Lataif, LLC Announces Office Relocation

Lataif, LLC is very pleased to announce the relocation of our Boston office, effective immediately, to:  

858 Washington Street

Suite 301

Dedham, MA 02026

tel: (781) 686-1449

fax: (781) 686-1643

Our new office is more convenient for our clients and visitors. We are now located just off of I-95 with unlimited, free parking. The Bank of America branch in the lobby is an added convenience.

Our email addresses and cell phone numbers remain unchanged, however please make note of our new address and office numbers above.

For those of you in the New England area, we look forward to meeting with you in our new office. For clients outside of New England and outside the United States, we have posted photos below.

We look forward to continuing to serve our immigration clients worldwide.

Reentry Permits: How Not to Lose the Green Card

One of the biggest myths about the green card is that once an individual has obtained it they can make unlimited trips outside of the U.S., so long as the individual does not stay outside of the U.S. for a trip lasting longer than 6 months.

Unfortunately, many individuals find out that this is not the case only when confronted by a customs official at the U.S. border. A green card holder can be detained and questioned for hours at a time and ultimately have their green card confiscated. At that point they are either able to agree to the confiscation and enter the U.S. as a visitor, or fight the confiscation and be allowed into the U.S. for a determination of whether they abandoned their U.S. residence in Immigration Court.

This problem often arises for business executives and scientists who have international business and research concerns requiring extensive travel or temporary assignments abroad. It can also be a problem for green card holders who need to care for sick or elderly family members outside the U.S. As globalization and ease of international travel have increased this issue has become common.

The solution for green card holders planning on being outside of the United States for significant periods of time is to apply for a reentry permit. A reentry permit is initially granted for a period of two years and can be renewed for one or two year periods at the discretion of USCIS. There is no limit for the number of renewal reentry permits a green card holder can apply for.

A green card holder applying for a reentry permit must file the application while they are in the United States, but is not required to remain in the United States while the reentry permit is adjudicated. Applicants are also required to be photographed and fingerprinted before the reentry permit can be issued.

A reentry permit does not shield a green card holder from questioning at the border regarding the length of their absence, but it does prevent the length of the absence from being the sole criteria used for deeming that the green card holder has abandoned their U.S. residence.

The reentry permit coupled with evidence of residence within the United States can prevent confiscation of the green card at the border.  It is an essential tool that provides peace of mind, for green card holders who must spend significant amounts of time outside the United States.

How Does the Deporter-In-Chief Do It?

By: Danielle Huntley, Esq.  

The most frequent questions I get asked when a new person finds out I am an immigration lawyer is “so what do you think we should do about illegal immigration, why can’t we just send them home?” The second most frequent question I get asked is what I think of President Obama’s record number of removals. He has removed so many illegal aliens he is sometimes colloquially referred to as the “deporter-in-chief.” My follow-up question to both inquiries is to ask what they think the removal process looks like. I hear variations on this theme: “the illegal alien gets picked up by Immigration and put on a plane back to their home country.”

This prompts me to begin a series of posts on removal proceedings and how the process actually works.

Today, I will start with grounds for removal from the United States. An alien is deemed removable under six broad categories [8 U.S.C. 1227(a)(1)-(6) – I’m including the statutory cite because it drives me crazy when they are not included in a blog entry]. The six categories are:

1. Aliens who were not admissible to the U.S. at the time they entered the U.S., when they applied for the green card, or have violated their status in some other way. Included in this category are aliens who do not leave after their visa has expired, and aliens who enter the country illegally.
2. Aliens convicted of certain criminal offenses;
3. Aliens who fail to register or use false documents;
4. Aliens who trigger certain national security issues;
5. Aliens who have become public charges, and cannot show that the cause of becoming a public charge arose after entering the U.S.; and,
6. Aliens who unlawfully vote.

These categories apply to all aliens in the U.S. from those present in the U.S. with a tourist visa to legal permanent residents who hold the green card.

In my next post in this series I will discuss how an alien who falls into one of the six categories above comes to the attention of the appropriate immigration authorities.

PROS & CONS: Suing in Federal Court for Immigration Denials and Delays

By: Lawrence P. Lataif  

Most people are aware from the news that federal lawsuits are often filed in connection with attempts by individual states to regulate immigration, and by individuals seeking to avoid deportation (now called removal) when found guilty of crimes, denied political asylum, or found to be removable based on other grounds.

Much less known is that federal lawsuits are available for immigration benefits which have been wrongfully denied or unreasonably delayed. Such suits, which represent only a small percentage of federal court lawsuits, can be filed by individuals or employers who are aggrieved or prejudiced by USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) action (or inaction) in individual cases. While a federal lawsuit is not feasible or advisable in every situation, it can be very effective when a federal district court judge has become, literally, the court of last resort.

What actions can be brought to Federal Court?

Lawsuits for denied or delayed immigration benefits can include claims for:

1. Declaratory Judgment
2. Injunctive Relief
3. Constitutional Violations – Due Process and Equal Protection
4. Administrative Procedures Act Violations
5. Mandamus Actions
6. De Novo Review of Naturalization Denials
7. Monetary Damages
8. §1983 Civil Rights Actions

Practical Benefits of Filing Suit

Any litigant or lawyer who files a federal court lawsuit must be prepared for lengthy litigation, even though 98.5% of all lawsuits do not go to trial. However, there are practical benefits that accrue to virtually every litigant once a federal court lawsuit has been filed. Among these are:

1. Case gets immediate review by U.S. Attorney’s Office
2. Case gets reviewed by lawyers from OIL (Office of Immigration Litigation)
3. Case gets high level administrative review by USCIS
4. Where the issue is unreasonable administrative delay the case is often won without the government ever filing an answer

When Does Litigation Make Sense?

Federal court litigation can be appropriate in any one or more of the following situations:

1. CIS policy violates statute or regulations
2. CIS policy or regulations are unconstitutional
3. Statutes conflict with each other
4. USCIS ignores favorable evidence to justify denial

Yet, even in these cases, there are important considerations to address before taking the significant step of filing a federal court action. Exhaustion of administrative remedies must be done, unless there is a very compelling reason against it. The costs involved, including legal fees, third party costs and the substantial commitment of time, must be carefully evaluated. Thought must also be given to whether other relief is available to fix the problem, such as a different immigration filing strategy or Congressional action that may change the applicable law.

Helpful Research Resources

Examples of federal court litigation addressed above can be found at the following research resources:

1. Immigration LexisNexis Community (formerly Bender’s Immigration Bulletin – Daily Edition) - www.lexisnexis.com/community/portal/
2. Immigration Daily - www.ilw.com
3. Interpreter Releases – Federal Case Summaries by Gerald Seipp
4. WSJ Law Blog - blogs.wsj.com/law
5. SCOTUSblog -  www.scotusblog.com