Nevada Client Avoids ICE Deportation, Find Path Toward Legalization
“Marvin” entered the United States when he was six years old. Last month, at age 25, he was cited for the fourth time for driving without a license and was likely to face deportation proceedings. In the state of Nevada, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) generally has an agent stationed at each jail to check [...]
Six Las Vegas Immigrants Approved for Citizenship
Family Visa and Immigration Services has seen six of its clients proceed from permanent residence to the last step prior to earning their U.S. citizenship through naturalization. They attended their local USCIS interviews here in Las Vegas, Nevada earlier this month, and their Oath Ceremony should be held in the next several weeks. These immigrants [...]
As Reform Moves Forward, Thousands of Nevada Immigrants Wait
With an estimated 170,000 undocumented immigrants, Nevada’s future will be deeply impacted by changes to immigration law. Yet with the attention of the Obama Administration and Congress still on healthcare and as well as increasingly on the war in Afghanistan and the ailing economy, movement on immigration reform is beginning to look even farther away. [...]
Nevada Avoids Pitfalls of ICE Deputized Detention of Illegal Immigrants
Since 1996, the enforcement of United States immigration law has been shared between federal agents and state/local authorities under the 287(g) program of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department was the first in Nevada to join the program, in October 2008. Just this month, the city of Mesquite decided not [...]
To Prevent Visa Overstays, Immigration Reform May Get Technical
Foreign visitors are a vital part of the Las Vegas economy, with over 1.7 million coming in 2007 alone. Of the roughly 40 million foreign visitors who entered the United States on temporary visas in 2008, 92.5% are confirmed to have left the country. As a recent New York Times article explains, this does not [...]
Immigration Reform—Signs of Change on the Horizon
Although Congress continues to devote most of its energy to the slow slog of healthcare reform, the country is awash in informal signals that immigration reform is on its way. Our friends at Bender’s Immigration Bulletin have documented the following: . Sheriff Joe Arpaio, of Maricopa County Arizona, describes himself as “America’s Toughest Cop” and [...]
Slow Progress on Immigration Reform Spoils Olympic Bid
The Immigration Policy Center makes an intriguing and powerful claim in its recent newsletter: the United States’ ever-tougher enforcement of immigration laws and its continued delay in bringing about meaningful immigration reform was a factor in the I.O.C.‘s rejection of Chicago’s bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games. According to the newsletter, a representative from [...]