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Editor's Comments
Prevailing Wage Tips
Today's Featured Article is a little different from other articles we have
carried. "10 Tips for Determining the Prevailing Wage" by Steven Clark is a
22-page bulleted list of points that Mr. Clark prepared for an ILW.COM
telephone seminar in April 2003. The substantive
usefulness of the material convinced us to feature this as an article,
notwithstanding the fact that there is no narrative, just a list of points.
Since it is a bulleted list and not a narrative, it is best suited for
those with a fair degree of familiarity with the subject. Labor
certification practioners, especially veterans, will find "10 Tips for
Determining the Prevailing Wage" a valuable and helpful document.
ILW.COM Focus
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Featured Article
10 Tips For Determining Prevailing Wage
Steven Clark provides his bulleted points from ILW.COM's telephone seminar on labor certification which give an overview of prevailing wages.
Keep on top of the latest in immigration law! Attend ILW.COM seminars! You can attend ILW.COM phone seminars from the convenience of your office! For more info on the seminars currently available, please click here: http://www.ilw.com/seminars/
Immigration Law News
Revision Of Good Conduct Time Guidelines Proposed For Deportable Aliens
The Bureau of Prisons of the Department of Justice issued a propose rule to change 28 CFR 523.20(a)(1) on good conduct time (GCT) to allow 54 days GCT for each year served if the inmate is an alien with a
confirmed order of deportation, exclusion, or removal from the INS
(BCIS).
DOJ Announces Former DOS Consular Officer Sentenced For Visa Fraud
The Department of Justice issued a press release stating that a former Department of State consular officer was sentenced today before a District Court to two years imprisonment on visa fraud.
BICE Testifies Before Congress On Human Trafficking
The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE) testified recently about its new strategies to attack human smuggling and trafficking in a Post 9/11 environment.
DOS Announces Former Consular Officer In Prague Pleads Guilty To Visa Fraud
The Department of State announced that a former consular officer admitted to issuing at least 85 visas illegally while serving as a consular officer at the US Embassy in Prague from August 1999 to July 2002. He pled guilty to one count of visa fraud on February 6, 2003.
6 Months In US Out Of 4 Years Is Not Temporary Visit In Totality Of Record
In Moin v. Ashcroft, No. 02-60449 (5th Cir. Jun. 20, 2003), the court denied the petition for review, guided by the totality of the record, where the Petitioner who spent six months in the US out of almost 4 years subsequent to obtaining permanent residence had argued that her trips to Pakistan were temporary visits abroad.
Notice Which Fails To Include Correct Zip Code Is Not Properly Addressed
In Busquests-Ivars v. Ashcroft, No. 02-70643, (9th Cir. Jun. 24, 2003), the court said that "invocation of a presumption of notice required the INS to prove that the notice was properly addressed; had sufficient postage; and was properly deposited in the mail. A notice which failed to include a proper zip code was not properly addressed."
Ukranian Ineligible For Asylum Relief Where Past Persecution Not Shown
In Nagoulko v. INS, No. 02-70467, (9th Cir. Jun. 24, 2003), the court said "that Petitioner was fired from her job as a kindergarten teacher because of her religious beliefs, while discriminatory, is not the type of economic deprivation that rises to the level of persecution." The court also said that "it was significant that Petitioner never suffered any significant physical violence."
Rep. Lee Introduces Bill To Award Green Cards To Alien Smuggling Informants
The Houston Chronicle reports "Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, the ranking Democrat on the House immigration subcommittee, said her bill also would allow people who helped in the arrest and prosecution of major figures in the immigrant smuggling underworld to gain permanent resident status in the US."
AILA President Says 'Culture Of Saying No' Pervades Gov't
The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports "Palma Yanni of Washington, D.C., who Thursday became president of the 8,000-member immigration lawyers organization, said the paralysis already has set in. A culture of saying no has developed among government workers since the terrorists attacks of Sept. 11, she said: "No one wants to be the next one to let the bad guys in."
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We carry advertisements for Help Wanted: Attorney, Help Wanted: Paralegal, Help Wanted: Other, Positions Sought, Products & Services Offered, etc.
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Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor:
The anti-immigrationists contend that the undocumented population of our country must be controlled and reduced. There is one sure, realistic way by which this number can be cut by more than half in short order, and that is by repealing the 3-10 year ban law. The law is a bad one and totally ineffective. It provides punishment, not control. It does not prevent migrants from returning illegally; it just increases their risk of death in attempting a return. I favor strictly controlled borders and a realistic legal way for unskilled immigrant workers to enter this country to fill the menial jobs where they are needed.
There are millions of undocumented workers who want to return home but they don't want to burn their bridges behind them by denying themselves any possiblity of a legal return for from three to ten years.
And contrary to what Ali Alexander writes, there is no legal way by which a restuarant owner can hire a dishwasher from Mexico or a family legally employ a caregiver from that country.
Richard E. Baer
Dear Editor:
There is little one can say in response to Name Not Provided
who wrote "I used to live under a dictator where you have more sense than to speak
your mind over the phone. Now, every immigrant is scared to talking over
the phone and discussing politics or private matters, in case someone is
listening. I can live with that. I have decided to leave the country even
before my visa expires." I wish him luck back home.
I am an immigrant. My wife is an immigrant. My parents are immigrants and
many of my friends are immigrants. I know of none who fear speaking on the
telephone. Maybe Alabama is simply more tolerant than his/her neck of the woods.
Honza J. F. Prchal
Birmingham, AL
Dear Editor:
Do you publish all your letters to the Editor?
Name Not Provided
Editor's Note: Historically, we have published most of the letters to the Editor that we have received. Generally, letters to the Editor that are not published include those that have little or no connection to immigration law or those that ask for case specific legal advice or where the letter was sent to us in addition to a myriad other recipients.
Dear Editor:
I would suggest that "Name Withheld Upon Request",
consult a qualified immigration lawyer for the answer to his or her question, rather than prevailing upon Immigration Daily as a conduit for legal advice on case-specific issues. It is obvious that Name Withheld Upon Request has fallen into a trap that many before he or she has, and that is consulting BCIS for advice. Let it be known that BCIS is not in the business of giving immigration advice and in fact many, if not most, BCIS employees do not have a sufficient working knowledge of immigration law, regulation and procedure to give any such advice. Immigration law, regulation and procedure is complex and often procedure and policy varies from the law and regulation. Caveat emptor. Oh, sorry, I guess one cannot be an emptor if one did not pay . . . caveat.
David D. Murray, Esq.
Newport Beach, CA
Dear Editor:
We are adding an immigration practice area to the firm, and would appreciate your recommending us to a firm that could suggest the appropriate books and software needed.
David Rios
McAllen, TX
Editor's Note: You may want to consider books from Lexis/Matthew Bender, WestLaw, and AILA. You will also find some books in our lawyer store. For more information on software vendors, try doing a google search with the search term immigration sofware.
Dear Editor:
I've been alternately amused and irritated by the debate beween
immigration lawyer Greg Siskind and H-1B program critic Rob Sanchez, as
well as the comments by various kibbitzers. As I am arguably the most
prominent critic of the H-1B program, I'd like to make a couple of
points.
As a practicing Jew myself, I was surprised to see Siskind's Jewish
faith become an issue, complete with Siskind's outrageous implication
that the Talmud supports H-1B and his unwarranted hints that Sanchez is
anti-Semitic.
I teach my 11-year-old daughter that if there is one central theme in
Judaism, it is a concern for justice. In that light, I would strongly
support Siskind's implicit statement that the US and all wealthy
countries should feature haven for refugees (including his example of
the Jews of the 1930s) as an integral part of immigration policy. But
Siskind makes a travesty of that concept when he draws an analogy with
H-1B, which is a visa which typically renders its holders de facto
indentured servants. How can Judaism possibly be twisted to justify de
facto slavery, even if in this case it is a relatively "genteel"
slavery?
Even the pro-industry National Research Council report, commissioned by
Congress and published in 2000, recognizes the indentured-servant nature
of typical H-1Bs. (The 2000 legislation ameliorated this somewhat, but
it is still a major problem.) That same NRC report also found that H-1Bs
are indeed often paid less than comparable Americans. There are a
number of other statistical studies showing this as well, and
fundamental economic principles show it without even using data. This
abuse of the H-1Bs is absolutely antithetical to the tenets of Judaism,
and I am offended at Siskind's attempts to make such a justification.
Because of the Jewish tradition of sympathy for the poor, I can easily
understand that Jewish immigration lawyers feel they are doing a
mitzvah, i.e. a good deed, by helping engineers from Third World
countries like India and China immigrate to the US Putting aside the
fact that these engineers are typically not poor, i.e. they are from the
better-off classes of society, my point here is that every time you
think you are helping someone immigrate from India or China, keep in
mind that you are hurting other immigrants from India or China.
Two-thirds of my computer science students at the University of
California, Davis are Asian-American. Most are of Chinese ethnicity,
but there are also a number of Indian, Vietnamese and Middle Eastern
heritage. The vast majority of them are US-born (or at least
US-raised) children of immigrant parents. Those parents typically
came to the US for one overriding purpose--to provide a better
education and economic future for their children. I'm sorry to put it
so bluntly, but you immigration lawyers are cutting those parents and
their kids off at the knees. Due to the H-1B and L-1 programs, most of
these students will never be able to have a technical career in computer
science.
And it's not just the new graduates. "J," for instance, is the son of
Chinese immigrants. He did everything society and his
education-conscious parents asked: Work hard in school, major in a
"practical" field (electrical engineering/computer science), get a
postgraduate degree, etc. He went to work for a major industry firm,
and did outstanding work--awards, patents, etc. Yet he was laid off
while the firm was hiring H-1Bs whose work J could have done. It is
likely that he will never find technical work in engineering again.
Please don't bother responding with the standard excuses. ("The number
of H-1Bs is down, so the system is 'working'," "It's the fault of the
Bush economy," "The real problem is offshoring," etc.) I've heard them
all before, and refute them all in my writings. For example, see
http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/Summary.pdf for a short, bulleted summary.
See also http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/matloff.html for my bio if you
wish to know "where I am coming from" on these issues. And by the way,
note that I have no personal financial stake in the issues, in contrast
to both Siskind and Sanchez, and to most readers of Immigration Daily. I would hope
that that might give some of you some pause for thought.
Norm Matloff, Professor of Computer Science
University of California, Davis
An Important disclaimer! The information provided on this page is not legal advice.
Transmission of this information is not intended to create, and receipt by you does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship. Readers must not act upon any information without first seeking advice from a
qualified attorney. Send Correspondence and articles to editor@ilw.com. Letters and articles may be edited and may be published and otherwise used in any medium. Opinions expressed in letters and articles do not necessarily reflect the opinion of ILW.COM.
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