Texas Immigration Lawyer & Attorney : Kraft & Associates Law Firm : Visas, Green Card, Citizenship, Deportation : Dallas, Texas

The debate over the future of immigration policy in the United States is expected to become one of the most pressing issues before Congress this year. Many misconceptions regarding the impact of immigration to the United States, however, may delay the passing of laws which favor immigration.

It may come as a surprise, but the United States benefits greatly by allowing foreign nationals to live, study and work in the country. For example:

• A study released yesterday by the Public Policy Institute of California found that immigrants who arrived in the State between 1990 and 2004 increased wages of native workers by an average of 4%.
• Another study conducted by the Immigration Policy Center in Washington D.C. showed that immigrant men between the ages of 18 to 39 had an incarceration rate five times lower than people born in the United States.
• By increasing consumer demand, immigrants generate economic growth which benefits the middle-class. Immigration is also a major contributor to the expansion of Hispanic and Asian-American consumer markets, which in 2004 was estimated to make up 12% of the nation's purchasing power.
• Immigrants in the United States also stimulate the economy by starting up new businesses and attracting investment capital from their home countries.
• Many packing houses, farmers, and companies that require employees to engage in physical labor depend on immigrant workers since there are simply not enough United States citizens who are willing and able to take those jobs. Additionally, highly skilled immigrants are a major reason for United States dominance in the fields of science and engineering.

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The Associated Press is reporting today that the Department of Homeland Security is expected to announce that the new passport requirements for reentry into the United States, due to become effective in 2008, will not apply to children aged 15 or younger. Children will need a certified copy of their birth certificates, but not a passport.

There may be another exemption for children aged 16 through 18 if they are traveling with school, religious, cultural, or athletic groups and under adult supervision.

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The United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas issued a press release this month that details the trial and conviction of a Houston immigration lawyer and her legal assistant. It's hard to believe a lawyer would blatantly violate federal laws this way, but this should be a warning to anyone hiring a lawyer for immigration purposes. Always tell the truth throughout the course of your immigration case. If you file fraudulent papers or lie under oath, the penalties are severe. Here is the press release:

February 14, 2007

IMMIGRATION LAWYER AND HER ASSISTANT FOUND GUILTY OF VISA FRAUD

(HOUSTON, TX) - A federal jury has convicted a Houston immigration attorney of conspiracy and fraud arising from a scheme in which false and fraudulent documents were filed with visa applications to permit foreign nationals to enter and remain in the United States, United States Attorney Don DeGabrielle announced today.

Yali Huang, 44, the attorney, convicted of all counts alleged against her -- conspiracy and four counts of visa fraud -- was immediately ordered into federal custody following the return of the verdicts. Huang's assistant, Yongping "Mary" Liu, 49, tried along with Huang, was convicted of one count of visa fraud and acquitted on the four other counts. She, too, was immediately ordered into federal custody following her conviction. Both women will remain in custody pending a May 16, 2007 sentencing hearing. The guilty verdicts were returned on Tuesday, February 13, 2007, after more than two weeks of trial and approximately twenty hours of deliberation.

"We will investigate anyone who files false petitions to circumvent the federal immigration laws," said Robert Rutt, the Special Agent in Charge of the Houston office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the lead agency involved in the investigation of this case. "And continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to identify those who choose to exploit our systems."

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CNN columnist Ruben Navarrette, Jr. has another provocative column online. I may have to just put all his columns here since he's had so many good ones recently. This one is titled "Anti-Immigrant Mob Creates False Heroes" and is about the two border patrol agents imprisoned for shooting an illegal alien drug smuggler.

Navarrette talks about what many of the "anti-immigrant" people don't mention when they show their outrage about these agents being imprisoned just for "doing their jobs." The agents tried to cover up the incident. They picked up their shell casings and filed a report that made no mention of the shooting. Here are excerpts from the article.

The world is upside down. A posse of Republican lawmakers who, when opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants, like to talk about how rules must be followed and how we shouldn't reward lawbreakers. They're now demanding that a pair of convicted felons be rewarded with a presidential pardon.

Ex-Border Patrol agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos were sentenced to 11 years and 12 years in prison, respectively, after a jury convicted them of shooting an unarmed suspect and then covering it up.

Compean fired at least 14 rounds and Ramos fired once, hitting Aldrete-Davila. The agents then collected the shell casings, failed to report the shooting, and filed reports that made no mention of the incident.

None of this is heroic, except to the anti-immigrant mob, which has been making excuses for Compean and Ramos while accusing U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, whose office prosecuted the case, of being an agent of the Mexican government.

As his name gets dragged through the mud, you'd think that Sutton might hold a grudge. Not so.

"I have a lot of sympathy for some of the folks who are worked up because the narrative that they read is so different from the reality of what the jury heard," Sutton told me.

But what about those unsympathetic Republican hacks, Minutemen vigilantes and conservative bloggers who are using this case to further their own agendas? For Sutton, it's a reminder that there is no substitute for the American justice system. While not perfect, that system is designed to dole out justice based on facts and law, not politics.

"It's why we litigate these things in a courtroom and not on cable television or the Internet," he said.

Be glad that's so.

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Although Congress has been debating immigration legislation, everyone should be advised that currently no temporary worker program exists for aliens unlawfully present in the United States. Congress has not passed any legislation that would create a temporary worker program. Therefore, there are no benefits currently available, because this program does not exist.

No one should pay any fees or fines to any person or organization claiming they can help apply for or receive benefits for a temporary worker program. Be suspicious of persons or organizations that claim they can assist in applying for benefits that do not exist.

For more information please visit www.uscis.gov.

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As an update to a previous post about the ridiculous imprisonment of the Ibrahim family, I'm pleased to report that the family has now been released from prison. The Dallas Morning News has a story today about the family. Excerpts from the article:

Immigration officers arrested Salaheddin Ibrahim, his wife, Hanan, and four of their children in November at their Richardson home more than two years after their petition for asylum was denied.

Hanan Ibrahim, 34, who is five months pregnant, has been incarcerated since then at the T. Don Hutto Detention Center in Taylor, near Austin. Four of her children, Hamzeh Ibrahim, 15; Rodaina, 14; Maryam, 8; and Faten, 5, also were detained at the same center.

Meanwhile, her husband, 37, was being held at the Rolling Plains Regional Jail in Haskell, near Abilene. Attorneys for the family expect him to be released soon also.

Escalating violence in their homeland swayed a federal immigration panel Friday to reconsider the family's asylum request, nullifying the order for removal from the U.S.

"Clearly the public glare of how horrible it is for children being detained and the family being split up caused this," Theodore Cox, one of the family's attorney, said of the decision.

Before Friday's order, lawyers for the Ibrahims pointed out the family was willing to leave the United States but had nowhere to go. Travel documents issued to the family by the Jordanian government expired and the country refused to accept them. Other countries were not willing to take them or issue them travel documents.

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On September 30, 2001, a Palestinian family, the Ibrahims, entered the U.S. on tourist and business visas. They were unable to return home, however, since that would require traveling through Israel and Jordan. This was impossible since their temporary Jordanian passports had expired and Israel does not allow Palestinians to return home through that country.

Unable to return home, the Ibrahims applied for asylum, but their case was denied. A deportation order was issued for them to return home. Once again, this was impossible for the Ibrahim family. The family members were then classified as "stateless," which implies that they have no country to be deported to.

Three months ago, however, the family was arrested during a raid at their Richardson apartment by immigration enforcement officers. The arrest came over two years after the family's request for asylum was denied. The family, which includes Salaheddin Ibrahim, his wife and four children, are now being held in a detention facility in Taylor, Texas. Mr. Ibrahim's wife is also five months pregnant.

Much attention has been drawn to this case since four children, who range from the ages of five to fifteen, are also being detained. Lawyers who are working to help the Ibrahims, have taken action in federal district court so that the family may be released.

The lawyers representing the Ibrahim family contend that there is no justification for the detention of the family or the young children. The petition seeking their release notes that the children have been traumatized by being held in a jail like setting and are being deprived of education. The lawyers also argue that there is no basis for detention since the family does not pose a flight risk or a danger to the community.

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Nearly 50 people were taken into custody yesterday morning at a suburban Houston trash collection company in a raid to check for illegal immigrants. According to witnesses, federal agents arrived at around 6 a.m. and immediately assembled all of the employees in one area in the back of the facility. There, they began questioning workers and checking their drivers' licenses and Social Security cards.

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and sheriff's department officials brought in several buses to the facility, presumably to transport undocumented workers.

The company has stated that there were immigration problems in 2005, but since then they have voluntarily signed up for the Basic Pilot program. Companies that take part in Basic Pilot can check the Social Security numbers that job applicants provide against a national database of Social Security and immigration records. Even using the program, however, illegal immigrants were found to be working at the company.

Most of the workers detained are from El Salvador, Mexico, Honduras and Nicaragua, and they now face deportation from the U.S. Additionally, some of those arrested in the raid may face federal criminal charges for reentering the U.S. after deportation and also for the use of fraudulent documents to gain employment.

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