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Immigrants’ Rights Update
Volume 21, Issue 8 |
October 5, 2007 |
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IN THIS ISSUE
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Employment
Eligibility Verification
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Detention
and Removal
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Preemption
of State and Local Enforcement
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TPS, DED
and Other Humanitarian Immigration Statuses
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A Sampling
of Reports Published in 2007
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New on
NILC’s Website (since September 10, 2007)
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Employment Eligibility Verification |
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New Illinois Laws Create Important Protections against Flaws in Employment
Eligibility Verification Basic Pilot |
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By
Tyler Moran, Employment Policy Director
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich recently signed two bills into
law that create important protections for all Illinois workers
against flaws in the federal Basic Pilot program, which the
government recently “rebranded” as “E-Verify.” Read more >>
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“E-Verify”: DHS Announces Changes to the Electronic Employment Eligibility
Verification Process |
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By
Tyler Moran, Employment Policy Director
Among a package of new policies introduced by the Bush
administration in August 2007, which were outlined in a document
titled “Improving
Border Security and Immigration Within Existing Law,” are
changes to the electronic employment eligibility verification process.
Foremost among these is a “rebranding” of the Internet-based Basic Pilot
employment eligibility verification program, which the U.S. Dept. of
Homeland Security (DHS) now is calling “E-Verify.”
Read more >>
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Most State Bills Mandating Use of the Employment Eligibility Verification
Basic Pilot Fail in 2007 |
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By
Raymond Rico, Research
Associate
Despite the fact that, during their 2007
legislative sessions, over 20 states collectively introduced over 60 bills
mandating some or all employers to use the employment eligibility
verification Basic Pilot program (recently “rebranded” as “E-Verify” by the
agency that administers it, the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, or DHS),
most such bills did not advance far in the legislative process. Only a
very few bills moved significantly through the committees to which they were
assigned, most that did pass through committee did not garner support on the
floor of their legislative chambers, and only three were signed into law.
Many bills faced organized campaigns against Basic Pilot’s implementation
and rallies at state capitols by employers who would be forced into the
program, as well as by religious groups, immigrant rights groups, and labor
unions. Read more >>
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Lawsuit Challenges Arizona’s Employer Sanctions Law as Being in Conflict
with Federal Law |
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By
Karen Tumlin, NILC Skadden Fellow
A lawsuit filed in a federal court challenges Arizona’s new law
that creates a state scheme of penalties for employers that hire
unauthorized workers, even though these employers have complied with
the applicable federal law. The Legal Arizona Workers Act (HB 2779)
mandates every employer in the state to join a temporary and voluntary
federal program, the Basic Pilot program (recently renamed “E-Verify”) to
verify the employment eligibility of each new hire. In addition, the
Arizona law threatens employers with permanent loss of business licenses
based on new, invalid state requirements.
Read more >>
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Detention and Removal |
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Orantes-Hernandez v. Gonzales: Court Upholds Nationwide Injunction of
Immigration Detention and Removal Processing Abuses |
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By Linton
Joaquin, Executive Director
The federal district court in Los Angeles issued a decision on
July 26 upholding nearly all of the provisions of a permanent injunction
that requires the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) to afford
immigration detainees basic access to counsel and information about
their rights. The permanent injunction, originally issued in 1988, was
the result of litigation brought on behalf of a nationwide class of
people from El Salvador. In the most recent decision, the court
rejected the government’s claims that changed conditions warranted
dissolving the injunction, finding serious violations of the
government’s own standards relating to detention conditions. The court
also found that the government failed to establish that it had improved
its removal processing procedures so as to eliminate the need for those
provisions of the injunction.
Read more >>
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Immigration Costs: The Case of the Two Arellanos |
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By Will Coley,
2007 Conference
Coordinator
At the close of summer, the lives of two immigrants were
publicly and permanently changed in Southern California. Besides both
being immigrants from Mexico, they also had a last name in common:
Arellano. The differences in what happened to Elvira and Victoria
illustrate the priorities of the federal agency charged with enforcing
U.S. immigration law, Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE), in the
midst of our national debate on immigration.
Read more >>
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Preemption of State and Local Enforcement |
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Hazleton, Penn., Anti-Immigrant Ordinances Preempted and Unconstitutional,
Federal Court Finds |
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By Joan
Friedland, Immigration Policy
Director
This past July a federal judge struck
down two anti-immigrant ordinances that were adopted by the city of
Hazleton, Pennsylvania, in the fall of 2006. The Illegal Immigration
Relief Act Ordinance (IIRA) and the Tenant Registration Ordinance (RO)
include provisions that would penalize businesses that employ
“unauthorized aliens” by suspending their licenses, a “harboring”
provision that prohibits renting housing to certain immigrants, and
provisions requiring occupants of rental units to obtain an occupancy
permit that, in turn, requires “proof of legal citizenship and/or
residency.” The ruling was issued after a two-week trial that took
place in March 2007.
Read more >>
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TPS, DED and Other Humanitarian Immigration Statuses |
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Temporary Protected Status Designations Renewed for El
Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua |
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To retain temporary protected status,
nationals of El Salvador who have been granted TPS previously must
reregister during the 60-day reregistration period that began Aug. 21, 2007,
and ends Oct. 22, 2007. Details about the 18-month
extension (until Mar. 9, 2009) of TPS for Salvadorans, including automatic
extension of employment authorization, are available in an Aug. 21
Federal Register announcement and a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services
press release.
Earlier this year, the Bush administration also renewed
for 18 months the TPS designations for Honduras and Nicaragua.
Nationals of those two countries had until July 30, 2007, to reregister for
TPS. A USCIS
press release as well as FAQs documents for
Honduras TPS and
Nicaragua TPS provide more details.
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Liberians Provided Deferred Enforced Departure |
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President Bush has directed the
secretary of Homeland Security to defer for 18 months, through Mar. 31,
2009, the enforced departure of any qualified Liberian national (or
person without nationality who last habitually resided in Liberia) who is
currently in the United States and who has temporary protected status (TPS)
as of Sept. 30, 2007. The president also has directed the Dept.
of Homeland Security (DHS) to arrange continued employment authorization for
these individuals during the 18-month deferred enforced departure (DED) period.
The president issued his directive on Sept. 12, 2007.
On Sept. 19, DHS issued
a
fact sheet about who is covered by the benefits of the new
directive. The fact sheet explains how Liberians with DED are to prove
that they are employment-authorized. Perhaps equally important, it
explains that Liberians covered by the president’s directive need not apply
for DED -- that the status is “automatic for qualified Liberians . . . .”
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Interim Rule for Applying for
“U” Visa Finally Published |
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The Dept. of Homeland Security
published, on Sept. 17, an
interim rule (and also, on Sept. 27,
a correction to the interim rule) that establishes the requirements and
procedures for persons seeking U nonimmigrant status, which is available to
victims of crimes such as domestic violence, sexual assault, and trafficking
in persons who assist government officials in investigating or prosecuting
such criminal activity.
The rule takes effect Oct. 17, 2007. The deadline
for submitting written comments on the rule is Nov. 16, 2007. U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services also has issued a
FAQs
fact sheet on the new “U” visa rule, as well as a fact sheet titled “Certifying
U Nonimmigrant Status.”
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A Sampling of Reports Published in 2007 |
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Forced Apart: Families Separated and Immigrants Harmed by United States
Deportation Policy |
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A report by Human
Rights Watch (July 2007)
“In this report, Human Rights Watch charts
the various devastating ways in which changes to immigration laws passed 10
years ago have impacted America’s families.”
Read more >>
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Locking Up Family Values: The Detention of Immigrant Families |
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A report by
Women’s Commission for Refugee
Women and Children and Lutheran
Immigration and Refugee Service (February 2007)
Representatives of these two groups visited
the T. Don Hutto Residential Center and the Berks Family Shelter Care
Facility and talked with detained families. They also spoke to former
detainees. What they found was disturbing.
Read more >>
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Voices from Silence: Personal Accounts of the Long-Term Impact of 9/11 |
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A report by
Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights (February 2007)
Details the impact of 9/11 on the lives of
immigrants, refugees, and religious minorities in Minnesota.
Read more >>
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Human Rights in State Courts: An Overview and Recommendations for Legal
Advocacy |
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A report by
Opportunity Agenda (c. May
2007)
Details the ways in which state courts have
considered and interpreted international human rights law. Intended
for public interest lawyers and state court litigators, and also for state
and municipal policymakers interested in integrating compliance with
international human rights law into their domestic policies.
Read more >>
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NEW ON NILC’s WEBSITE (since
Sept. 10, 2007) |
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Featured Item |
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Pro-Immigrant Measures Available to State or Local Governments: A Quick Menu
of Affirmative Ideas
A menu of ideas for effectively incorporating
immigrants into communities, investing in instead of marginalizing them.
This approach recognizes immigrants as a key ingredient of shared prosperity
and seeks to maximize the economic, social, and cultural benefits of such
immigration on towns, cities, counties, and states.
>> Immigration Law & Policy / Miscellaneous Issues
page
¶ SEE ALSO:
Arlington County [Virginia] Board Affirms
Support for Immigrants: Inclusive Policies Make Community Safe, Unified
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Low-Income Immigrant Rights Conference |
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6th National Low-Income Immigrant Rights
Conference: December 6-8, 2007
Register now to qualify for the Pre-Conference
rate. Also, please consider becoming a cosponsor.
Cosponsors make scholarships possible, so folks can attend who
otherwise would not be able to afford travel and registration expenses.
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Social Security “No-Match” Letters |
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Court
Extends Order That Blocks Government from Implementing Flawed Social
Security No-Match Rule
After a hearing on Oct. 1, a federal judge extended for
10 days an order that temporarily stops the government from implementing a
new Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) rule that would cause U.S. citizens and
other authorized workers to lose their jobs, and that would illegally use
error-prone Social Security records as a tool for immigration enforcement.
>>
Social Security Administration (SSA)-related Information page
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What the Extension of the Temporary Restraining Order Means for the DHS Rule
about Social Security “No-Match”
After a hearing on Oct. 1, a federal judge extended for
10 days an order that temporarily stops the government from implementing a
new Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) rule that would cause U.S. citizens and
other authorized workers to lose their jobs, and that would illegally use
error-prone Social Security records as a tool for immigration enforcement.
>>
Social Security Administration ‘No-Match’ Letter Toolkit (3rd Edition) page
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Know Your Rights about the Social Security “No-Match” Letter (Do’s and
Don’ts)
¶ For Workers in a Union:
Spanish |
English
¶ For Workers Without a Union:
Spanish |
English
>>
“No-Match” Letter Toolkit (3rd Edition)
page
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Employment Eligibility Verification |
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Basic Pilot/E-Verify: Not a Magic Bullet
“If significantly expanded without addressing the
current flaws in the program, . . . it will have an adverse impact on
workers and employers alike. Likewise, if implemented outside the context of
a broad legalization program, it will cause certain businesses and
industries to move into the unregulated underground cash economy. . . .”
>> Updated edition of publication formerly titled “The Basic Pilot Program:
Not a Magic Bullet”; Employment Eligibility Verification and
Antidiscrimination Protections page
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Interim Findings of the Web-Based Basic Pilot Evaluation
Report submitted to the U.S. Dept. of Homeland
Security by Westat, Dec. 2006. “This report is an interim report
summarizing the findings to date of the evaluation of the Web Basic Pilot
program, a modified version of the Basic Pilot program -- one of the three
pilot programs originally mandated by the Illegal Immigration Reform and
Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA).”
>> Employment Eligibility Verification and
Antidiscrimination Protections page
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Public Benefits Issues |
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NILC Urges
Congress to Honor Its Commitment to Immigrant Children
NILC is bitterly disappointed that Congress has failed
yet again to address the health needs of immigrant children and pregnant
women. We urge Congress to do better.
>>
Immigrant
Children’s Health Improvement Act (ICHIA) page
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Facts about Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for Refugees, Asylees and
Other Humanitarian Immigrants
Previously published fact sheet, updated September 2007.
>> Supplemental Security Income
page
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DREAM Act |
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Información básica sobre
el “DREAM Act”
Translation into Spanish of our “DREAM Act: Basic
Information” publication: “Esta legislación remediaría la situación de
aquellos jóvenes indocumentados que fueron traídos a los Estados Unidos a
una edad temprana y que desde entonces han pasado sus años formativos en los
Estados Unidos, continuado sus estudios y no han tenido problemas con la ley.”
>> Immigrant Student Adjustment / DREAM Act
page
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Dreams Deferred: The Costs of Ignoring Undocumented Students
Summary of forthcoming Immigration Policy Center
report. Lists facts about the following topics: Undocumented
School-Age Kids: How Many? Who Are They? | Access to Higher
Education: Wages Increase and the Tax Base Deepens | Experience
Shows That Access to Higher Education Helps Kids Without Burdening
Institutions of Higher Learning.
>> Immigrant Student Adjustment / DREAM Act
page
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Green Card Replacement |
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NILC Comments on Proposed Green Card Replacement Regulations
Comments on the proposed rule to establish a 120-day
period for lawful permanent residents who have Form I-551 cards without an
expiration date to apply to replace the cards with new ones bearing an
expiration date.
>>
Obtaining Lawful Permanent Resident Status
page
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