by Heidi Meyers | Jan 29, 2017 | Articles
NY Daily News photo January 28, 2017
This is a weekend update regarding the Executive Order banning the entry into the U.S. of the citizens of seven Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Libya and Yemen, as well as suspending the US refugee program for at least four months.
This past Saturday, January 28, 2017, U.S. District Judge Ann M. Donnelly for the Eastern District of New York ordered a halt to any removal of refugees or others who hold valid visas to enter the United States, in response to a petition filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). This is only a temporary order and not a final decision. The case was filed on behalf of two Iraqis detained at JFK Airport: Hameed Khalid Darweesh, an interpreter for the U.S. military who had saved countless U.S. service members’ lives, according to Brandon Friedman, a platoon leader in Iraq; and the other plaintiff, Haider Alshawi, a former employee of a U.S. contractor in Iraq, who was to join his wife. See, Darweesh v. Trump, 1:17-CV-00480 (AMD) (EDNY Jan. 28, 2017).
Shortly after, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, of Federal District Court in Virginia, issued a temporary restraining order for seven days to allow permanent residents detained at the airport to have access to their attorneys and to stay the removal of any permanent residents detained at Dulles International Airport. See, Aziz, et al., v. Trump, 1:17-CV-116 (LMB) (ED VA Jan. 28, 2017). It has been reported that CBP at Dulles International Airport was refusing to follow the order issued by the judicial branch, which is a violation of the US Constitution.
This Sunday morning, January 29, 2017, U.S. District Judge Burroughs of the District of Massachusetts, also issued a temporary restraining order, ordering DHS to return to the law and regulations prior to the issuance of the executive order. See, Tootkaboni and Louhghalam v. Trump, 17-CV-10154 (Dt. Of Mass Jan. 29, 2017). The plaintiffs in this case are both professors at University of Massachusetts, and were returning to the US from an academic conference in Paris. Both professors are also lawful permanent residents of the U.S.
It is reported that CBP at JFK Airport is now complying with the temporary restraining order.
There are reports that CBP at Los Angeles International Airport have tried to get lawful permanent residents from any of the seven countries to sign forms abandoning their permanent residency. Fortunately, those permanent residents who refused to sign are reported to have been released.
If you are a lawful permanent resident, absolutely do not allow CBP to coerce you into signing a form agreeing to abandon your permanent residency.
There are reports from London Heathrow Airport that airlines are still being told by US DHS that they are to continue complying with the Executive Order and are refusing to board passengers who are citizens of any of the listed countries. Most, but not all, of the airlines flying out of Heathrow to the U.S. are complying with the executive order and refusing to board specified passengers. On the other hand, those passengers who have dual nationality and are UK citizens were being boarded. However, there seems to be a general confusion on exactly what the policy is.
Please note, the above information about airport admissions is anecdotal and has not been verified.
by Heidi Meyers | Jan 25, 2017 | Articles
MercyCorps.org “Quick Facts: What You Need to Know about the Syria Crisis”
By executive order, President Trump is banning the entry of all nonimmigrants and immigrants for at least 90 days who are citizens of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Libya and Yemen. The only exception is for diplomats and members of NATO. This means that people who already have valid visas will not be able to travel to the U.S. for at least the next 90 days. For example, a woman who has an approved relative petition through her U.S. citizen son, and who has already obtained an immigrant visa to come to the U.S. as a permanent resident, who just happens to be a citizen of Iraq or one of the other named countries, will not be able to board a plane to the U.S. Another example, would be a Syrian student attending university in the U.S. who goes to France for winter vacation, will not be able to return to the U.S. to attend school for the Spring semester. Thus, this new order totally discounts merit or the fact that these foreigners have already cleared numerous security checks in order to obtain a visa, and still bars them from the U.S. based where they happened to be born.
In addition to barring entry into the US of any persons of these nationalities, the executive order also suspends issuance of “other immigration benefits”. This appears to mean any immigration benefit, such as work authorization, extensions of stay for H-1Bs and other nonimmigrant status holders here in the U.S., approval of relative or employment petitions, etc.
The executive order also suspends the US Refugee Admissions Program for at least 120 days, and bars Syrians indefinitely. Even after the program resumes, the president may ban certain nationalities from participating in the program.
At this time, there are between 65 to 70 million refugees world-wide. We are facing the biggest refugee crisis since World War II. There are about 11 million Syrian refugees. There are currently more than 1.1 million Syrian refugees in Europe, and more than 2.5 million in Turkey, as well as several million others in other countries. They face unsanitary, life-threatening conditions in many of the camps. Refugees stuck in the camps on the Greek islands are literally freezing to death in frightful conditions, in tents with no hot water or heating. More than half of Syrian refugees are children under the age of 18.
This is a shameful action on the part of our government, and we should all contact our senators and representatives to protest.
by Heidi Meyers | Jan 24, 2017 | Articles
The Fox and the Cat, as drawn by Enrico Mazzanti, The Adventures of Pinocchio
Do you remember the story of Pinocchio? At one point, after being given the gift of five beautiful gold coins, the cat and the fox convince Pinocchio to bury his gold coins in the Field of Miracles, so that his money will multiply from five to two thousand five hundred. They advise him, after burying his five coins, that when he gets up in the morning he will have “a beautiful tree laden with as many gold pieces as a good ear of corn has grains in the month of June”. The fox tells him that he will have two thousand five hundred “shiny, clinking gold pieces in your pocket”. “Oh, how wonderful!” shouts Pinocchio, dancing for joy.
As we all know, things did not turn out the way Pinocchio had expected…Of course, foreigners wanting to live in the U.S. do not invest in the EB-5 program to grow their money, but to get a green card. Unfortunately, certain unscrupulous US developers have beguiled naïve foreign investors into giving them not only half a million dollars for the investment required by the EB-5 program, but also additional administrative fees, attorneys fees, accountants fees and various other fees and costs, and then cheated them out of not only their money but also when the projects do not go through, losing their chance to get a green card.
In April 2016, the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) filed a federal complaint against Ariel Quiros, William Stenger, Jay Peak, Inc., and various other companies, alleging that they had conducted a massive eight-year fraudulent scheme during which they looted more than $50 million of more than $350 million raised from hundreds of foreign investors who had been hoping to get their green cards through the EB-5 program. These scam artists misused more than $200 million of these foreign investors’ money. The most recent project was for a purported $110 million biomedical research center which was a complete fraud. The SEC concluded that the investors in these projects were in “grave danger of losing their investments and having their immigration petitions denied”. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Ariel Quiros, et al., Civil Action No. 1:16-cv-21301-DPG (U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida).
Shortly after, on May 26, 2016, the SEC announced fraud charges and froze the assets of a couple accused of misusing money raised from EB-5 investors to build a cancer treatment center. The SEC alleged that the two had raised $27 million for the cancer treatment center from 50 Chinese investors through the EB-5 program. After more than 18 months of gathering funds, there still was no construction at all at the proposed site for the cancer center. Apparently, the couple had diverted $11 million to Chinese businesses and put another $7 million into their own personal bank accounts. SEC v. Charles C. Liu, Xin Wang, et al., Docket No. 8:16-cv-00974-CJC-AGR (U.S. District Court, Central District of California).
Even assuming the regional center project you invest in is run by honest people, there is still a high risk involved and you may either not get your green card or not get your money back, or lose both. One risk factor is that the number of jobs anticipated may not actually be created. Remember, these projects continue to solicit EB-5 investors over a period of time, and jobs may be created at one point in time during the life of the project, but not at other points in time. So another risk is that while there are ten jobs created, there is a pool of investors over a number of years, and investors who got in too early will not have the jobs created in time, while those investors who got into the project too late, the jobs had already been created and then there are not enough more jobs created after these late investors sign on.
There are many factors beyond your control as a passive investor investing in one of the regional centers. Because of the long time it takes to adjudicate the petitions, and because of the backlogs in the Chinese EB-5 preference, many things can change over time which are unpredictable.
One factor relating to the foreign investor himself or herself is that you must show the lawful source of your funds. USCIS wants to be assured that you did not get your money through illegal or criminal means. So, for example, if you raised the money for your investment by selling assets, you also need to prove the prior purchase of those assets. If you received an inheritance from your parents, you have to show how your parents earned those funds. As you see, constructing a paper trail of long-ago events may end up being very difficult if not impossible. If you are unable to do so, your immigrant petition may be denied and you will not get your green card.
Like any area where business people think there is much money to be made, and where individuals are desperate to get their green cards and happy to be talked into believing in money trees growing in their Field of Miracles, the investor must beware and proceed cautiously, if at all, in investing in the EB-5 regional centers program.
by Heidi Meyers | Jan 11, 2017 | Articles
www.calendarpedia.com, February 2017 calendar
For February 2017, all employment preferences for the worldwide category are current for filing immigrant visas, including EB-1, EB-2, EB-3, Other Workers, EB-4, Certain Religious Workers, and EB-5. While the actual priority dates for EB-3 and Other Workers are both at October 1, 2016, this does not have much practical effect. For EB-2 China, the immigrant visa filing dates are up to March 1, 2013, while the priority dates is at November 15, 2012, more than four years behind. For EB-3 China, the filing date is up to May 1, 2014, and the priority date is at October 1, 2013, about three years and four months behind.
For EB-2 India, the immigrant visa filing date is at April 22, 2009 and the priority date is at April 15, 2008. For EB-3 India, the filing date is at July 1, 2005 and the priority date is at March 22, 2005.
For the Philippines, both EB-3 and Other Workers, are at a filing date of September 1, 2013 and the priority date is up to October 15, 2011, more than five years and two months behind.
Regarding EB-5, both regional centers and non-regional centers, the priority dates are current for all countries except China. EB-5 China is backlogged to June 15, 2014 for filing and the priority date is only up to April 15, 2014.
El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico all have backlogged priority dates for EB-4 and Certain Religious Workers at July 15, 2015, although all are current for immigrant visa filing.
by Heidi Meyers | Jan 11, 2017 | Articles
In a meeting with New York AILA (American Immigration Lawyers Association) this morning, January 11, 2017, representatives of local DHS agencies, including USCIS, USICE and CBP, stated that as of now, they have not been advised of any changes in policies or procedures by the incoming Trump administration. The spokesperson for New York USCIS in particular stated she did not foresee any changes for quite a while. However, USICE ERO (Enforcement and Removal Operations), which includes the deportation officers, stated that due to a wave of retirements, they will be getting new management personnel shortly.
by Heidi Meyers | Dec 12, 2016 | Articles
On December 1, 2016, members of Congress wrote President Obama to request that the NSEERS regulation providing for special registration of Muslim men and teenagers over the age of 16 should be rescinded. I quote the letter below at length:
“The NSEERS program was announced in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The most controversial portion of the NSEERS program involved a “domestic” registration system that targeted certain males who entered the United States on nonimmigrant visas from primarily Arab, Muslim-majority, African, and South Asian countries. The program was fundamentally flawed in its false assumption that people of a particular religion or nationality pose a greater national security risk and should be subject to racial profiling. The program is reminiscent of and indeed has been compared to — the dark time in our history when innocent people were interned based on their Japanese ancestry.
When instituted in 2002, the program caused widespread and palpable fear in affected communities, separated families and caused much harm to people affected by it. Boys and men were required to register with local immigration offices, were interrogated, and subjected to serious due process violation. Communities saw family members and neighbors disappear in the middle of the night, held in overcrowded jails and deported without due process. More than 13,000 people were placed in removal proceedings, businesses closed down, and students were forced to leave school with degrees uncompleted.
In addition to the harm that NSEERS caused to communities, the program was ineffective as a counter-terrorism tool. A 2012 Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General report found the program to be inefficient and a waste of resources, costing American taxpayers more than $10 million annually.’ The report characterized the data collected through the program as unreliable. No known terrorism convictions have resulted from the program.”
The letter was signed by many members of Congress. While the federal regulation providing for NSEERS has not been enforced by the Obama administration since 2011, it is still on the books, and could easily be used immediately by the incoming Trump administration. Once the existing regulation is revoked, it would take time for the new Trump administration to write up a new regulation, and go through the notice and comment procedures before it could become law, should the new administration decide to go ahead with registering Muslims. You can contact your member of Congress (you have two Senators for your state as well as a representative depending on your Congressional District) at http://www.house.gov/htbin/findrep, and President Obama at https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact, to voice your opinion on this matter.
