Texas Immigration Lawyer Blog

For Immigration Law, a Divided Pathway Emerges

Texas Tribune by Julian Aguilar

Two months after a top state Democrat filed a resolution telling Washington that Texas was all in for immigration reform, the measure has proved instead to highlight a lingering divide on the issue.

Despite the talk nationwide about broad support for comprehensive immigration reform and embracing those who “would come out of the shadows” if given the chance, Texas lawmakers haven't bought into the bipartisan hype.

In February, state Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, chairman of the International Trade and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee, co-authored House Concurrent Resolution 44 with state Rep. Ana Hernandez Luna, D-Houston. Carefully crafted to include several talking points from Republican groups in favor of reforming the country’s immigration system, the nonbinding resolution was engineered to be an easy sell. It called for an increase in border security, stronger monitoring of visas for potential overstays and adopting an employment verification system – all GOP talking points.

But it also supports a pathway to citizenship.

With fewer than seven weeks left in the legislative session, Anchia has yet to gain support for the measure from a Republican.  

The glitch is in the language, said state Rep. Jason Villalba, R-Dallas. “Conservatives and others alike are nervous that what path to citizenship means is, we have an amnesty program in place,” he said. “Amnesty means a lot of things to a lot of different people.”

Villalba has taken the lead for the conservatives and is working with Anchia to change some of the language.

“We remain optimistic,” Anchia said, despite the lack of visible support. “And we’re making progress.”

But this week also proved the state House members need not look to their federal counterparts for advice on finding common ground. Just days before the so-called Gang of Eight — a bipartisan coalition of U.S. senators — was scheduled to unveil its plans for immigration reform, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, filed companion legislation they dubbed the "Border Security Results Act of 2013.” That bill requires the Department of Homeland Security to meet certain benchmarks, including a 90 percent apprehension rate, and inform Congress regularly of its progress in securing the border.

While Anchia’s measure is nonbinding and symbolic, the Cornyn/McCaul measure has teeth. And the duo has clout. Cornyn is the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Immigration, Refugees and Border Security Subcommittee, and McCaul, who worked for Cornyn in the Texas attorney general's office,  is the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

They don't intend to tell DHS how to do its job or derail immigration reform, they said, adding they want their colleagues to be better informed about the situation on the border as the debate moves forward.

Democrats were not amused.

“With about 800 miles of Texas-Mexico border in the district, I know the border impacts every part of our state. I’m hopeful that this bill is a good faith effort to move forward and not an attempt to build another wall between immigrants and the American dream,” U.S. Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, said in a statement.

His fellow freshman, U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Brownsville, added: "Opponents of immigration reform seek to hold the process hostage by insisting on a finding of border security on the U.S.-Mexico border. Attaching such a condition to the immigration reform debate is nothing more than a plain attempt to thwart reform efforts. In other words, those who would condition immigration reform on a finding of border security simply oppose a pathway to citizenship for 11 million unauthorized individuals currently in this country.”

 

 

December 2012 Visa Bulletin

The Department of State has released the Visa Bulletin for December 2012. 

All categories for Mexico moved forward at least 1 week, and the 2A (spouses and children of LPR) moved forward 5 weeks to August 1, 2010. 

Texan Benita Veliz DNC's First Undocumented Speaker

Texas Tribune by Emily Ramshaw

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Benita Veliz, a 27-year-old San Antonio woman whose parents brought her into the country on a short-term tourist visa nearly two decades years ago, became the first undocumented person to address the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night.

Veliz, who graduated from high school at age 16 as valedictorian and double-majored at St. Mary’s University on a full academic scholarship, was nearly deported to Mexico after being pulled over in 2009 for a traffic infraction.

The case was eventually dropped in 2011. But Veliz, who identifies herself as an American and has hardly any connection to Mexico, has become the poster child for a generation of young immigrants rooting for the DREAM Act, proposed legislation that would provide them a path to citizenship.  

“I know I have something to contribute to my economy and my country. I feel just as American as any of my friends or neighbors,” Veliz said in her Wednesday night address. “But I’ve had to live almost my entire life knowing I could be deported just because of the way I came here.”

Iris recognition being tested on immigrants in McAllen, Texas

Government Security News by Jacob Goodwin

The growing importance of “multimodal” biometrics in the security field -- in which more than one biometric method is used to capture identifying information about the same individual – is demonstrated by an important 60-day pilot program has just been launched by DHS at a U.S. Border Patrol facility in McAllen, TX.

The biometrics team at US-VISIT, which is part of DHS’s National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD), began on July 31 what it calls a “limited production pilot” to test the efficiency, speed and operational effectiveness of two different types of iris recognition equipment as well as two different types of facial recognition gear. Using these biometric systems, Border Patrol employees will capture images of approximately 200 alleged illegal aliens per day (or about 12,000 aliens during the course of the two-month pilot), explained Will Graves, the chief biometric engineer helping to oversee the US-VISIT project. While the results from the facial recognition portion are important, Graves told GSN at a biometrics conference in New York City on August 1, “We are focusing primarily on iris recognition.”

 

US-citizen children of returned Mexican migrants lose right to school, health care in Mexico

New York Times by Associated Press

Because of the byzantine rules of Mexican and U.S. bureaucracies, tens of thousands of [U.S. Citizen] children without Mexican citizenship now find themselves without access to basic services in Mexico — unable to officially register in school or sign up for health care at public hospitals and clinics that give free check-ups and medicines.

At issue is a Mexican government requirement that any official document from another country be certified inside that country with a seal known as an “apostille,” then be translated by a certified, and often expensive, translator in Mexico.

It’s a growing problem in Mexico as hundreds of thousands return home because of the sluggish U.S. job market and a record number of deportations. Illegal migration of Mexicans to the U.S. is at its lowest level in decades, with more Mexicans now leaving the United States than entering it each year.

More than 300,000 U.S.-born children have been brought to Mexico since 2005, out of a total of 1.4 million people who moved back from the U.S. during that period, according to the Washington-based Pew Hispanic Center.

The number of U.S.-citizen children living in Mexico with at least one Mexican parent reached 500,000 in 2011, according to one demographic study.

Many of the Mexican parents of U.S. children were not aware of Mexico’s paperwork requirement before they came back, so now tens of thousands are struggling to get their children’s documents to the United States to be certified, and then returned to Mexico to be officially translated.

August 2012 Visa Bulletin released

The August 2012 Visa Bulletin has been released. 

For Mexico, there was a significant move forward for F2B (unmarried children over 21 of LPRs) -- moving forward nearly 9 months to August 22, 1992. Of course, Mexico continues to be the only country that is stuck in the 1990's in this category. The F2A (spouses and unmarried children under 21) moved forward 4 weeks to March 1, 2010. The other family categories from Mexico either did not move (F1 and F3, children over 21 of USCs) or only moved 1 week (F4 siblings of USCs).

For the Philippines, there was a retrogression in F1 (unmarried children over 21 of USCs) of over 2 years to March 1, 1994 (last month the date was July 15, 1997).

All other countries continued to move forward at the same rate. 

 

July 2012 Visa Bulletin: Mexico 2A category back to 2010

July 2012 Visa Bulletin

I apologize for being late with the Visa Bulletin for July. I was out of town when it came out and then the Deferred Action policy announcement has consumed all of my time.

The biggest jump in family categories was 15 weeks for the Mexican 2A category (spouses and unmarried children under 21 of LPRs). This category retrogressed significantly in January 2011 by 5 years to April 2005. For July 2012, the F2A category from Mexico is back to February 2, 2010. 

The 2A category for all other countries moved forward 6 weeks to February 15, 2010.

No movement was made in the Mexico F2B category (unmarried children over 21 of LPRs) that remains at January 1, 1992, and the Philippines F3 category (married children of USCs) that remains at July 22, 1992.

All other categories moved forward by 1-3 weeks. Mexico and the Philippines continue to have family categories in the 1990's and Philippines F4 (siblings of USC's) is stuck in February 1989. 

Deferred Action for Raul's son will be bittersweet if he is deported

Please sign the petition for Raul Ortiz, father of Luis Ortiz, who is in removal proceedings because his son was arrested for Racing on the Highway at age 17. When Raul went to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in Waco, Texas, to pick up Luis, he was placed in removal proceedings. See my earlier post on Raul's case.

On Wednesday, June 27, 2012, Raul Ortiz appeared in immigration court and admitted the charges against him -- he is present in the U.S. without authorization. His son, Luis, should be eligible to have his removal deferred for 2 years and gain a work authorization through the Deferred Action policy announced on June 15th. Unfortunately, for the father who picked him up at the ICE office, there will be no choice but to leave the country next year if ICE cannot be persuaded to exercise prosecutorial discretion and close his case. The San Antonio Office of Chief Counsel has rejected our request (twice).

Deferred action for Luis will be bittersweet if his actions result in separation from his father. Luis has applied to Texas State Technical College in the fall and hopes to be able to study mechanics. Without Raul's financial and emotional support Luis will be working to survive and not to educate himself.

Raul has not been in Mexico since 1998. His life and family are here in Waco, Texas. 

Please help us appeal to a higher authority and petition DHS and ICE to close Raul's case. 

UT Austin School of Social Work Seeking USC Children of Deported Mexican Parents for a Study Exploring the Effects of Parental Deportation

The UT Austin School of Social Work is conducting a study regarding how U.S. citizen children are affected when their parent's are deported or placed in removal proceedings.  They need research participants and are looking for client referrals. They are prohibited from contacting the clients themselves, so attorneys or clients must contact them. The study is being conducted in Austin, Texas.

The project description is below:

Exploring the Effects of Parental Deportation on U.S. Citizen Children

 

Luis H. Zayas, Ph.D., Principal Investigator, University of Texas at Austin

M. Andrea Campetella, Ph.D., Project Manager, University of Texas at Austin

We are grateful for your willingness to help us in recruiting participants for this study funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (Grant # R21 HD068874).   We hope that our study will increase the existing knowledge about Latino families in the United States, and that this knowledge will be helpful to those trying to better serve this population.

Purpose of our study is to understand what happens to the mental health of U.S. citizen-children who have left the U.S. following their parents in deportation, or have remained in the U.S. under the care of one parent or other family or friends.  

Research participants are U.S. citizen-children of undocumented Mexican immigrant parents.  Over the course of two years, we interview a total of 80 children (50% females) between the ages of 10 and 12.  A portion of these kids can be from anywhere in Austin metro area.  Participants will be divided into four groups of 20 children each:

 

• Group A: children who accompanied their deported parents to Mexico
• Group B: children who remained in  U.S. with one parent
• Group C: children who remained in U.S. after parents’ deportation in the care of family or friends
• Group D: children whose undocumented parents are not under removal proceedings.

 Eligibility criteria for participants are

• Child must be a U.S. citizen, between the age of 10 and 12 (inclusive)
• Child cannot have a severe mental illness, autism, mental retardation, or developmental disabilities
• Child must know that his/her parent(s) are undocumented immigrants
• One or both parents are undocumented Mexican immigrant (one parent may be undocumented from another Latin American country)
• Parents in groups A, B, and C must not have been deported due to criminal felony conviction
• Parents in group D must be residing in the U.S., and must not be in removal proceedings

Each child will be interviewed twice in a span of six months to gather qualitative and quantitative data.  Parents and guardians will provide some demographic information on child and family, and will complete some clinical measures for the child.  We follow strict procedures set forth by the Institutional Review Board of the University of Texas at Austin. 

Your role is to help identify potential participants and put them in touch with our team.  We cannot approach families until they agree to be contacted.  You or your staff will need to make sure that eligibility criteria are met and tell parents briefly about the study.  If parents are interested in more information or in participating, they can contact us directly.  Or, parents may give you permission to share their contact information with us (mostly a telephone number).  You and we will assure parents and children that if they decline to participate, there will be no adverse effects on the services they receive from your agency or organization.  We have received a Certificate of Confidentiality from the National Institutes of Health that provides protection against compulsory disclosure, such as subpoena, for all data collected for this study.

You can expect that we will a) Protect families’ privacy.  We protect the privacy and identity of study participants.  We follow all HRPO regulations as well as guidelines that the research team has set in place in an effort to protect the identity of our participants.  b) Dedicate ourselves to learning from our partners and study participants, and to helping immigrant families and changing immigration policies for the better.  c) Communicate actively with you, be available for questions you might have, and keep you informed on the study’s progress.

Contact for this project in Austin is Andrea Campetella at Campetella@austin.utexas.edu, phone 512-471-1458

 

American Children, Now Struggling to Adjust to Life in Mexico

New York Times by Damian Cave

                                                                                                                                             Shaul Schwarz for The New York Times

Excellent story about Jeffrey Isidoro, from Texas, who now lives in Mexico with his family from the Immigration Upended series.