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Immigration
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February 05, 2024
Wash. Labor Dept. Says ICE Facility Operator Blocking Probes
Washington state's labor department has alleged in a complaint moved to federal court that private prison operator GEO Secure Services LLC is illegally blocking inspectors from enforcing state workplace safety laws at an immigration detention facility.
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February 05, 2024
State Department Limits Visas For People Abusing Spyware
The U.S. Department of State announced a new policy Monday restricting visas for people who use commercial spyware to surveil, harass or suppress journalists, activists and others.
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February 05, 2024
4th Circ. Backs 'Beyond Doubt' Rule For Green Card Applicant
The Fourth Circuit has backed a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals to hold a Dominican woman applying for permanent U.S. residency from within the country to the evidentiary standards used with individuals seeking to be admitted to the United States from the border.
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February 05, 2024
Feds Pay $1.2M To End Suit Accusing Judge Of Lewdness
The U.S. Department of Justice will pay $1.2 million to resolve a suit from a former staff assistant who said a California immigration judge routinely subjected her to explicit, lewd comments and once told her he would "make her straight" if they had sex.
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February 05, 2024
Cities, Advocacy Groups Say DACA Is Vital For US Communities
Dozens of local governments and advocacy groups have thrown their support behind the Biden administration's appeal to save the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, telling the Fifth Circuit both families and economies will suffer if DACA dies.
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February 04, 2024
$118B Senate Bill Proposes Sweeping Border Changes
A group of bipartisan senators unveiled a $118 billion border security package Sunday that would usher in sweeping changes to the asylum system and boost border security measures, while providing nearly $48.5 billion in aid to Ukraine.
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February 02, 2024
ACLU Atty On How To Protect Civil Liberties In The AI Era
Because artificial intelligence and algorithmic systems often operate in the shadows, there's a new need for legislation, regulation and enforcement to ensure the technology doesn't undercut civil liberties by engaging in discrimination in housing, education or employment, according to Cody Venzke, senior policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union.
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February 02, 2024
9th Circ. Revives Asylum Bid For Indian Politician's Son
A split Ninth Circuit panel granted an Indian national and son of a Punjabi legislative assembly member another chance at asylum, faulting an immigration judge's lack of clarity about who carried the burden to show whether he could safely return to India.
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February 02, 2024
'Slow Lawyering' Shouldn't Punish Clients, Mich. Judge Says
A Michigan federal judge on Friday set aside default judgments against two farming companies named alongside other farms in a suit alleging they trafficked Mexican migrant farmworkers, saying he didn't want to punish clients for their lawyers' tardy response to the case.
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February 02, 2024
Biden Admin Hits Back At Objections To H-2A Wage Increases
The administration of President Joe Biden pressed a Florida federal court Friday to keep intact a new U.S. Department of Labor rule raising the salary for foreign agricultural workers, saying it supported the wage hike and the policy doesn't create an "impermissible" attractive wage.
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February 02, 2024
Spousal Work Permits Backed By Precedent, DC Circ. Told
Countering an argument from ex-information technology workers that D.C. Circuit precedent dooms an Obama-era program allowing work permits for spouses of highly skilled foreign workers, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the court's precedent is squarely on its side.
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February 02, 2024
4th Circ. Backs Reliance On Asylum-Seekers' Partial Truths
The Fourth Circuit ruled Thursday that immigration judges may rely on asylum-seekers' testimony that they only find partly truthful, instead of having to accept or deny the testimony completely.
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February 02, 2024
11th Circ. Sides With Chinese Citizens In Fla. Land-Buy Row
A unanimous Eleventh Circuit panel granted two of four Chinese citizens' bids to freeze enforcement of a Florida law barring nationals of certain countries from owning land, saying they showed "a substantial likelihood of success" that the state regulation is preempted by federal law.
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February 01, 2024
Higher Ed Alliance Says Ending DACA Will Decimate Economy
More than 150 universities and colleges on Thursday backed the Biden administration's quest to save the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in the Fifth Circuit, saying the program has allowed its recipients to thrive and ultimately benefit the nation's economy.
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February 01, 2024
DOL Says Late Argument Dooms H-2A Wage Rule Challenge
The Biden administration urged the Fourth Circuit to reject an argument that the U.S. Department of Labor was required to consider the effects of a rule regulating H-2A wages on illegal immigration, saying the argument, attached to a challenge of the rule, came too late.
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February 01, 2024
Feds Say Witnesses In Family Separation Suit Are Being Harassed
An assistant U.S. attorney offered support for the government's bid to keep secret excerpts of depositions in litigation over damages for migrant families separated during the Trump administration, saying a witness in related litigation was harassed.
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February 01, 2024
Biden Admin. Sanctions Israeli Settlers In West Bank
President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Thursday imposing financial and visa restrictions on "extremist" actors in the West Bank, with the first round of sanctions being levied against four Israeli settlers found to have assaulted Palestinian civilians and Israeli activists.
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January 31, 2024
Final Immigration Fee Hikes Seen As 'Tax' On Employers
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' final fee schedule imposing fee hikes for employment-based visas and a $600 fee to fund the asylum system is drawing ire from attorneys who say it amounts to a tax on talent-strapped employers.
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January 31, 2024
Immigration Board Rejects Another DHS Fix To Removal Notices
The Board of Immigration Appeals rejected Wednesday yet another one of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's efforts to retroactively fix a removal notice that was missing the time and date of the immigration hearing.
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January 31, 2024
Bus Co. Says NYC's $708M Suit Over Migrants Is Federal Issue
A charter transportation company pressed a federal court to hear New York City's lawsuit seeking to hold bus companies financially responsible for migrants bused to the city, arguing the lawsuit threatened the migrants' federal rights to travel between the states.
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January 31, 2024
'Glad I'm Not In The House': GOP Sens. Wary Of Ousting Mayorkas
The House Republican-led efforts to impeach U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas advanced to the full chamber early Wednesday, but those efforts may face headwinds from unenthused Senate Republicans.
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January 31, 2024
4th Circ. Says Migrant Can't Tie MS-13 Extortion To US Dad
The Fourth Circuit refuted a Salvadoran asylum-seeker's claims that MS-13 extorted him to get its hands on remittances from his American father, finding no evidence showing that gang members even knew the father was in the U.S.
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January 30, 2024
Biden Admin. Finalizes Immigration Fee Hikes
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Tuesday firmed up immigration fee increases that will significantly raise the costs for employers to hire noncitizen workers, but offered some concessions in response to criticism that earlier proposed rates were too high.
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January 30, 2024
Final H-1B Rule Focuses Largely On Thwarting Lottery Abuse
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security unveiled a final rule Tuesday aimed at modernizing the H-1B visa program for high-skilled foreign workers, with a highly anticipated provision to crack down on fraudulent lottery registrations making the final cut.
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January 30, 2024
New Report Says ICE's Digital Monitoring Of Migrants Soaring
The number of migrants subject to digital surveillance under a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement program has skyrocketed since the program's inception, according to a report released Tuesday, which revealed that figure tripled between 2021 and 2022 alone.
Expert Analysis
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ABA Opinion Should Help Clarify Which Ethics Rules Apply
A recent American Bar Association opinion provides key guidance on interpreting ABA Model Rule 8.5's notoriously complex choice-of-law analysis — and should help lawyers authorized to practice in multiple jurisdictions determine which jurisdiction's ethics rules govern their conduct, say attorneys at HWG.
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4 Ways To Reboot Your Firm's Stalled Diversity Program
Law firms that have failed to see real progress despite years of diversity initiatives can move forward by committing to tackle four often-taboo obstacles that hinder diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, says Steph Maher at Jaffe.
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DOJ's Google Sanctions Motion Shows Risks Of Auto-Deletion
The U.S. Department of Justice recently hit Google with a sanctions motion over its alleged failure to preserve relevant instant-messaging communications, a predicament that should be a wake-up call for counsel concerning the danger associated with automatic-deletion features and how it's been handled by the courts, say Oscar Shine and Emma Ashe at Selendy Gay.
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What To Expect From A Litigation Finance Industry Recession
There's little data on how litigation finance would fare in a recession, but a look at stakeholders' incentives suggests corporate demand for litigation finance would increase in a recessionary environment, while the number of funders could shrink, says Matthew Oxman at LexShares.
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Immigration Developments For Employers To Watch
Major reform is a nonstarter with Congress divided, but changes to visa programs for skilled workers, employee verification and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program are among the significant immigration trends that will unfold in the coming months, says Eileen Lohmann at BAL.
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Justices Leave Questions Open On Dual-Purpose Atty Advice
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent dismissal of In re: Grand Jury on grounds that certiorari was improvidently granted leaves unresolved a circuit split over the proper test for deciding when attorney-client privilege protects a lawyer's advice that has multiple purposes, say Susan Combs and Richard Kiely at Holland & Hart.
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118th Congress: Investigative Tools And Potential Defenses
As federal lawmakers’ investigative priorities for this term become clearer, potential subjects of congressional investigations must understand the tools at Congress’ disposal, as well as their own available defenses, to effectively navigate these inquiries, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.
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118th Congress: Investigative Priorities And Rule Changes
Attorneys at Gibson Dunn lay out what companies and individuals can expect with regard to congressional investigations in the 118th Congress, from political priorities to new rules and authorities.
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Steps Lawyers Can Take Following Involuntary Terminations
Though lawyers can struggle to recover from involuntary terminations, it's critical that they be able to step back, review any feedback given and look for opportunities for growth, say Jessica Hernandez at JLH Coaching & Consulting and Albert Tawil at Lateral Hub.
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High Court Ax Of Atty-Client Privilege Case Deepens Split
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent dismissal of In re: Grand Jury as improvidently granted maintains a three-way circuit split on the application of attorney-client privilege to multipurpose communications, although the justices have at least shown a desire to address it, say Trey Bourn and Thomas DiStanislao at Butler Snow.
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3 Job Satisfaction Questions For Partners Considering Moves
The post-pandemic rise in legal turnover may cause partners to ask themselves what they really want from their workplace, how they plan to grow their practice and when it's time to make a move, says Patrick Moya at Quaero Group.
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4 Exercises To Quickly Build Trust On Legal Teams
High-performance legal teams can intentionally build trust through a rigorous approach, including open-ended conversations and personality assessments, to help attorneys bond fast, even if they are new to the firm or group, says Ben Sachs at the University of Virginia School of Law.
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8 Steps To Improve The Perception Of In-House Legal Counsel
With the pandemic paving the way for a reputational shift in favor of in-house corporate legal teams, there are proactive steps that legal departments can take to fully rebrand themselves as strong allies and generators of value, says Allison Rosner at Major Lindsey.
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Procedure Rule 7.1 Can Simplify Litigators' Diversity Analysis
A recent amendment to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 7.1 will help trial courts determine whether the parties to a case are diverse, and may also allow litigators to more quickly determine whether they can remove certain cases to federal court, says Steve Shapiro at Schnader Harrison.
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Atty Conflict Discussions In Idaho Murder Case And Beyond
A public defender's representation of the accused University of Idaho murderer after prior representation of a victim's parent doesn't constitute a violation of conflict of interest rules, but the case prompts ethical questions about navigating client conflicts in small-town criminal defense and big-city corporate law alike, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Charles Loeser at HWG.