Wednesday, December 9, 2020

WHO CAN APPLY FOR DACA NOW, AND WHO CAN TRAVEL OUTSIDE THE U.S. AND HOW?



 

WHO CAN APPLY FOR DACA NOW, AND WHO CAN TRAVEL OUTSIDE THE U.S. AND HOW?

New DHS Policy On Initial DACA Applications, Advance Parole (Right To Travel) For DACA And The Path To A Green Card

 

By Christopher Kerosky, Esq.

New DACA policies by Trump Administration.

On December 7th, 2020, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services provided guidance on how it will implement new policies regarding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), as ordered by a federal judge:

·       USCIS will now accept all initial DACA requests from foreign nationals who have never previously received DACA.

·       USCIS will grant advance parole for travel outside the United States to DACA recipients as they did between 2014-2017

  • USCIS will return to granting employment authorizations for two years rather than one year. 

USCIS will  approve travel (“advance parole”) for DACA recipients who demonstrate that their need for travel is for “humanitarian, education, or employment” purposes.  Here are some examples:

Humanitarian: · For example: travel to obtain medical treatment, attend funeral services for a family member, or visit a sick or elderly relative.

Educational: · For example: semester abroad programs or academic research

Employment: · For example: overseas assignments, interviews, conferences, training, or meetings for work4. Travel needed to support the immediate safety, well-being or care of an immediate relative, particularly minor children of the alien.

CAUTION: DO NOT TRAVEL WITHOUT AN APPROVED ADVANCE PAROLE.

Applying for Adjustment of Status following travel with Advance Parole.

Advance parole makes some DACA recipients eligible for adjustment of status to the U.S. without a pardon and without going through consular processing outside the US.  For example, a DACA holder with a US citizen spouse. 

This means that if a DACA recipient travels abroad and returns under a grant of advance parole, he or she can apply for adjustment of status in the US.  This is a much faster and simpler procedure than the prior pardon procedure, which required the applicant to obtain a pardon (which were often denied) and to go through a lengthy procedure at a Consulate abroad, like Ciudad Juarez.

Now, DACA holders with a US citizen spouse can apply for permanent residence in San Francisco and generally obtain it in approximately one year.  There were many cases of DACA recipients successfully adjusting status after traveling abroad on advance parole between 2013-2017 before Trump stopped issuing Advance Parole to DACA holders. 

Of course, anyone contemplating travel outside the US or applying for permanent residence should get competent legal advice before doing so.

****************************************************************

CHRISTOPHER A. KEROSKY of the law firm of KEROSKY PURVES & BOGUE has practiced immigration law for over 25 years.   He graduated from University of California, Berkeley Law School and was a former counsel for the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington D.C.  Mr. Kerosky has been recognized as one of the top lawyers in Northern California for over 10 years by “Super Lawyers”.  See https://profiles.superlawyers.com/california-northern/san-francisco/lawyer/christopher-a-kerosky/358dc9f1-b1c2-46b5-80cc-6e9610b1cd43.html

.WARNING: The foregoing is a summary generally discussing legal issues. It is not intended to be a substitute for legal advice. We recommend that you get competent legal advice specific to your case before filing any application or petition.

 


Sunday, November 8, 2020

TRUMP HAS BEEN THE MOST ANTI-MEXICAN PRESIDENT IN 175 YEARS




TRUMP HAS BEEN THE MOST ANTI-MEXICAN PRESIDENT IN 175 YEARS. 

Donald Trump has done more harm to Mexican-Americans than any President in recent history. Anyone who loves Mexico and the Mexican-American community should welcome the electoral defeat of Donald Trump and the transition to the Biden Administration. 

Slander of the Mexican people.

Let’s not forget that Donald Trump started his first campaign for President in 2015 by slandering Mexicans and Mexican immigrants.  “They are not our friend, believe me.  They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

Trump spoke about immigrants at the Southern border as “bad hombres” and “animals”.  He called the Mexican legal system corrupt.  When an Indiana judge ruled against his company, Trump said it was because he was “Mexican”.  He even baselessly stated that the “overwhelming” share of crimes in urban areas were committed by blacks and Hispanics. https://time.com/4473972/donald-trump-mexico-meeting-insult/

Trump used his vow to build a wall between us and Mexico to incite his supporters at political rallies, scapegoating Mexico and Mexican immigrants for our problems.  He even taunted the Mexican government by saying it would pay for the wall, repeatedly working his followers into a fervor by asking them: “And who will pay for it?”.  “Mexico”, they gleefully responded.

In fact, over the last four years, Trump spent billions of American government funds on his “wall”, even though border security experts argued the wall was ineffective.  He even diverted money from the military and emergency relief to spend on his border fences. It’s clear he used this obsession with the wall to enflame many of his nativist supporters. 

Never before has a U.S. President so relentlessly targeted a U.S. ally for hostility and scapegoated its immigrants so maliciously for political gain.

Widespread racist attacks against Mex[CK1] ican-Americans and other Latinos.

Donald Trump’s rhetoric contributed to a wave of racist attacks in public on Mexicans and other Latinos not seen in decades.  People speaking Spanish in grocery stores – often U.S. citizens -- were told to “Go back where you came from.”  Many Latinos were physically assaulted, their homes vandalized in ethnic-based attacks.  There have been an increased number of complaints of mistreatment of Latinos by law enforcement over the last four years.  https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/2018/10/25/more-latinos-have-serious-concerns-about-their-place-in-america-under-trump/

And Trump never called out these racist attacks for fear of disappointing the racists among his supporters. 

Trump’s war on Mexican immigration.

And for millions of Mexican immigrants here, Trump’s Administration has brought fear, anguish and broken dreams on a massive scale.  Every day for four years, I’ve seen the toll that his administration's policies have had on the Mexican immigrant population here.  He deputized Steven Miller, Jeff Sessions and William Barr to carry out a virtual war on Mexican immigration;  specifically:

·       Trump cancelled Obama’s program known as DAPA, which deprived status to 5 million mostly Mexican undocumented immigrants here

·       he repeatedly attempted to kill DACA, which would have cancelled status for  another 750,000 immigrants; he was only stopped from doing so by the courts;

·       The Trump Administration’s  expanded deportation to remove thousands of families previously given a reprieve by Democratic and Republican administrations;

·       His Department of Homeland Security jailed and prosecuted asylum seekers, and separated them from their children; many still have not been reunited;

·       Trump has promoted an end to family unity, supporting an increase in the 20+ years most Mexicans wait to immigrate through family members;  

·       Trump even made it harder for domestic violence victims or military veterans to immigrate. 

These actions of the Trump Administration – among many others-- have translated into more Mexican families separated from their loved ones or further deferring their dreams of obtaining status in America.  https://www.sonomacountygazette.com/sonoma-county-news/biden-vs-trump-how-they-differ-on-immigration-policy/

Even worse was what Trump said behind closed doors about immigrants crossing the borders.  Here’s what was reported by his aides:

“Privately, the president had often talked about fortifying a border wall with a water-filled trench, stocked with snakes or alligators, prompting aides to seek a cost estimate. He wanted the wall electrified, with spikes on top that could pierce human flesh. After publicly suggesting that soldiers shoot migrants if they threw rocks, the president backed off when his staff told him that was illegal. But later in a meeting, aides recalled, he suggested that they shoot migrants in the legs to slow them down. That’s not allowed either, they told him.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/10/02/trumps-most-insulting-violent-language-is-often-reserved-immigrants/

COVID.

Lastly, Trump’s handling of the COVID epidemic has been a story of ineptitude, misrepresentations to the public, and reckless disregard for public health.  https://kpblawfirm.blogspot.com/2020/11/a-detailed-account-of-trumps.html

COVID has disproportionately affected the Hispanic community; approximately 45,000 have died, representing 20% of the deaths in the U.S. since the epidemic began. Trump has shown little or no empathy toward families who have suffered illness or death from COVID. 

Conclusion.

There hasn’t been a President so consistently anti-Mexican in word and deed, since James Polk – who took about half of Mexico’s territory after the Mexican-American War he incited.    

The election this week has apparently brought an end to Donald Trump’s Presidency after one term.  It’s a blessing for all those who care about democracy and good government in America.  But it’s particularly good news for the Mexican-American community.  Joe Biden will put a stop to the anti-Mexican and anti-immigrant rhetoric, implement more humane immigration policies and attempt to restore the historically friendly relationship with the Mexican nation and people.   


A DETAILED ACCOUNT OF TRUMP’S MISHANDLING OF COVID

 

A DETAILED ACCOUNT OF TRUMP’S MISHANDLING OF COVID. 

I am rather sick of hearing Trump apologists trying to claim that poor Donald did not know how bad the virus could be and that governors and others are just as culpable.  Nonsense.  Anyone who thinks Trump hasn't grossly mishandled this crisis, costing many thousands of American lives, simply hasn't been paying attention. 

So below I provide  a summary with support in the record in case you want to respond to those who try to defend what Trump did and did not do on COVID. 

Overview.

In late February, Trump called the corona virus a hoax and said the infections were going to go down from 15 to zero. We know now from his taped interviews with Bob Woodward that Trump himself knew the virus was a huge problem; he just pretended with the public otherwise. He had received daily security briefings which confirmed this.  His administration's failure to prepare during the months of January, February and March was inexcusable and inexplicable.

Donald Trump and his Administration’s handling of this crisis has been incompetent in virtually every way and led to much of the illness, death and economic losses that have resulted. Let's look at a few facts...

Testing.

Testing is a great example of Trump’s failure. The US and South Korea discovered their first COVID-19 cases the same day – January 20th.  Almost two months later, the Koreans were testing 10,000 people a day; the U.S. had only tested a total of 14,000 total. The result is that – as of today – South Korea has had 26,416 cases.  The U.S.: 8.85 million or 335 times more cases.  Yet the US has only 6 times the population of South Korea.  To read more:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/30/11-100000-what-went-wrong-with-coronavirus-testing-us/?fbclid=IwAR2HVCosIbfsQEFUcpxWvPVjR1K2axgigpYDT96m77ApXnSd4IUvMD2OCwk

How the Trump Administration bungled testing and then lied about it.

The Trump Administration rejected the World Health Organization test that most of Europe has used successfully then lost almost a month of critical time, developing a failed test and then failing to fix the problem, while the virus spread. Trump's people enforced regulations that paradoxically made it tougher for hospitals, private clinics and companies to deploy diagnostic tests in an emergency. Other countries that had mobilized private industry were performing tens of thousands of tests daily, compared with fewer than 100 on average in the United States, frustrating local health officials, lawmakers and desperate Americans.  Almost every developed country in the world has been far ahead of the U.S. in testing from the start.

The Trump Administration’s idiotic bungling of the critical task of making COVID-19 testing widely available is really hard to understand—unless it was caused in whole or in part by Trump’s own desire to downplay this crisis. Worse, Trump and Pence lied about the availability of testing over and over again. On March 9th, Trump said: Anyone who wants a test can get a test” – even though a total of about 10,000 people had been able to get tested and tests still are widely unavailable months later.

This article sets out the pathetic job that Trump and his people did on testing. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/28/us/testing-coronavirus-pandemic.html

This is why the US has 20% of the cases, even though we only have 4% of the world’s population, according to the CDC itsellf.  (8.7 million US cases out of 44 million worldwide). Much of this nightmare was preventable through adequate testing and social distancing like they did in South Korea and other countries like Canada and Germany that have much lower rates of infection. Anyone who doesn’t see that Trump administration's mishandling of this epidemic caused much of this unnecessary suffering and death is just ignoring reality. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/coronavirus-testing-united-states/2020/03/05/a6ced5aa-5f0f-11ea-9055-5fa12981bbbf_story.html

Protective Equipment.

Another major Trump Administration failure concerns the woefully inadequate supply of hospital protective equipment and ventilators for our sick and those caring for them. Trump had the power to mobilize industry, first by requesting their assistance, then by forcing them to do help produce ventilators and protective equipment under the Defense Production Act. This is how the federal government could have prevented the crisis in hospitals occurring now and getting worse by the day. Their own modeling and reports showed years ago that this was necessary. But Trump lost precious weeks, refusing to do so; now the entire federal stockpile is gone, and it will take months for these industries to gear up.  This was an inexcusably-negligent failure on the part of Trump and his team that will add to the unnecessary human suffering caused by COVID-19.

  https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a32006538/coronavirus-trump-defense-production-act/

And by the way, the states could do none of this. They could not mobilize industry to produce needed supplies. They didn’t have that power; they were required to bid against each other and have exhausted the supply industry had available. States also could not do testing until recently—the Trump Administration forbade them from doing testing in the critical early weeks. 

Masks and Social Distancing.

Almost 3 months ago. Scientific studies showed that at least a third of COVID deaths could be prevented just by people wearing masks and social distancing. https://www.livescience.com/wearing-masks-save-tens-thousands-lives.html

Trump has thwarted efforts to get people to do these simple steps—refusing to consistently wear a mask even in close proximity to others; dissing those who wear masks; and holding mass rallies and other public super-spreader events,  

Studies say we could save 130,000 lives between now and February by just wearing masks.  https://www.statnews.com/2020/10/23/universal-mask-use-could-save-130000-lives-by-the-end-of-february-new-modeling-study-says/

Still Trump refuses to issue a national mandate, and worse mocks Biden and others who do the responsible thing and wear a mask.

Trump’s Lies about the Virus.

Moreover, words matter.  Trump’s messages to the nation on this virus have been criminally-reckless. His lies and misstatements about the danger of this virus – amplified by Trump TV (Fox News) and other right-wing media– have caused people to not take this seriously, fail to socially-distance, and undeniably have caused more deaths.  Here’s a great video summary of those misstatements: https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/03/18/president-trump-evolution-coronavirus-response-jm-orig.cnn

In case you don't want to watch the video, here's a list:

January 22: “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. It’s going to be just fine.”

February 2: “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.”

February 24: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA… Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”

February 25: “CDC and my Administration are doing a GREAT job of handling Coronavirus.”

February 25: “I think that's a problem that’s going to go away… They have studied it. They know very much. In fact, we’re very close to a vaccine.”

February 26: “The 15 (cases in the US) within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.”

February 26: “We're going very substantially down, not up.”

February 27: “One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”

February 28: “We're ordering a lot of supplies. We're ordering a lot of, uh, elements that frankly we wouldn't be ordering unless it was something like this. But we're ordering a lot of different elements of medical.”

March 2: “You take a solid flu vaccine, you don't think that could have an impact, or much of an impact, on corona?”

March 2: “A lot of things are happening, a lot of very exciting things are happening and they’re happening very rapidly.”

March 4: “If we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work — some of them go to work, but they get better.”

March 5: “I NEVER said people that are feeling sick should go to work.”

March 5: “The United States… has, as of now, only 129 cases… and 11 deaths. We are working very hard to keep these numbers as low as possible!”

March 6: “I think we’re doing a really good job in this country at keeping it down… a tremendous job at keeping it down.”

March 6: “Anybody right now, and yesterday, anybody that needs a test gets a test. They’re there. And the tests are beautiful…. the tests are all perfect like the letter was perfect. The transcription was perfect. Right? This was not as perfect as that but pretty good.”
March 6: “I like this stuff. I really get it. People are surprised that I understand it… Every one of these doctors said, ‘How do you know so much about this?’ Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead of running for president.”

March 6: “I don't need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn't our fault.”

March 8: “We have a perfectly coordinated and fine tuned plan at the White House for our attack on CoronaVirus.”

March 9: “This blindsided the world.”

March 13: “National Emergency”

One is being blind to the obvious if you deny the role that Trump’s misleading the American public about this deadly epidemic has played in causing it to spread more widely and thus cause more people to get sick and die. That’s certainly not his only serious failure of Presidential leadership in the last 4 years – but this one has had very deadly consequences for our country.

 

Saturday, November 7, 2020

PRESIDENT-ELECT BIDEN TO RE-INSTATE DACA PROGRAM SOON AFTER INAUGURATION.



 #DACA #WeAreHereToStay #MyAmericanDreams

President-elect Biden will announce an Executive Order to reinstate and reopen the DACA program, which could provide status to 300,000 new applicants, as well as secure the existing status for over 700,000 who currently have DACA, according to the Washington Post. 

Trump has spent three years trying to take away that status but was blocked by the courts.  

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-first-executive-orders-measures/2020/11/07/9fb9c1d0-210b-11eb-b532-05c751cd5dc2_story.html

Saturday, October 24, 2020

BIDEN v. TRUMP. Part 3: DACA and DAPA

 



BIDEN v. TRUMP. Part 3: DACA and DAPA

By Christopher Kerosky

In 2012, the Obama-Biden administration created DACA, the program that gave 750,000 young immigrants a reprieve from deportation.   In 2017, in his first year in office, Donald Trump announced the termination of DACA.   Although the courts later forced the Trump Administration to continue DACA for those who already have it, the Administration has so far refused to accept new applications, essentially preventing another 300,000 young people from getting status.

 

Joe Biden has called for a path to citizenship for DACA-recipients through passage of the DREAM Act.  https://joebiden.com/immigration/#.

 

As his website states, “as Vice President, Joe Biden championed the creation and expansion of the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) program”, which would have given temporary status to undocumented immigrants with children born here. That program was blocked by a lawsuit filed by Republican governors.  Donald Trump eliminated DAPA program before it could be implemented and 5 million undocumented immigrants were left in the shadows.   


Biden v. Trump: Part 2. Differences on Asylum Policy.



Biden v. Trump: Differences on Asylum Policy.

By Christopher Kerosky 

Perhaps the starkest difference between Trump and Obama/Biden has been with respect to asylum policy.  
Trump has implemented a broad-based set of restrictive laws and policies toward asylum applicants including:
 
       blocking many individuals from eligibility for asylum by changing policies to exclude victims of 
sexual abuse, domestic violence or gang violence abroad;
       forcing asylum applicants to wait long periods in Customs & Border Protection camps at the U.S. border 
or in Mexico; during the last six months, the Administration has simply closed the border to asylum 
applicants completely, citing the COVID crisis.
       Using the Department of Justice to restructure the immigration law bench by appointing predominantly 
former ICE officials as judges, and expediting deportation proceedings for asylum applicants.   
 
If he becomes President, Biden has promised to reverse much of this, including a promise to 
support steps to make immigration courts 
more independent.” https://joebiden.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/UNITY-TASK-FORCE-RECOMMENDATIONS.pdf

Sunday, October 4, 2020

BIDEN v. TRUMP ON IMMIGRATION POLICY: Part 1. Overview



THE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES ON IMMIGRATION POLICY: Part 1. Overview

By Christopher Kerosky

Next month there is a critical Presidential election for all Americans, but especially for immigrants.  The positions of each candidate on immigration policy are significantly different as is clear from their past policies and their public statements this year.    

 

Donald Trump’s website states the following:  “To restore the rule of law and secure our border, President Trump is committed to constructing a border wall and ensuring the swift removal of unlawful entrants. To protect American workers, the President supports ending chain migration, eliminating the Visa Lottery, and moving the country to a merit-based entry system. These reforms will advance the safety and prosperity of all Americans while helping new citizens assimilate and flourish.” https://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/immigration/

 

True to his promises during the 2016 campaign, Trump has implemented a comprehensive agenda to reduce legal and undocumented immigration over the last four years.  This has included fighting for funding for his “wall” (really, increased barriers) on the Mexican border; a policy  barring immigration from many Muslim countries; and severe r

estrictions on asylum and refugee status.  He has tried and largely succeeded in scaling back any forms of amnesty for undocumented immigrants such as  DACA, DAPA and temporary protected status (TPS) for Central Americans.  As an immigration lawyer practicing 30 years, during six administrations, I can tell you this administration has been the most restrictive and punitive toward immigrants during those three decades. 

 

Based upon his statements and those of his campaign, Joe Biden would reverse much of that.  His website says: “Joe Biden understands the pain felt by every family across the U.S. that has had a loved one removed from the country, including under the Obama-Biden Administration, and he believes we must do better to uphold our laws humanely and preserve the dignity of immigrant families, refugees, and asylum-seekers.” https://joebiden.com/immigration/#

WHO CAN APPLY FOR DACA NOW, AND WHO CAN TRAVEL OUTSIDE THE U.S. AND HOW?

  WHO CAN APPLY FOR DACA NOW, AND WHO CAN TRAVEL OUTSIDE THE U.S. AND HOW? New DHS Policy On Initial DACA Applications, Advance Parole (Ri...