All posts by Cheng, Cho, & Yee, Immigration Lawyers

ICE Agents Will Not Get help From Chicago Police

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) won’t receive help from the Chicago Police Department (CPD) because of restrictions placed on city officers and employees. However, ICE essentially manipulated the CPD into responding to its operations in order to bring them into the detainment process.

How ICE Caused CPD to Respond

In September 2019, as ICE detained Chicagoans following multiple immigration operations, ICE officers “tricked” the CPD into responding to its requests for backup.

The Chicago Welcoming City ordinance strictly prohibits police officers and other city employees from questioning citizens’ immigration statuses or notifying federal agents of undocumented immigrants. Regardless, ICE took steps to encourage CPD to violate that ordinance.

City officials, including Ald. Raymond Lopez, attacked ICE, specifically claiming that federal officers made a phone call to 911 to request backup during an immigration stop that took place in Back of the Yards, which led to CPD officers responding to the scene.

Regarding the incident, Lopez stated, “This was a bait call to get CPD out there … Unfortunately, CPD was manipulated by ICE.”

According to Mayor Lori Lightfoot, ICE agents’ call while serving a warrant gave the impression that they were in distress, causing the CPD officers to respond against protocol. The department’s First Deputy Sup. Anthony Riccio stated that officers left the scene once they became aware that the ICE agents weren’t in distress.

CPD’s Role in ICE Operations

Following the incident, Lightfoot stated that there would be efforts to “tighten the protocols to make sure that if there is a call that comes saying ‘Homeland Security’ that there are more questions asked before anyone is dispatched.”

The mayor also ordered Chicago officials to place more restrictions on the rules regarding when Chicago law enforcement officials are permitted to assist Department of Homeland Security agents in their efforts to enforce federal immigration law. Additional training or a new set of rules would also be developed in response to the incident.

Ultimately, these changes will help ensure that CPD remains uninvolved in ICE agent operations.

Remaining Silent During ICE Investigations

Erendira Rendon, the vice president of immigration advocacy at the Resurrection Project located in Back of the Yards and Pilsen, recommended that residents remain silent when facing ICE agents. Remaining silent can help prevent an arrest or, even if an arrest takes place, assist residents’ attorneys when building their case.

What Is Conditional Resident Status?

Immigrants who have received a green card that displays a two-year expiration are known as conditional residents. It’s important to act fast to establish permanent residency because that expiration date applies to both the card and the individual’s residency status.

What Exactly Is Conditional Resident Status?

U.S. citizens can sponsor spouses so that they may become lawful residents of the United States. However, if at the time of approval of an application, the couple has been married less than two years, the foreign national will receive only conditional resident status that is valid for a two year period.

However if at the time of approval of an application, the couple has been married for two years or more already, the foreign national can then receive approval for lawful permanent status without any conditions.

Removal of Conditional Immigrant Status Conditions for Married Immigrants

The two-year conditional status is put into place to ensure that couples can prove that their marriage is real. Otherwise, USCIS may suspect that the couple only married to enable the immigrant to gain permanent residency in the U.S.

Although the couple may have been required to provide documentation proving that their marriage was legitimate when the immigrant originally obtained conditional resident status, more documentation will be required from the next two years to show the couple is still married and living together.

Immigrants in a marriage will need to file Form I-751 to remove the conditions of their immigration status.

If the immigrant wishes to remain eligible for approval without the need for an exception, he or she will need to stay married to the same spouse throughout the duration of their status. However, if certain circumstances render an immigrant unable to meet these requirements, certain exceptions may be available to help immigrants gain permanent resident status without the spouse’s assistance. For instance, if the foreign national can show that although the marriage has been terminated, at the time it was entered into, it was real and bona fide, the removal of conditions may still be approved. 

If the individual is unable to complete the I-751 form or any other circumstances prevent him or her from submitting documentation proving that the marriage was legitimate, removal proceedings may begin against the immigrant, potentially resulting in loss of conditional resident status and deportation.

If there were valid reasons for the inability to complete the necessary forms or provide ample documentation proving that the marriage was real by the expiration date, consult with an immigration law firm for additional advice and assistance.

What to Expect After Removal of Immigration Status Conditions

Once USCIS has reviewed the individual’s application, applicants will receive a receipt of completion, which will confirm the immigrant’s valid status while awaiting approval. Following this step, individuals will be required to provide fingerprints to check their records, and they may need to undergo an interview before USCIS accepts or denies the application.

Understanding these aspects of conditional resident status and steps for the removal of conditions can help make the immigration process smoother.

Applying for Citizenship: Do You Qualify for a USCIS Fee Waiver?

When applying for citizenship, some people may qualify for a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) fee waiver. This can help significantly reduce the application filing price, which is normally $725.

As of December 2, 2019, a new policy is in effect that makes changes to the qualifications for an application fee waiver. Now, the fee only applies to individuals applying for citizenship, work permits, certain types of green cards, and various other benefits.

Requirements for the New Immigration Services Policy Change

With the new changes implemented, individuals will only be permitted to request a waiver if they are able to prove that their yearly household income is at or lower than 150% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, or if they can prove that they’re experiencing financial difficulties with other documentation.

The two other alternatives are more of a challenge to prove when applying, with the need for applicants to provide plenty of documentation, oftentimes with the help of an immigration attorney. The biggest problem with these more stringent requirements is that USCIS would be required to spend even more time reviewing these documents, resulting in even more delays in immigration cases.

In addition to more documentation, filing fees may increase to the point of becoming unaffordable for many applicants, including low-income immigrants, families filing more than one application at once, and the elderly. The increasing limitations for fee waivers may also deter many from applying for benefits entirely, including citizenship.

The Trump Administration’s Changes to Legal Immigration

The new changes are the result of one of the many changes the Trump administration has implemented against legal immigration.

This change to the policy for fee waivers came soon after multiple federal courts struck down the Trump administration’s public charge rule, which would have enabled the government to more easily deny green cards to immigrations who seemed likely to receive specific types of public benefits in the future such as non-cash benefits, including food stamps and Medicaid. Many criticized the rule as something akin to a “wealth test” for immigrants who wished to live in the U.S.

Ultimately, the new policy makes it more difficult for people to navigate the immigration system, so it’s important for applicants to determine if they qualify for a USCIS fee waiver. Once they’ve applied, applicants can check USCIS processing times online to stay updated on the immigration process.

Act Now: Immigration Fees Set to Skyrocket

Higher immigration fees are on the way and advocates and experts are urging immigrants to act fast to avoid the hikes. USCIS reviews its fees every two years and fee increases are nothing new. However, proposed fees for green cards and citizenship applications this year are historically high.

Recent Reviews of the USCIS Fees

The Department of Homeland Security conducts reviews of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) fees to ensure that costs don’t exceed income. The latest review saw significant increases in the proposed fees for most common types of applications for immigration. The cost for an ordinary citizenship application, for instance, could rise as much as 83% from $640 to $1,170. The cost of a green card could skyrocket to $2,750.

Overall, prices for all types of applications could see an increase of around twenty percent. However, the individuals who will suffer from these prices the most will be ordinary people who wish to apply for benefits, the reasons for which are still unclear, while businesses will have to pay much smaller fees.

The new changes would also require individuals applying for asylum in the U.S. to pay a fee for the first time in the nation’s history. They will also need to pay $490 to receive a work permit, even if they haven’t earned any income yet from working legally in the U.S.

What Is the Reason for the Changes?

According to USCIS’s report, there are three main reasons for the new changes and increasing fees. These include:

  • The transfer of funding to ICE from USCIS through fees for green card applications, which are used to cover immigration enforcement costs such as detention and removal.
  • Increased income for current USCIS staff and future employees.
  • The higher cost of vetting and administrative overhead.

Despite these reasons listed in the USCIS report, the increases seem to be unusually high considering the fees already increased in 2017 by twenty percent when the USCIS budget was around $3.3 billion, while the projected costs for 2020 will be around $4.6 billion. As costs continue to rise for applicants, the USCIS has slowed the application review process, as year-long backlogs are far from unusual.

These increased costs can be detrimental to many applicants who wish to live and work in the U.S. With these upcoming changes in mind, immigrants are advised to act fast to avoid getting hit with these costs.

Embracing Immigrant Talent in the US

Embracing immigrant talent can help drive innovation and grow the economy in the United States. Many businesses are struggling to find the right employees in a variety of industries, but immigrant workers can fill this gap.

The Importance of Acquiring Talent Through Immigration

There’s no shortage of talent all over the world, and many skilled immigrants are looking for work in the United States. A recent Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) paper discussed the integral role that immigration plays in encouraging economic growth and increased productivity in the workplace, along with many businesses’ failure to embrace this talent.

The authors of the paper found that “nations that prioritize its development, its attraction, its retention, and its movement across borders will be best positioned to compete.” With so many technological developments available to businesses today, the greatest advantage for a business will be to have the best talent and reliable employees.

The GMAC paper combines business school application data gathered in their Application Trends Survey Report 2019 and data collected from the U.S., U.K., Canada, India, and China. Collectively, this data enables researchers to more accurately understand how immigration and business schools influence talent acquisition and development.

GMAC Board Chair and Dean of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, Bill Boulding, stated that business schools are in a unique position to determine just how the mobility of talent influences the economy as well as vitality, and as talent developers, experts at GMAC possess nearly real-time data that details new trends regarding the locations where talent is traveling. “We feel it is critical we share this information now with policymakers around the world as talent will be the most important factor in determining who wins and loses economically in the future,” Boulding explained.

How to Improve Talent Acquisition

Some policymakers are proposing U.S.-based policy reforms that are intended to help improve the talent gap. These policy reforms include the removal of certain countries’ current visa caps and making drastic reformations to the H-1B visa program to give foreign talent a better chance of gaining entry into the U.S. These policy reforms also include an effort to make the immigration process easier for individuals to understand and navigate.

There are many facts that support the GMAC paper’s argument for reforming immigration policies, including data such as the number of non-native Ph.D. students in the U.S., the fact that one in three U.S. Nobel Prize laureates in the sciences were immigrants, and the number of U.S. immigrant startup founders. The paper reveals that while only around 15 percent of the workforce is comprised of immigrants, these immigrants make up nearly one-fourth of all inventors and entrepreneurs.

Unfortunately, immigrants still find it challenging to move to another country, from acquiring their visa to looking for a home, transferring bank accounts, and registering as taxpayers. It’s also a time-consuming process, involving finding a sponsor and the potential delay between starting a new job at a new company and receiving the first paycheck.

To help eliminate the issue of delayed payments and the burden of moving, GMAC intends to assist with financing and the general logistics of the move, from purchasing flight tickets to covering the initial rent payments, among other expenses. In turn, as the immigrant begins earning more income at his or her job, he or she can begin to pay back what they owe.

How Immigration of Talent Impacts the Community

If high-value immigrant employees are able to travel freely to reach their full potential, this could largely benefit the global community in addition to the host community.

At the same time, there are some valid concerns regarding immigration and the various challenges around integration. However, author William Kerr in The Gift of Global Talent makes it clear that as many discuss the issue of global talent as it relates to illegal immigration, there are many nuances and aspects to consider when it comes to skilled students and immigrants.

One big concern has to do with inequality within certain regions. There’s an understandable worry that while large countries and cities thrive because of larger populations, smaller communities may lose to big-city opportunities. This makes it important for policymakers to avoid neglecting these smaller towns and regions.

The GMAC paper states that while hiring global talent is important for success, it’s also important to invest in local talent. Working with both local and immigrant talent can help prevent the need to relocate to where talent is and ensure that those smaller communities aren’t ignored.

Ultimately, immigration will continue to play a vital part in helping startups establish themselves throughout the U.S., whether in a smaller community or a large city, which makes it important for businesses to do what they can to embrace foreign talent willing to relocate to the U.S.