This November, instead of our featured client story, we want to use our newsletter to publicly send our appreciation and gratitude to our wonderful team of accomplished women professionals for their hard and excellent work throughout the year, dealing with very complicated immigration matters and providing our clients with creative immigration solutions. They continue to succeed where others have failed, while keeping our clients informed every step of the way.
We also want to send a very special and huge thank you to all our clients for putting their trust in us, during a life-changing event and difficult journey, and allowing us to help them through it.
Just a few days ago, President Obama announced that he would take executive action to change several immigration policies. At long last, the President acknowledged that his administration has been deporting many people who are non-criminals, including parents who are working hard to make a living and offer a better future to their children. He now is offering hope to over four million people who were afraid that they could be separated from their families any day and sent away, leaving their loved ones defenseless and alone. One of our clients has been in the United States since 1990 and fathered 3 U.S. Citizen children. Even though his only crime was driving without a license, which he could not get without papers, he was ordered deported by an immigration judge. He is the sole means of support for all these children. There was nothing available to keep him here until the President announced the new program.
What is included in the new program?
1. DACA or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival will be extended to include all people who arrived here as young children, without age limitation. Currently the program is limited to people who were under age 30 at the time the program was authorized in 2012. Other eligibility requirements include good moral character, graduation from high school or enrollment in a GED program and lack of a serious criminal history.
2. Deferred Action to Parents of U.S. Citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents, which like DACA will give work authorization, driver's license and protection from removal for immigrants who are here illegally. Some other eligibility requirements include length of time in the United States, good moral character, payment of taxes, etc.
3. Expansion of the 601-A provisional waiver program, to spouses and children of Lawful Permanent Residents. Now it is only available for spouses and children of U.S. citizens.
4. Ability of employment-based immigrants caught in visa retrogression to pre-apply for Adjustment of Status and receive work authorization documents while they wait for their visa numbers to become current again.
5. Termination of Secure Communities program used to turn over undocumented immigrants from local law enforcement to Immigration, and replacing it with a new program that will be in line with the enforcement principles of only deporting the most dangerous undocumented immigrants.
6. Revision of enforcement priorities to ensure that only the most dangerous individuals, including terrorist and violent criminals, are pursued for deportation.
Thank You Mr. President on behalf of all our clients.
