Obama considers relief for undocumented residents with children

President Obama announced that he has instructed the Department of Homeland Security to review deportation policy to see if it can be made more humane.  One possibility would be to suspend deportation of undocumented residents who have children whom were brought to the United States when they were very young. Senator Robert Menendez called on President Obama to "halt needless deportations that are splitting apart our families and communities."  Other advocates urged the President to slow the record number of deportations and halt the need to place children whose parents have been deported in foster care.

For more information, read http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/14/us/obama-orders-review-of-deportations.html

"United We Dream"

"United We Dream"

United We Dream (unitedwedream.org) held its annual congress to celebrate its recent gains in helping young people who live in the United States without documentation.  The group cited the recent Obama administration program of deferred action for young educated immigrants to remain in the United States without fear of deportation and recent laws in California and Maryland expanding access to state colleges and universities.   United We Dream will be very active in supporting comprehensive immigration reform promised by the President and members of Congress.

For representation on immigration matters, please contact Glickman Turley LLP at 617-399-7770.

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.

Prosecutorial discretion may be extended to family

Prosecutorial discretion may be extended to family

In an unusual decision, the First Circuit Court of Appeals stayed the deportation of a 21 year old Armenian and his parents for 90 days to allow the Department of Homeland Security to consider their request for deferred action to remain in the United States as an exercise of prosecutorial discretion.  The Court noted that the son appeared to meet the criteria for prosectorial discretion set forth by DHS in the Morton memorandum and that while the parents did not strictly meet these criteria, the Government "may well wish to avoid splitting up the family by declining to remove them as well."  Gasparian v. Holder (No. 11-2231, First Circuit Court of Appeals, December 3, 2012.)


For representation on immigration matters, please contact Glickman Turley LLP at 617-399-7770.

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.

MA State Colleges and Universities To Allow In-State Tuition For Illegal Immigrants

The Boston Globe reported today that Governor Deval Patrick (D-MA) will direct state colleges and universities to permit illegal immigrants to pay resident in-state tuition and fees when they obtain work permits through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) federal program. 

DACA is a federal program enacted in June that allows undocumented immigrants aged 30 or younger, who arrived to the US before age 16, to obtain work permits and to avoid deportation for two years. The applicants must meet other requirements to be approved through DACA. The fee is $465. 

DACA did not require states to provide in-state tuition to illegal immigrants - President Obama left that as a decision to be made by individual states.

Gov. Patrick will send his directive to the Board of Higher Education today, with the change to take place immediately. 

For more on this story, click here. 

For representation on immigration matters, please contact Glickman Turley LLP at 617-399-7770.

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.

The Potential for Post-Election Immigration Reform

An editorial published today by Bloomberg  highlighted that support for immigration reform is inevitable now that President Obama has been re-elected. The editorial stated that Latinos, known to be a socially conservative demographic, comprised 10 percent of the total vote, giving "Obama almost three votes for every one earned by Romney." 

President Obama campaigned on immigration reform that would address the nearly 11 million illegal immigrants in the US. Republican Speaker John Boehner has stated that he is "confident that the president, myself, other can find the common ground to take care of this issue once and for all." 

The editorial further noted that: "Standard & Poor’s has found that cities with high immigration levels show improvements in credit ratings, tax bases and per-capita incomes. High-skills immigrants, meanwhile, not only increase productivity but also generate jobs."

For representation on immigration issues, please contact Glickman Turley LLP at 617-399-7770.

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.

Obama's Promise in Off-the-Record Conversation

The President Obama spoke with The Des Moines Register this week and stated off-the-record that "The second thing I'm confident we'll get done next year is immigration reform...And since this is off the record, I will just be very blunt. Should I win a second term, a big reason I will win a second term is because the Republican nominee and the Republican Party have so alienated the fastest-growing demographic group in the country, the Latino community. And this is a relatively new phenomenon."

Governor Mitt Romney has criticized President Obama for making a similar promise back in 2008 - a promise that he could not keep. Governor Romney has stated that should he win the election, he would not support the Dream Act - a bill President Obama tried to pass in December 2010 - and he has not outlined a plan as to how he would address the issue of "more than 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States."

The White House gave The Des Moines Register permission to publish the off-the-record statement, which was part of a conversation President Obama had in order to gain the newspaper's endorsement. 

To read the story in The New York Times, click here. 

For representation, please contact Glickman Turley LLP at 617-399-7770.

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.    

DACA Estimates and Approvals: October 2012 Update

The Immigration Policy Center has released updated figures on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) applications. Please click here to read the report that includes "new estimates of those between the ages of 15 and 30, who are not in high school, and who don't have high school diplomas." 

USCIS has released its latest data today on DACA applicants. As of October 10, 2012, 4,951 cases have been approved. Please click here for more information. 

For representation, please contact Glickman Turley LLP at 617-399-7770. 

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.    

CA First State to Grant Drivers' Licenses to Eligible DACA Applicants

California became the first state to enact a law that would allow immigrants who qualify for the youth deferred action program (DACA) work permits to obtain drivers' licenses. Gov. Jerry Brown signed the bill into law late last night. The Department of Motor Vehicles in California will now accept the documents issued by the government to DACA applicants as proof of legal residence for the purpose of getting a valid driver's license. The purpose of the law is to "make roads safer while letting young immigrants drive to school and to work." Click here to read the Associated Press story on www.huffingtonpost.com. 

For representation, please contact Glickman Turley LLP at 617-399-7770. 

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.    

DACA and Potential Pitfall for Job Verification from Employers

The New York Times reported that businesses are concerned about providing job verification documentation for deferred deportation applicants. The Obama Administration announced in June 2012 that young undocumented immigrants will be able to apply for two year deferred deportation while obtaining legal work permits. The program does not allow applicants to gain legal immigration status. 

The program has been a source of concern for employers who have been approached by their employees to provide job verification that proves they have been in the country for the requisite time period (for more on if you qualify for DACA, click here.) When applicants admit to being an undocumented workers, employers  may have to fire them until the applicants legally obtain a work permit. Also, employers fear that if they agree to provide a job verification request, it will serve as proof that they knowingly hired an undocumented immigrant, which violates federal law. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has released guidelines that confirm "the businesses could provide verification for deferred deportation applicants. This information will not be shared with the enforcement authorities, 'unless there is evidence of egregious violations of criminal statutes or widespread abuses.'" 

For more on this story, click here. 

For representation, please contact Glickman Turley LLP at 617-399-7770. 

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.    

Free Clinics Around Massachusetts for DACA Applications

Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA) is offering free assistance with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) applications. on September 7, 2012 and September 14, 2012. Please contact MIRA by clicking here to RSVP - spots fill up quickly. MIRA has also provided a list of other free clinics around Massachusetts that are offering free assistance with DACA applications. Click here for more information!

For representation, please contact Glickman Turley LLP at 617-399-7770.

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.