NEW IDEAS FOR DREAM ACT ELIGIBILITY FOR DEFERRED INSPECTION

My colleague Greg Siskind suggested some creative ideas to USCIS to implement the DREAM act eligible children for deferred inspection as President Obama proposed.  
This is designed to be a post to encourage constructive suggestions for implementing the President's new policy for DREAMers. 
Here are two to kick things off - 
1. Use the I-765 as the application form rather than coming up with something new. Simply add a supplemental instruction form regarding eligibility for the policy and listing types of supporting documents that need to be included. 
2. Consider modifying the new ELIS electronic filing system to accept these applications. With a possible million applications coming, the agency is going to face extreme pressures to adjudicate cases in a timely manner and maintain quality control. This is an excellent opportunity for USCIS to show off this robust new system. 
3. Do not delay issuing employment cards until after the deferred action is approved. Consider using TPS and adjustment of status as a model. In both types of cases, work cards are granted while the applicant waits on the approval of the underlying application. 
Remember that not only do you need the EADs to work, but also to get drivers licenses and driving without a license is a way for anti-immigrant zealots like Joe Arpaio in Arizona to make life miserable for DREAMers. 
Expect to see lots of people thrown in jail for the misdemeanor of driving without a license if you decide to wait on issuing EADs. 

USCIS TO ALLOW DEFERRED ACTION TO DREAM ACT STUDENTS

Just coming over the wires. USCIS will allow deferred inspection for eligible DREAM act students and those who already graduated. Eligible beneficiaries must meet the following rules: - be 30 years old or younger and entered before age 16 - have lived 5 years or more in the US - have maintained continuous residence Other details - - No time limit on when you can apply - Are currently in school, have graduated from high school, have obtained GED diploma, or are honorably discharged Coast Guard or Armed Forces veterans - No felons - 2 year renewable periods of deferral-All deportation proceeding s will be halted for eligible people - Details are not provided but eligible beneficiaries can apply for work authorization.  More info to come soon. For more, go to my partner Greg Siskind's blog: http://blogs.ilw.com/gregsiskind/2012/06/ice-faq-on-obama-dream-policy.html

GEORGIA PRISONERS WORK TO EASE FARM LABOR SHORTAGE

After last year's effort to put people on parole back to work to ease farm labor shortage jobs unsuccessfully in Georgia after HB87, now prisoners are working in farms. Some prison inmates are working on a Vidalia onion farm in southeast Georgia, as part of a state program to fill empty farm jobs. These inmates are ones who are considered ready to return to the outside world, and a part of their paychecks goes to the state to help reimburse incarceration costs. This fills a few hundred jobs, when thousands are needed. There are fewer immigrant/migrant workers in Georgia after HB87 the anti-immigration law has been enacted. Maybe Rep. Matt Ramsey who orchestrated HB87 will go and work a week on a farm. That will be the day...

ACLU RELEASES REPORT: PRISONERS OF PROFIT: IMMIGRANTS AND DETENTION IN GEORGIA

The ACLU of Georgia just released a report called "Prisoners of Profit: Immigrants and Detention in Georgia". The report covers the four immigration detention facilities in Georgia, which include the largest immigration detention center in the country, the Stewart Detention Center, as well as the North Georgia Detention Center, Irwin County Detention Center, and Atlanta City Detention Center. Three of the facilities are operated by corporations.
 This report documents serious abuses in Georgia detention centers that violate detainees’ constitutional and human rights as well as ICE standards. Findings raise serious concerns about violations of detainees’ due process rights, inadequate living conditions, inadequate medical and mental health care, and abuse of power by those in charge. Most of the abuses are done by for-profit corporations that manage the Stewart and Irwin County Detention Centers.
 The report recommends that ICE stop detaining immigrants at the for-profit Stewart and Irwin County Detention Centers given the extent of the documented violations as well as the facilities’ remote locations which isolate detainees from their families and communities of support.
 The report also contains recommendations for improving conditions of detention for immigrants at the Atlanta City Detention Center, including providing outdoor recreation to detainees, and at the North Georgia Detention Center, including paying minimum wage to detainees who choose to enroll in the voluntary work program.
Many of these detainees are non-criminals and are only detained for minor immigration violations that are civil in nature. They are being held in isolation from their families and communities and treated like hardened criminals where they should be released on their own recognizance or through monitoring services like the ankle bracelets. It is not a surprise the the for-profit prisons are where the majority of problems occur. The for-profit prisons and their lobbyists in Washington, D.C., are making huge profits off the suffering of others in detention and they are not likely to let their stronghold go away.
 The report can be viewed here: http://www.acluga.org/Prisoners_of_Profit.pdf.
An updated fact sheet on immigration detention titled “Securely Insecure: The Real Costs, Consequences and Human Face of Immigration Detention” can be viewed here: http://www.acluga.org/ImmigrationDetentionFactSheet.pdf.  

GEORGIA UNDOCUMENTED WORKERS PAY MORE THAN $85 MILLION IN INCOME TAXES

Tax day has come and gone and unlike the anti immigration people are thinking, undocumented workers pay a lot in taxes. According to the Immigration Policy Center report, in 2010, undocumented workers in Georgia paid more than $85,000,000 in income taxes. Undocumented workers who do not have social security numbers can still file a tax return, using a tax I.D. number, and some people use made-up social security numbers. This number is significantly higher than what the anti-immigration people are saying (their main excuse is that undocumented immigrants do not pay taxes). They also say that undocumented people are filing taxes so that can get refunds. Well, maybe they do not understand how refunds work. A refund is money that someone overpaid the government because of mandatory employer withholdings. Why should anyone pay above what they owe?

GEORGIA HAS FIFTH MOST 287(G) DEPORTATIONS

Since fiscal year 2006, 14,831 people have been deported or allowed to voluntarily leave the U.S. through Georgia’s 287(g) programs, which is fifth among states based on total removals through 287(g).
Georgia's 287(g) program caused the removal of mostly non-criminals or people with minor offenses such as traffic. This program has promoted racial profiling and kept police resources from targeting more hardened criminals.
The Obama administration wants to cut about a quarter of the $68 million budget for 287(g) operations nationwide and eliminate the least productive ones and roll out Secure Communities fingerprint screening of inmates across the country and compares them to immigration databases. Only if there is a match or another crime ICE is supposed to intervene, otherwise ICE's current policy would be most likely to let the non-criminals go. The Republican lawmakers and the Governor who is anti-immigrant want to expand 287(g) in Georgia. However, the Secure Communities is a much better use of resources, and if ultimately the non-criminals will stay here if ICE's policy will be followed through, 287(g) will be a waste of both State and Federal resources.
The 287(g) program out of Cobb, Gwinnett, Hall and Whitfield counties have triggered the vast majority of Georgia removals: 14,815, according to the AJC. Cobb county which was responsible for over 6,000 removals, can boast that most of these removals were of non-criminals. Another prime examples on why states like Georgia should stay out of the immigration fight.

SB458 IS DEAD!

At least some good news for now -- the legislative session in Georgia came to an end last night without the House having considered SB 458. As such, the proposal is dead, at least for now.
Great news that such a mean-spirited and idiotic piece of legislation is off the table for now and undocumented children can continue to go to public colleges in Georgia.