Immigration and Visa Policy

Topic:

Biometric Exit System Unnecessary and Unviable

September 1, 2011

Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton have been two of the nation’s most outstanding public servants, and the report of the 9/11 Commission was an extraordinary document. The two chairmen should be commended for their steady efforts, including the release yesterday of a 10th Anniversary Report Card under the auspices of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s National Security Preparedness Group. But among the group’s list of nine major unfinished recommendations, there is one that deserves to remain unfinished – the construction of a biometric exit system – and for good and sensible reasons.

Janice Kephart |

September 1, 2011

The tedious process of watchlisting and making watchlists available to our frontline border and aviation operators is the most important tool our nation has to curtail attempted “legitimate” terrorist travel — meaning, those terrorists who seek to use our border and aviation system to enter the United States. The 9/11 Commission recommended significant changes to watchlisting, including merging 11 disparate watchlists into one base list. Today, this single list is simply termed the “Terrorist Watchlist.”

Security Debrief |

August 31, 2011

The problem with an over-politicized environment in Washington is that we’ve lost the ability to build consensus and find common ground, even with people who hold views contrary to our own. The Center for Immigration Studies, with whom we business immigration lawyers usually disagree on immigration policy, published a paper this week entitled “Border Watchlisting a Decade after 9/11.” Among the proposals is to expand the “Electronic System for Travel Authorization.” We have to give credit where credit is due. Though we would love to disagree with CIS on issues in the future, CIS is right in that our screening needs to be more than a perfunctory exercise.

Janice Kephart |

August 29, 2011

Earlier this month, Cecelia Munoz, White House Director of Intergovernmental Affairs and formerly of the National Council of La Raza, where she openly embraced amnesty for illegal aliens, announced a groundbreaking turn of events: for the first time ever, the White House is usurping congressional constitutional authority to determine immigration law and policy. Not only is the White House granting amnesty, but they are also making sure that immigration law only applies to those illegal aliens convicted of serious crimes.

Security Debrief |

August 29, 2011

As the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks approaches, those of us who practice immigration law, in particular business immigration law, have seen substantial shifts in immigration enforcement at the worksite. Reports of Immigration and Customs Enforcement activities have sensitized employers to the need for strict employment eligibility verification. However, the employers often forget about another side to their compliance obligations – that of avoiding immigration-related unfair employment practices.

The Fix is In – From Complacency to Politics

admin |

August 25, 2011

Earlier this week, all the talk was earthquakes and hurricanes. It was also the day that The Heritage Foundation released its latest report on how to fix homeland security –“Homeland Security 4.0: Overcoming Centralization, Complacency, and Politics.” It is always nice to have some real world disasters to remind us that the U.S. is still not well prepared for to deal with really big disasters.

Security Debrief |

August 23, 2011

The 10th anniversary of 9/11 will bring many retrospectives. But DHS should not lose sight of current programs and policies and the current political context. That means focusing on security measures that simultaneously bolster the economy. DHS has plenty of opportunities to do both. Here is a “security, tourism and trade” package that can be offered to U.S. allies to: (1) strengthen mutual security efforts; (2) bolster the economy by increasing tourism and trade; and (3) grow alliances with new and old global partners.

Obama halts some immigration cases

Media Watch |

August 18, 2011

from Metro Desk The Obama administration took one of its boldest steps yet toward addressing illegal immigration today by announcing it would halt potentially thousands of cases in federal immigration court if they do not involve criminals or people with flagrant immigration violations. Related articles, courtesy of Zemanta: U.S. to review 300,000 deportation cases ACLU […]

ICE Responds to 9/11 Commission Report Recommendations

Media Watch |

August 9, 2011

“FEMA will not save you,” said Michael Brown, former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Janice Kephart |

July 5, 2011

On June 23, 2011, the union representing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) employees issued a press release stating that ICE “Union leaders around the nation issued a unanimous no confidence vote in ICE Director John Morton on behalf of ICE officers, agents and employees.” The basis for the second no confidence vote in a year was another memo by ICE director John Morton, this time on prosecutorial discretion. The ICE Union is calling this memo a, “law enforcement nightmare developed by the Administration to win votes at the expense of sound and responsible law enforcement policy.”

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