A Note from the Editors:

Law Firm Holiday Card Captures Frustration

For many immigration law practices 2003 has been a very frustrating year. An illustration on the cover of a holiday greeting card captures this frustration better than words can (courtesy of Montiel Davis & Woodward Kimber, P.A. of Miami, FL).

We welcome readers to share their opinion and ideas with us and other readers by writing to weeklyeditor@ilw.com.

Articles

Veto of Bill for the Relief of Wilhelm Engelbert: Presidential Paper Historical Series
President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent this message to Congress on March 7, 1954.

VisaScreen™: Visa Credentials Assessment
Judith Pendergast of CGFNS discusses some frequently asked questions about VisaScreen.

Fewer Immigrants, A Warmer Welcome: Fixing A Broken Immigration Policy
Mark Krikorian advocates "a pro-immigrant policy of low immigration — fewer immigrants but a warmer welcome."

FTC Issues Alert - USA Immigration Services Is Not US Government Affiliated
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued an alert advising that all prospective immigrants who bought diversity visa (DV) lottery application services from USA Immigration Services and are natives of eligible countries will need to register on their own for the 2003 DV lottery. For the FTC alert, see here. For the FTC press release, see here. For the FTC Consumer Alert, see here.

Airman Receives Gift Of Naturalization
The USCIS issued a press release describing the military naturalization awarded to an airman for his service in the Air Force. (Corrected - 12/29/03 - Ed.)

DOS Redesignates Foreign Terrorist Organizations
The Department of State released the redesignation of two foreign terrorist organizations. For the press statement, see here. For the Federal Register announcment, see here.

DOL/ETA's Management Review By PriceWaterhouseCoopers Of Labor Cert Program
DOL/ETA has provided the Managment Review of the Permanent Labor Cert process by PriceWaterhouseCoopers on which it contemplates implenting a massive backlog reduction program in 2004.

DOS On Haitian Migration
The Department of State released a fact sheet on deterring illegal migration from Haiti.

DOL/ETA's Management Support RFP For Massive Backlog Reduction For Labor Certs
The Employment and Training Administration of the Department of Labor solicited bids for providing management support for a massive backlog reduction program in 2004 and 2005.

EOIR Proposes Registering Attorneys
The Executive Office for Immigration Review of the Department of Justice proposed a rule requiring attorneys to register, including a provision for electronic registration.

How Do I Renew My Permanent Resident Card (Green Card)?
Read a detailed response from the USCIS on how to renew the Permanent Resident Card.

ILW Highlights

Immigration Daily Archives On CD-ROM

The CD-ROM has 3 years of immigration law material from the Immigration Daily archives with a powerful, easy-to-use search engine. You can find articles, letters to the Editor, cases, Federal Register announcements, INS memoranda, and more. This CD-ROM gives you the convenience of having 3 entire years of the Immigration Daily archives on your computer - no need to worry about long download times for large documents from the internet! To order, please see: http://www.ilw.com/resources/ (for the fax version of the order form, please see: http://www.ilw.com/resources/faxorderformcdrom.pdf).

Letters to Editors

To write to Editors, send emails to weeklyeditor@ilw.com.

Dear Editor:
Immigrant's Weekly contains the following summary: Eleanor Acer et al of The Lawyers Committee for Human Rights document the continuing erosion of basic human rights protections under US law and policy since September 11 in an excerpted chapter on immigrants, refugees, and minorities. http://www.ilw.com/articles/2003,1224-acer.pdf However, the chapter on immigrant, refugees & minorities is Chapter 3, and the link you gave is to Chapter 4, which is entitled “Unclassified Detainees.”

Andrea

Editor's Note: We thank you for pointing out our error. The summary has been corrected to reflect the chapter's subject.

Dear Editor:
I have always raised the issue of D Visas (Divine Class) with my devout Christian Right friends who happen to be anti-immigrationists. My issue is that if Jesus Christ were to return today how would he gain entry into the USA. Is Mr. Ashcroft going to waive that requirment? Ms.Murthy should feel this issue coming from India.

Mark Triumph

Dear Editor:
In reply to Ken Roberts Letter, I would like to pass my story on - I would first like to say I am a legal immigrant to the US. I was going through the immigration process around the time of Sept 11, which made things a little more difficult. I did everything the right way, through the immigration process etc. I made a little mistake on the I94, I believe it is called when you come into the country via plane. It was an honest mistake and because of this they wanted to deport me. It ended up being a real battle which both me and my wife found very stressful. Anyway at this time the immigration department passed an amnesty which gave illegal immigrants to a certain date to come forward and their illegal status would be overlooked as long as they paid the required fee. We both found this to be unacceptable and unfair as an honest mistake was causing us such stress and costing us more money. I believe every country needs a share of immigrants for advancement and cultural understandings. I also think this process needs to be fair and civilized, which I don't think it always is. Sometimes life leads you on a path which puts you into a situation you never expect to be in, how nice it would be for everyone to have to go through the same process without amnesties allowing people who have done wrong to have their wrongs over looked and bi-pass what the honest one have to go through.

Paul

Immigrant Life

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This week's chat schedule

ILW.COM announces that as of Nov 1st, all chats will be held at 6:00 pm Eastern Time.

When	Attorney
Wednesday, Jan 7 6:00 pm Eastern Time	Mitch Berenson, Esq.
Friday, Jan 9 6:00 pm Eastern Time	Leda Fan, Esq.
Monday Jan 12 6:00 pm Eastern Time	Chris Musillo, Esq.

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