Senate Committee to discuss immigration reform

This past Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives held the first hearing to begin the dialogue on what an immigration reform must include in order to be effective. Now, the Senate Judiciary Committee announced that it will meet next Wednesday, February 13 at 9:30 am, for the same purpose. ... Read more

President Obama and Congress to discuss immigration reform today

The U.S. House of Representatives today is holding the first in a series of hearings to discuss how to achieve comprehensive immigration reform. Immigration law experts will be testifying on the need to fix our immigration system. They will talk about how they can improve the immigration system and ... Read more

Senators announce plan for immigration reform

A group of Democratic and Republican U.S. Senators today announced their plan for immigration reform in the United States. The bipartisan group, which includes Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY), John McCain (R-AZ), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Michael Bennet (D-CO), and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) proposes to fix ... Read more

USCIS approved nearly 155,000 deferred action cases

More than 407,899 requests for deferred action have been submitted since USCIS opened the deadline to initiate the process. According to figures provided yesterday by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), this government agency has received a total of 407,899 requests between August 15 and January 17, 2013. Of that figure, the USCIS has ... Read more

USCIS adds telephone service on Saturdays

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that effective January 12, 2013, toll-free telephone assistance service hours have been extended to include Saturdays. The National Customer Service Center (NCSC) hours of operation will now be Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to ... Read more

Illinois approves driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants

By a vote of 65 to 46, the Illinois House of Representatives today passed the bill that will allow undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. The Senate had already passed SB 957 on December 4. Now, Governor Pat Quinn must ratify the bill with his signature to begin implementing it. Quinn has already ... Read more

U.S. spent $18 billion on immigration enforcement

The U.S. government spent more money on immigration surveillance and enforcement in fiscal year 2012 than all other federal law enforcement agencies combined. According to a report released today by the Migration Policy Institute, (Migration Policy Institute) spending of $$18 billion went to the two major government agencies ... Read more

Questions about the law of punishment

This week, I dedicated my column "Consulta Migratoria" in La Opinión, to answer readers' questions about the punishment law. This is the column: After almost 9 months of waiting, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security finally announced that on March 4, 2013, the modification to the immigration process will go into effect. Read more

Oakland to offer ID for undocumented immigrants

Starting in February, the city of Oakland, California will begin offering identification cards for people living within its municipality. Undocumented immigrants will be able to obtain these cards if they live in the city of Oakland, something that will help them prove their identity. The card will also serve as a debit card, thus giving them access to a variety of ... Read more

Clarifications on change in unlawful presence waiver

The announcement that the new penalty law regulations will go into effect on March 4, 2013 is cause for much optimism for immigrants who want to legalize their status in the United States. But the announcement also raised many questions and doubts. This afternoon, I was interviewed by MundoFox Channel 22 in Los Angeles ... Read more

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