USWorkVisa.com News Archive
for April 2nd, 2007

In the March 2007 edition of California Lawyer, Mark A. Ivener, author of Handbook of Immigration Law, Volumes I and II, was quoted in “Fed Up With The Feds,” an article about frustrated local jurisdictions passing their own immigration-related measures. He said he is amazed that some of these ordinances see the light of day and that, in his view, “the whole area is preempted by federal law.” In the case of landlords, for example, Mr. Ivener said such local laws impermissibly force them to be “immigration officers enforcing federal harboring laws.”

Click here to view the article.

Roll Call and GalleryWatch have launched Congress Now!, (www.congressnow.com) an online source of legislative news. The newsletter for CongressNow! will appear in mid-afternoon, five days per week, and will feature news, analysis, and information on committee markups. Breaking news will be posted to CongressNow.com throughout the day and sent via e-mail alerts. These features are available free to congressional staff and members of Congress, and by subscription otherwise, click subscribe. Click for more information (PDF).

GovTrack provides a hyperlinked version of the Congressional Record for the current session, at http://www.govtrack.us/congress/recordindex.xpd. Custom “monitors” of subject areas to track, such as bills in Congress, may be set up here.

The latest TRAC data tool, covering the five-year period through the end of November 2006, notes that criminal immigration charges by federal prosecutors have declined substantially in the last year. TRAC documents trends for the overall number of prosecutions filed and convictions obtained under U.S. immigration law in federal districts around the country. U.S. District Court judges who handled the largest number of immigration cases are also highlighted.

A new report on the future of small business, authored by the Institute for the Future, finds that immigrant entrepreneurs will drive a new wave of globalization, and that U.S. immigration policy and the outcome of the current immigration debates will affect how this segment performs over the next decade.

The “Intuit Future of Small Business Report” is available (see pages 8 and 9 for information on immigrant entrepreneurs).

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a report analyzing challenges that continue to face the US-VISIT program. The GAO noted that US-VISIT has improved the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) ability to process visitors and verify identities upon entry, but found that management controls in place to identify and evaluate computer and other operational problems at land ports of entry were insufficient and inconsistently administered. In addition, the GAO noted, a biometric exit capability is not yet available. The GAO said that DHS continues to face longstanding US-VISIT management challenges and future uncertainties. Read the rest of this entry »

The National Security Archive at George Washington University has released a new report finding that, 10 years after passage of the Electronic Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Amendments, several federal agencies fall short of the law. The Department of Labor was cited for having no central reading room and no required documents available, and a lack of FOIA Web sites for several components (ETA and EBSA). Immigration and Customs Enforcement had no dedicated FOIA page, very limited guidance, and no required documents.

Meredith Fuchs, the Archive’s general counsel, said, “Public access on the Web to government information is the only long-term solution to the backlogs and delays that undermine the FOIA today. This audit plus Congressional oversight should provide a wake-up call to the agencies.” Ms. Fuchs testified on March 14, 2007, before the Senate Judiciary Committee in support of a new FOIA reform bill. Her testimony is available here.