
• whether the person is likely to be granted temporary or permanent status or other relief
from removal, including as a relative of a U.S. citizen or permanent resident;
• whether the person is likely to be granted temporary or permanent status or other relief
from removal, including as an asylum seeker, or a victim of domestic violence, human
trafficking, or other crime; and
• whether the person is currently cooperating or has cooperated with federal, state or local
law enforcement authorities, such as ICE, the U.S Attorneys or Department of Justice, the
Department of Labor, or National Labor Relations Board, among others.

ICE states: "This list is not exhaustive and no one factor is.determinative. ICE officers, agents, and attorneys should always consider prosecutorial discretion on a case-by-case basis. The decisions should be based on the totality of the circumstances, with the goal of conforming to ICE's enforcement priorities."

Continue reading "Prosecutorial Discretion Criteria: Questions Abound" »

On August 18, 2011, Secretary Janet Napolitano, announced that her office, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), will work with the Immigration Courts in the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR), to review over 300,000 pending court cases to determine which ones are "low priority" and can be closed or terminated. This will enable DHS and EOIR to focus scarce resources on dangerous criminals and terrorists. Locally, DHS has already been reviewing the detention status of immigrants currently locked up in immigration jails to determine who is low risk and can be released. This announcement follows two DHS memos issued on June 17, 2011 clarifying "prosecutorial discretion" criteria for victims and witnesses of crimes, and summarizing enforcement priorities for the field based on prior memos on the subject.

What is "prosecutorial discretion"? It is the agency's and individual law enforcement officer's decision making process, weighing the favorable facts with the unfavorable facts to determine whether to prosecute, in this case civilly, any individual who has broken the immigration laws. There are three main areas where prosecutorial discretion can be carried out in the immigration enforcement area: 1) before a person is placed in removal proceedings in Immigration Court (whether to arrest, detain and/or commence removal proceedings), 2) while in removal proceedings (whether to continue or terminate removal proceedings) and 3) after an order of removal has been issued (whether to carry out removal of the person, defer or withhold removal). Criminal law enforcement agencies and prosecutors use their discretion every day to decide who to prosecute or not. (A current example would be the Dominque Strauss-Kahn affair.) Similarly, immigration officers decide every day whether to put someone in removal proceedings, continue proceedings or carry out removal orders if there other other equities or already existing eligibility for immigration benefits. Therefore, prosecutorial discretion is not new.

However, a combination of recent factors have contributed to the most recent pronouncement dealing with court backlogs. Last year, DHS deported almost 400,000 people and is on target to do the same this fiscal year. As a result, the Immigration Courts are experiencing stunning backlogs with the average case taking 439 days for a merits hearing. In addition, the Administration has mandated that Secure Communities will be in every state along with the Criminal Alien Program in which DHS combs the jails for individuals without status, whether or not they have been charged or convicted of a crime.
Therefore, it makes obvious sense for the courts to prioritize cases based on the objectives mentioned above.

MYTH 1: DHS and the Courts can't do that!

Congress makes the laws and Courts interpret the laws. The administrative agencies of the Executive Branch (under President Obama) carry out the laws enacted by Congress. Inherent in each agency's authority is the discretion to determine how the agency will enforce the law within the bounds of the agency's legal authority to act. When Congress enacts a law, it is generally with broad strokes. Then, each agency involved implements regulations and policies about how the statute will be implemented. In this case, Congress has not enacted any new statutes. The agencies involved with immigration enforcement are taking a look at the way in which they carry out the regulations and polices with the resources they have. There is both agency-wide prosecutorial discretion as well as individual officer prosecutorial discretion out in the field. Where a particular action is mandatory in the law, the agency/officer must carry it out. In an era of limited resources, the agency must consider how and where to spend its resources. This applies to all agencies of the government. With severe budget cuts to look forward to, all federal agencies are prioritizing how they will spend limited funds within the bounds of their authority. In this case, DHS has announced that its priorities are to protect national security, public safety, border security and to proect the integrity of the immigration system. While it is arguable that every single person found to be in the U.S. without status should be prosecuted to the fullest, the fact is, the surge in arrests has clogged the jails and the courts. In additional, the states that now prohibit immigrants from getting drivers licenses are clogging their local courts with cases involving driving without a license or similar minor offenses. Secure Communities and the Criminal Alien Program route these individuals to ICE and the Immigration Courts, creating huge pressures on the system and lengthy backlogs in the Immigration Courts.

MYTH 2: Prosecutorial Discretion is "Backdoor Amnesty"

Congressman Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tx), leader of the House immigration restrictionists, and others with his view, such as the Center for Immigration Studies, FAIR and other anti-immigrant groups, claim the exercise of prosecutorial discretion by DHS and the Courts is "backdoor amnesty.". This simply is not true! Because Congress has refused to enact meaningful immigration reform legislation, immigrants' rights organizations have asked the Obama administration to make use of already existing powers the agencies have to exercise discretion in order to provide some humanitarian relief to long term residents and to cut back on splitting up families. However, even among immigrants' advocates, the prosecutorial discretion memos do not solve what is broken about our immigration system. After three years of President Obama as the greatest "Deporter-in-Chief" in the nation's history, his office is exhibiting some common sense by having DHS concentrate its limited resources on "high priority" cases, depending upon how that is ultimately defined and actually carried out.

Continue reading "Prosecutorial Discretion: "Backdoor Amnesty"? 9 Myths Debunked" »