Register to Vote After Naturalization Ceremony Today in Boston

The Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Coalition (MIRA) will be sending 100 volunteers to the naturalization ceremony today at Seaport World Trade Center in Boston, according to the Boston Globe. Almost 1,700 people will be naturalized and the Coalition hopes to register about 5,000 new citizens to vote as part of its campaign called FIGHT BACK: VOTE. For more information, visit The Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition: http://www.miracoalition.org.

Glickman Turley's experienced attorneys represent individuals on a wide range of immigration matters, as well as other legal issues. Please contact our attorneys if you wish to discuss representation on immigration matters, real estate purchase and sales, condominium associations, criminal defense, non-profit law, civil litigation, business litigation, business law, trademark law, probate matters including wills, powers of attorney, health care proxy, same-sex co-parent adoptions, guardianships, animal law, or LGBT legal matters.  

Visas and Same-Sex Spouses of US Citizens

The federal government continues to take important steps to ensure equality for all people in the US. Recently, the Board of Immigration Appeals issued four decisions that indicate that the US government should issue visas for same-sex spouses of US citizens. This is a huge victory for countless LGBT families who are excluded from the benefits of family-based immigration. See the Board decisions at http://www.aila.org/content/default.aspx?docid=40271.  Stay tuned with Glickman Turley LLP on the progress of this important issue!

Glickman Turley's experienced attorneys represent individuals on a wide range of immigration matters, as well as other legal issues. Please contact our attorneys if you wish to discuss representation on immigration matters, real estate purchase and sales, condominium associations, criminal defense, non-profit law, civil litigation, business litigation, business law, trademark law, probate matters including wills, powers of attorney, health care proxy, same-sex co-parent adoptions, guardianships, animal law, or LGBT legal matters.  

US Supreme Court Rejects Part of Controversial Arizona Immigration Law

The U.S. Supreme Court struck down parts of the controversial 2010 Arizona immigration law, but upheld the "show me your papers" provision where state law enforcement will be permitted to question the immigration status of anyone they stop or arrest if they have reason to suspect the person is here illegally. The Court noted that the provision is open to future legal challenges because of the potential of racial profiling. The Court noted that immigration is regulated by the federal government, and state law cannot preempt such policies. 


Click here to read the full opinion: Arizona v. United States, No. 11-182. 


For more on this story, click here to read an article in The New York Times.

Glickman Turley's experienced attorneys represent individuals on a wide range of immigration matters, as well as other legal issues. Please contact our attorneys if you wish to discuss representation on immigration matters, real estate purchase and sales, condominium associations, criminal defense, non-profit law, civil litigation, business litigation, business law, trademark law, probate matters including wills, powers of attorney, health care proxy, same-sex co-parent adoptions, guardianships, animal law, or LGBT legal matters.  

Federal District Court in New York Holds DOMA Unconstitutional

The U.S District Court in the Southern District of New York found that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional, taking its cues from a recent First Circuit decision holding the same.

Edith "Edie" Windsor and the late Thea Spyer married in 2007 in Canada after living together for 44 years. Spyer died in 2009, leaving her property to Windsor. In a heterosexual marriage, the decedent's estate would have passed to the spouse without any estate tax. Here, Windsor had to pay over $363,000 in estate taxes because DOMA prevents the recognition of same-sex marriages for federal purposes.

For more on this story, click here.

Glickman Turley's experienced attorneys represent individuals on a wide range of immigration matters, as well as other legal issues. Please contact our attorneys if you wish to discuss representation on immigration matters, real estate purchase and sales, condominium associations, criminal defense, non-profit law, civil litigation, business litigation, business law, trademark law, probate matters including wills, powers of attorney, health care proxy, same-sex co-parent adoptions, guardianships, animal law, or LGBT legal matters.  

Breaking News (UPDATE) - DHS: Deferred Action Will be Offered to DREAMers

The White House will announce today that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will stop deporting and start granting work permits to younger illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children and have led otherwise law-abiding lives. The new policy will impact approximately 800,000 undocumented immigrants, according to The Huffington Post. The policy change partially implements one of the objectives of the DREAM Act, "a long-sought but never enacted plan to establish a path toward citizenship for young people who came to the United States without documents but who have attended college or served in the military."

American Immigration Lawyers Association released the following preliminary information in a news alert this morning. Eligible applicants must:

- Be 15-30 years old, and have entered before age 16

- Have been present in the U.S. for 5 years as of June 15, 2012

- Have maintained continuous residence

- Have not been convicted of one serious crime or multiple minor crimes

- Be currently enrolled in high school, graduated or have a GED, or have enlisted in the military

- The deferred action offer will be available to those in proceedings as well as to those who apply affirmatively.

UPDATE: Here is the link to DHS's official memo. 

Glickman Turley's experienced attorneys represent individuals on a wide range of immigration matters, as well as other legal issues. Please contact our attorneys if you wish to discuss representation on immigration matters, real estate purchase and sales, condominium associations, criminal defense, non-profit law, civil litigation, business litigation, business law, trademark law, probate matters including wills, powers of attorney, health care proxy, same-sex co-parent adoptions, guardianships, animal law, or LGBT legal matters.  

Former Gov. Jeb Bush Encourages GOP To Embrace Broader Approach Toward Immigration

Former Governor Jeb Bush (R-Florida) questioned the Republican Party's immigration policies at a breakfast with the press hosted by Bloomberg View in Manhattan on Monday. Gov. Bush said that his father, President George H.W. Bush and President Ronald Reagan would have "struggle[d] with 'an orthodoxy that doesn't allow for disagreement,'" according to an article in The New York Times.

The report said that the Bush family "for all their differences, believe the system should be more humane for hardworking and law-abiding Hispanic families," and that the Republican Party today needs to ramp up efforts to connect with the community. Gov. Bush expressed his support for a broader approach to immigration reform compared to Governor Mitt Romney who "referred to the tough immigration law in Arizona as 'a model.'"

Glickman Turley's experienced attorneys represent individuals on a wide range of immigration matters, as well as other legal issues. Please contact our attorneys if you wish to discuss representation on immigration matters, real estate purchase and sales, condominium associations, criminal defense, non-profit law, civil litigation, business litigation, business law, trademark law, probate matters including wills, powers of attorney, health care proxy, same-sex co-parent adoptions, guardianships, animal law, or LGBT legal matters.  

Can Illegal Immigrants Practice Law in the United States?

The highest state courts in California and Florida will rule on cases considering whether illegal immigrants are eligible to practice law in the United States, according to the WSJ Blog. The Florida Board of Bar Examiners granted Jose Manuel Godinez-Samperio a waiver to take the bar exam when he was unable to provide proof of immigration status. Godinez-Samperio passed the bar exam and now the Florida Board of Bar Examiners awaits an advisory opinion from the Florida Supreme Court before formally allowing him to practice law.

In California, Sergio C. Garcia was sworn in as a lawyer but the California bar is taking a second look at Garcia's case because of his immigration status.

Illegal immigrants are "barred from receiving federal grants, loans and professional licenses, unless the benefits are approved by individual states" and it is against the law for an employer to hire knowingly an illegal immigrant. Click here for more on this story.

Glickman Turley's experienced attorneys represent individuals on a wide range of immigration matters, as well as other legal issues. Please contact our attorneys if you wish to discuss representation on immigration matters, real estate purchase and sales, condominium associations, criminal defense, non-profit law, civil litigation, business litigation, business law, trademark law, probate matters including wills, powers of attorney, health care proxy, same-sex co-parent adoptions, guardianships, animal law, or LGBT legal matters.  

U.S. Supreme Court Rules on Two Cases

The U.S. Supreme Court decided two cases recently. One case involved a widow's claim that her children conceived by her late husband's sperm were entitled to survivor's benefits and the other case held that illegal immigrants cannot take advantage of a parent's lawful residence status when they are charged with crimes subjecting them to deportation, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.

In Astrue v. Capato, the Court upheld "the government's multi-part definition of who deserves survivors benefits" in a 9-0 decision. Karen Capato had used sperm her late husband had deposited in a sperm bank to conceive her twins. She argued that the children were entitled to survivors benefits because they qualified as "natural children", despite being born after her husband's death, under the Social Security Act. The Court rejected her claim because regulations "define a 'natural child' as one who could inherit the father's property under state law." The Capatos were residents of Florida where state law specifies that children conceived after a parent's death are not entitled to inherit the late parent's property. The children were not named in their father's will before he passed.

In Holder v. Martinez-Gutierrez, the Court ruled that when illegal immigrants are charged with a crime that exposes them to deportation, they cannot take advantage of their parent's lawful residence. The Court held that "individuals must hear their own leniency through years of lawful residence."

Glickman Turley's experienced attorneys represent individuals on a wide range of immigration matters, as well as other legal issues. Please contact our attorneys if you wish to discuss representation on immigration matters, real estate purchase and sales, condominium associations, criminal defense, non-profit law, civil litigation, business litigation, business law, trademark law, probate matters including wills, powers of attorney, health care proxy, same-sex co-parent adoptions, guardianships, animal law, or LGBT legal matters.  

Appeals Court Rules on Prop. 8 in California

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld its decision that Proposition 8, the law banning same-sex marriage in California, violates due process and equal protection.

The decision today stated, "Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California," and "The constitution simply does not allow for laws of this sort."

Supporters of the same-sex marriage ban have vowed to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court could agree to hear the case when its session begins in October 2012. 

For more on this story, click here. 

Glickman Turley's experienced attorneys represent individuals on a wide range of immigration matters, as well as other legal issues. Please contact our attorneys if you wish to discuss representation on immigration matters, real estate purchase and sales, condominium associations, criminal defense, non-profit law, civil litigation, business litigation, business law, trademark law, probate matters including wills, powers of attorney, health care proxy, same-sex co-parent adoptions, guardianships, animal law, or LGBT legal matters.