Immigration Law Center by Attorney Phillip Kim

Just when you think things can’t get any crazier than they have been so far in 2020, this happens:

As part of the settlement, USCIS issued a new policy memo (on June 17, 2020) and agreed to withdraw a February 2018 memo on Contracts and Itineraries Requirements for H-1B Petitions Involving Third-Party Worksites. USCIS also rescinded the Neufeld memo, issued on January 8, 2010, in which USCIS used a potentially restrictive test to determine if an employer-employee relationship existed, including when H-1B visa holders performed work at a client’s location.

What a huge victory for DACA recipients !!! The Supreme Court today, 06/18/2020, rejected the Trump administration's attempt to dismantle the DACA program, protecting undocumented "dreamers" of nearly 650,000 recipients.

USCIS implemented a broad, and likely illegal, rule allegedly designed to weed out immigrants who might become a public charge. Well, now USCIS is broke and is trying to become a public charge itself, by begging Congress for a bailout.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the Trump administration in a dispute over federal court power to review noncitizens’ claims that they’ll be tortured in their home countries if they’re deported.

The Supreme Court’s decision on DACA is expected by the end of its 2019 term, which is expected to conclude at the end of June 2020.

The order, which takes effect Thursday, will not apply to immigrants who already are living and working in the United States and are seeking to become legal permanent residents. Medical professionals, farmworkers and others who enter on temporary nonimmigrant visas are unaffected, and the suspension also exempts the spouses and underage children of U.S. citizens, among other carve-outs.

All non-detained hearings scheduled through May 15, 2020, have been postponed.

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that defendants in criminal trials can only be convicted by a unanimous jury.

USCIS temporarily suspended routine in-person services to help slow the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). USCIS plans to begin reopening our offices on May 4, unless the public closures are extended further. USCIS will provide emergency services for limited situations.

Attorney General William Barr intervened in an asylum case by narrowing the definition of torture, setting a binding precedent. He used a procedure called "certification" that allows him to overrule decisions made by the Board of Immigration Appeals. Immigration lawyers and judges argue the administration is abusing the procedure.