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

Generally, Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR’s) may be eligible for naturalization upon meeting the naturalization criteria. In order to qualify, an individual must satisfy the following:

1. Must be an LPR;
2. Must be over 18 years of age;
3. After becoming an LPR, must have continuously resided in the U.S. for five years;
4. Must maintain residence for three months in the state where the application is filed;
5. Must have basic English language skills and knowledge of U.S. history and government.

If an LPR does not want to wait five years to apply for naturalization, the LPR may apply for naturalization after three years if he or she is married to a U.S. citizen. If the LPR is married to a U.S. citizen, the continuous residence requirement is three years only if the U.S. citizen spouse has been a citizen for three years and the parties have been married for three years and continue to be married at the time of naturalization. An LPR need not be living with the U.S. citizen spouse after filing the naturalization application, but must continue to be married at the time of naturalization.

Although the continuous residence requirement may be changed from five years to three years (if married to a U.S. citizen), the other requirements must still be met to qualify for naturalization.

If you want to learn more about naturalization and the continuous residence requirement based on marriage to a U.S. citizen, please call us at 214-999-9999.

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Did you know that you may claim citizenship if you are under the age of 18, and either of your parents are U.S. citizens, but you were born abroad? You may apply to the Immigration Service for a certificate of citizenship. In order to be issued a certificate of citizenship the following requirements must be met:

1. At least one parent is a U.S. citizen either by birth (acquired citizenship) or naturalization (derivative citizenship);

2. The child must be under 18 years of age;

3. The child is in the United States pursuant to a lawful admission, or outside of the U.S in the legal and physical custody of the citizen parent and is temporarily present in the U.S. pursuant to a lawful admission and is maintaining lawful status; and

4. The U.S. citizen parent must have been physically present in the United States for at least five years (at least two years of which were after the parent reached 14 years of age); or the child’s grandparent must meet the five year physical presence requirement.

If you meet these requirements before your 18th birthday, call us at 214-999-9999 to learn more about how to apply for a certificate of citizenship.

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Despite a 2002 promise from President Bush to put citizenship applications for immigrant members of the military on a fast track, some are finding themselves waiting months, or even years, because of bureaucratic backlogs. One, Sgt. Kendell K. Frederick of the Army, who had tried three times to file for citizenship, was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq as he returned from submitting fingerprints for his application.

About 7,200 service members or people who have been recently discharged have citizenship applications pending, but neither the Department of Defense nor Citizenship and Immigration Services keeps track of how long they have been waiting. Immigration lawyers and politicians say they have received a significant number of complaints about delays because of background checks, misplaced paperwork, confusion about deployments and other problems.

The long waits are part of a broader problem plaguing the immigration service, which was flooded with 2.5 million applications for citizenship and visas last summer -- twice as many as the previous year -- in the face of 66 percent fee increases that took effect July 30. Officials have estimated that it will take an average of 18 months to process citizenship applications from legal immigrants through 2010, up from seven months last year.

But service members and veterans are supposed to go to the head of the line. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, President Bush signed an executive order allowing noncitizens on active duty to file for citizenship right away, instead of having to first complete three years in the military. The federal government has since taken several steps to speed up the process, including training military officers to help service members fill out forms, assigning special teams to handle the paperwork, and allowing citizenship tests, interviews and ceremonies to take place overseas.

At the same time, post-9/11 security measures, including tougher guidelines for background checks that are part of the naturalization process, have slowed things down.

Over all, 312,000 citizenship or green card applications are pending name checks, including 140,000 that have been waiting more than six months, immigration officials said. This month, immigration authorities eased background-check requirements for green cards, saying that if applicants had been waiting more than six months, they could be approved without an F.B.I. check, and approvals could be revoked later "in the unlikely event" that troubling information was found.

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The Associated Press is reporting today that the government  will increase the fines levied against employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. The increase will be 25 percent, and is the first incrase in nearly a decade. Excerpt from the article:

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency responsible for investigating illegal hirings, has stepped up its enforcement of the employer sanctions law in the past year, leading to a dozen major busts. Currently, fines range from $2,000 to $10,000 depending on the offense. The agency says some penalties could include at least six months in jail.

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Today USCIS issued a press release explaining the recent decision to forego certain aspects of the FBI background checks. Here is the press release:

Federal Litigation Removed as Sole Basis to Expedite Check

WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is no longer routinely requesting the FBI to expedite a name check when the only reason for the request is that a mandamus (or other federal court petition) is filed in the case.

USCIS may continue to request an expedited FBI name check if the case meets one of the other approved criteria, including:

1. Military deployment,
2. Age-out cases not covered under the Child Status Protection Act, and applications affected by sunset provisions such as diversity visas,
3. Significant and compelling reasons, such as critical medical conditions, and
4. Loss of social security benefits or other subsistence at the discretion of the USCIS District Director.

The FBI name check is an invaluable part of the security screening process, ensuring that our immigration system is not used as a vehicle to harm our nation or its citizens. USCIS also requests an FBI name check to screen out people who seek immigration benefits improperly or fraudulently and ensure that only eligible applicants receive benefits.

Information about the FBI name check is available on the USCIS website at http://www.uscis.gov or by calling the USCIS National Customer Service Center toll free at 1-800-375-5283.

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An employment-based category is available for an individual who has already invested or plans to invest in a new commercial enterprise employing at least 10 full-time workers. This category allows such an investor to obtain permanent residency within a year.

In order to qualify as an investor, the foreign national must meet certain requirements as provided in the regulations.

First, the investor must invest or be actively in the process of investing at least $1,000,000 in the enterprise. The enterprise may be in the form of creating an original business, or purchasing an existing business and simultaneously or subsequently restructuring or reorganizing the business such that a new commercial enterprise results, or expanding an existing business by 140 percent of the pre-investment number of jobs or net worth, or retaining all existing jobs in a troubled business that has lost 20 percent of its net worth over the past 12 to 24 months. Instead of investing $1,000,000, the investor may opt to invest at least $500,000 where the investment is being made in a "targeted employment area," which is an area that has experienced unemployment of at least 150 per cent of the national average rate, or a rural area as designated by the Office of Management and Budget.

The source of funds must be obtained through lawful means, and the capital may be in the form of cash, equipment, inventory, certificates of deposit, treasury bonds, or other instruments that can be converted readily into cash. Since the rationale behind this category is to benefit the economy of the United States, the new commercial enterprise must create full-time employment for not fewer than 10 qualified individuals, or maintain the number of existing employees at no less than the pre-investment level for a period of at least two years, where the capital investment is being made in a "troubled business," which is a business that has been in existence for at least two years and that has lost 20 percent of its net worth over the past 12 to 24 months. The investor must be active in the new commercial enterprise, and this requirement could be accomplished by participating in the day-to-day managerial control.

Once the above documentation is gathered, the foreign investor must file, on his or her own behalf, an Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur on Form I-526, with the Immigration Service. Once the petition is approved, the foreign national will go to the U.S. consulate in his or her country of residence, and will file an application for an immigrant visa. The foreign national will thereafter receive conditional residency. Conditional residency is the same as permanent residency, but it is used to deter visa fraud. The difference between conditional and permanent residency is that after a year and nine months, the investor has to file another petition to remove entrepreneur conditions on Form I-829. The petition is accompanied with supporting documentation of the aforementioned documents. Once the conditions are removed, the investor will become a permanent resident. After five years of being a permanent resident, the foreign national can apply for U.S. citizenship.

Please call us at 214-999-9999 for more information on how to obtain permanent residency for Investors.

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Phoenix is the latest city to try to do what the federal government refuses to do -- resolve the nation's perceived illegal immigration problems. Phoenix police will now start asking all people arrested in that city whether they are in the U.S. legally. Here are excerpts from an article in the New York Times:

The police in this city at the center of the immigration debate will soon ask all people arrested whether they are in the United States legally and will in certain cases report the information to the federal authorities, Mayor Phil Gordon announced on Friday.

People stopped for civil traffic violations like speeding will not be questioned, nor will crime victims or witnesses.

All those arrested on criminal charges like drunken driving and murder will be asked by officers whether they are in the United States legally.

The police may decide to recommend checking by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The change includes having the police notify the immigration agency about people who are detained but not arrested who officers have “reasonable basis” to believe are illegal immigrants.

A conservative legal group said the policy did not go far enough.

Civil rights advocates suggested that people who appeared to be Latino or spoke with accents would be more likely to be checked than others.

Hispanics make up 34 percent of Phoenix, the nation’s fifth-largest city, with 1.5 million residents.

The program departs from a policy that is more than 10 years old that bars officers from asking people about their legal status in most cases. It also sets Phoenix apart from most other big cities with large immigrant populations, including New York and Los Angeles. The police in those cities generally avoid such questions over fears that they would lead to racial profiling and discourage immigrants from cooperating with the police.

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The Chicago Tribune ran an interesting article about the effect of Oklahoma's anti-immigrant laws on that state's economy. Obviously there are two points of view to this situation, but this article points out some of the unintended financial consequences for Oklahoma. Here are excerpts:

The splintered trees, downed branches and piles of wood still littering nearly every neighborhood of this sprawling city two months after a devastating ice storm stand as a testament to something more than the ferocity of nature.

The debris is also a sign of the effectiveness ofOklahoma's new law intended to drive illegal immigrants out of the state -- the strictest such statute in the nation.

The branches are still here, many of the law's critics say, because the undocumented workers who would have cleaned them up are not.

"You really have to work hard at it to destroy our state's economy, but we found a way," said state Sen. Harry Coates, the only Republican in the state Legislature to vote against the immigration law. "We ran off the workforce."

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The Dallas Morning News today has a very interesting story about Oklahoma's tough anti-illegal-immigrant laws, and how those laws may provide templates for other states to follow. The article also notes several downsides of the tough laws, and emphasizes that while such laws might work in Oklahoma, a state with an estimated 7% Hispanic population, the situation would be much different in Texas, with an estimated 36% Hispanic population. Here are excerpts:

Welcome to the nation's laboratory for a crackdown on illegal immigration. Last year, Oklahoma's Legislature passed, by huge margins, the nation's toughest law on illegal immigrants, making it a felony to harbor, transport, shelter or conceal undocumented immigrants.

This summer, the same law also will allow U.S. citizens to sue employers if they think they were fired in favor of illegal workers. Employers in the state say they already see the results: "A total lack of workers," said Doug Forrest, a Tulsa site-preparation contractor and golf course builder. "This is potentially sending our state into a recession."

Proponents of the law don't see such economic harm.

Meanwhile, some Texas lawmakers are already promising bills that mirror Oklahoma's House Bill 1804.

State Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, said the Oklahoma measure has proved that even as Congress deadlocks on immigration, a state can protect itself against what he calls threats to public health and safety posed by a porous border.

"You don't have to round up 20 million illegal aliens," Mr. Berman said. "Stop the two free benefits you're giving them - free health care and a free education - and they'll go back across the Rio Grande."

In December, Oklahoma Treasurer Scott Meacham said "some short-run pain" to that state's economy might occur, if reports of temporary labor shortages in construction, agriculture and oilfield services industries proved severe and long-lasting.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and several Oklahoma business groups recently sued to overturn the law, saying it improperly steps on federal government turf.

Only one group has tried to track the law's effects on population. The Greater Tulsa Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, after checking with schools, churches, and bus lines with service to Mexico, estimated that between 15,000 and 25,000 illegal immigrants have left Tulsa County since the law was passed.

Several Christian denominations have said they'll continue to urge parishioners to aid strangers, even though the law threatens those who transport or shelter "aliens" with at least one year in prison and/or at least a $1,000 fine.

In November, messengers to the annual meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma passed a resolution saying the law "will not change their ministry to any people," according to the Southern Baptist group's Web site.

Last year, the Oklahoma Legislature passed a law that:

•Restricts illegal immigrants' access to driver's licenses and ID cards.

•Cuts off several forms of public assistance for illegal immigrants. Emergency medical care, disaster aid and certain immunizations are exempted.

•Makes it harder for illegal immigrants to pay in-state college tuition.

•Encourages state and local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration law.

•Makes it a felony to harbor, transport, conceal or shelter illegal immigrants.

•Requires state and local governments to use a federal database that allows them to check potential employees' work eligibility.

•Starting this summer, private employers and government contractors will have to verify employment eligibility of all new hires. Employers who don't could be sued.

This year, Oklahoma lawmakers are considering bills that would:

•Designate English as the state's official language.

•Let law enforcement seize the property of those who transport, hire or rent to illegal immigrants.

•Make public schools report how many illegal-immigrant children are enrolled.

•Repeal last year's law.

•Repeal all of last year's law, except for its ban on most public benefits.

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The O visa is a temporary visa designed for foreign nationals with extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, athletics, or motion picture or television production, which has been demonstrated by sustained national and international achievements. The O visa allows these individuals to come to the United States to work for a U.S. employer in their areas of expertise.

To qualify for an O visa in "science, education, business or athletics," the foreign national must be one of the small percentage who have risen to the top of his or her field. Documentation may include three of the following:

• receipts of national or international awards in their field such as the Nobel Prize or other distinguished award;
• membership in organizations that require outstanding achievement;
• published materials about the foreign national;
• original scientific work of major significance in foreign national's field;
• evidence that the foreign national has been employed in a critical or essential capacity at an organization that has a distinguished reputation;
• evidence that the foreign national has commanded or will command a high salary
• letters of recommendation from experts in the field.

The U.S. employer will file a petition with the Citizenship & Immigration Services along with evidence illustrating the foreign national's extraordinary ability. Once the petition is approved, the foreign national may obtain the O visa at the U.S. consulate or embassy in their country of residence. Spouses and unmarried minor children may accompany the O visa holder but are unable to work in the United States. Since the O visa is temporary, it is issued initially for three years and may be extended in one year increments. The O visa allows the individual to apply for permanent residency.

If you meet the extraordinary ability requirements outlined above, please contact us at 214-999-9999.

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The March 2008 Visa Bulletin is available at the State Department, but still shows no availability of visas for employment-based second-preference for citizens of India. 

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The Citizenship and Immigration Services has come up with a means of expediting certain green card applications. While it makes good sense to me, many people are objecting to the new procedure based on national security concerns. In a nutshell, CIS is proposing to approve applications if they have been pending more than six months and are awaiting only the FBI background check. The reason for the change is that some FBI checks are taking literally years to complete. Here are excerpts from an article about this in the New York Times:

Searching for ways to reduce a huge backlog of visa applications, immigration authorities have eased requirements for background checks by the F.B.I. of immigrants seeking to become permanent United States residents, federal officials said Monday.

If an immigrant's application for a residence visa has been in the system for more than six months and the only missing piece is a name check by the F.B.I., immigration officers will now be allowed to approve the application, according to a memorandum posted Monday on the Web site of the federal Citizenship and Immigration Services agency.

The memorandum states that "in the unlikely event" that the F.B.I. name check turns up negative information about an immigrant after a residence visa has been granted, the authorities can cancel the visa and begin deportation proceedings.

Under the new policy, which was first reported by the McClatchy news service, immigrants applying for the permanent visas, which are known as green cards, will still be required to complete two other security checks: an F.B.I. criminal fingerprint check and a search in a federal criminal and anti-terrorist database known as Interagency Border Inspection Services.

The policy is intended to speed processing for tens of thousands of immigrants with no criminal records who are living in the United States and have been waiting for years for green cards because their names turned up matches in the F.B.I's records. Often an immigrant's name hits a match, immigration lawyers said, because the F.B.I. files include a vast range of names, including those of people mentioned in criminal investigations, even if they had no role in a crime. F.B.I. agents must investigate each name match by manual searches of voluminous records.

Some critics said the agency would be cutting security corners and bending federal law.

"They are knowingly granting a benefit to a person who may be a national security threat or a serious criminal," said Rosemary Jenks, director of government relations for NumbersUSA, an organization that favors reduced immigration.

"These are people who are asking permission to stay in this country permanently," Ms. Jenks said, "and we have a right to make sure we know who they are. If it takes a few extra months, so be it."

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As another result of the federal government's refusal to take any action regrading immigration reform, more and more local jurisdictions are attempting their own solutions -- usually with poor results and unintended consequences.

The Dallas Morning News reports today that Republican candidates for County Sheriff are incorporating strict immigration enforcement policies into their campaigns, while Democratic candidates are mostly silent on the issue. Here are excerpts:

Sheriff's hopefuls want jail to check for illegal immigrants Dallas County: Most from GOP say jail could detect suspects who are in country illegally

The Dallas County Sheriff's Department isn't doing enough to identify illegal immigrants in the jail, according to some Republican candidates for sheriff.

Illegal immigration, a hot topic locally and nationally, has become an issue in the race for sheriff. Several candidates are addressing it in their campaigns. One of them, Mesquite police Lt. Charlie Richmond, has made it his top issue.

He and fellow Republican candidates Catherine Smit and Jim Bowles say they would apply for special training from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that would allow jailers to question inmates about their immigration status and detain them for federal authorities.

But former Irving Police Chief Lowell Cannaday said he would prefer to use a model used in Irving in which jailers call ICE at all hours of the day when they suspect an inmate is in the country illegally.

Most of the Democrats in the race don't support such measures.

Sheriff Lupe Valdez, who is running for re-election, says she has no plans to change the current arrangement in which a couple of ICE agents periodically visit the Lew Sterrett Justice Center to question inmates.

All of the Democratic candidates for sheriff except for Lancaster school Police Chief Sam Allen agree that the department is doing all it can and that immigration enforcement is a job best left to the federal government.

When ICE agents determine an inmate is a noncitizen who is deportable, they place a hold or detainer on him so he can be turned over to federal authorities once his local criminal charges are resolved.

That means the inmates must sit in the jail until ICE can pick them up. Between 180 and 230 Dallas County prisoners are released to ICE's custody every month, said Ron Stretcher, the county's criminal justice director.

He said he has not studied the impact of the detainers on the jails' population but that he plans to do so.

"Anytime you place holds or detainers, it's critical that we get a quick response," Mr. Stretcher said, referring to ICE's ability to take custody of inmates.

Mr. Cannaday said some defense attorneys will bond out their clients when they know ICE agents are not inside the jail. He said illegal immigrants must be screened when they are booked into the jail.

Inmates who are booked into the Dallas County jails currently must fill out a form that asks for their country of birth. But jail guards do not use that information to screen for illegal immigrants.

It's an election year, and the question of identifying illegal immigrants in jails has arisen in the Harris County sheriff's race as well.

Harris County Sheriff Tommy Thomas, who is running for re-election, wants his jailers to receive the ICE training to determine the immigration status of noncitizens.

Ms. Smit, the Cockrell Hill police chief who is running as a Republican, said she would work with other law enforcement agencies in the county to develop a coordinated strategy for tackling the problem.

"Every prisoner who comes into intake should be questioned at book-in so ICE agents have an opportunity to get to them before they bond out," she said.

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As reported in the Houston Chronicle yesterday, a proposed regulation from the Labor Department could have the effect of reducing wages paid to legal immigrant farm workers. Here are excerpts from the story:

The Labor Department planned Wednesday to propose changes to the foreign agriculture worker program, among them how the base wages for H2-A visa holders are determined. Streamlining the hiring process for H2-A visa holders could help turn employers away from hiring illegal workers, officials said.

Right now, the base pay for H2-A agriculture workers is set by the Agriculture Department's Farm Labor Survey and varies by state. Within a state, the pay is the same regardless of what job a worker performs.

However, the Labor Department wants to use the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment Survey, which would allow officials to consider what workers do and their skill levels. It also would allow officials to divide the country into more than 530 areas and to pay wages appropriate to each area.

Under the H-2A program, farmers may apply to bring in foreign workers if they can show the supply of U.S. workers is inadequate. The new regulations, which were to be proposed by the Labor and Homeland Security departments, would be the first changes to the H-2A visa system in 20 years.

More than half of U.S. farm workers admit on Labor Department surveys that they are not legally authorized to work. Some groups believe it's actually about 70 percent.

Employers consider the H2-A program burdensome and many hire undocumented workers rather than use it. Critics say employers don't like the program's wage, housing and other requirements. Labor officials plan to make the application process easier for employers wanting foreign farm workers.

The H-2A system requires that above-average wages -- called the adverse effect wage rate -- be paid to those workers.

In 2007, the highest adverse effect wage rate was $10.32 in Hawaii and the lowest was $8.27 in Arizona. In North Carolina, where the largest number of H-2A visas are issued, the adverse effect wage rate was $9.02.

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The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, as amended (INA), stipulates that physicians who have entered the United States to undertake a J-1 graduate medical training or education program are uniformly subject to the obligation to return to their home country or country of last residence for a period of two years. INA §212(e). J-1 visa holders are eligible for waiver of the two-year home residence requirement based upon exceptional hardship to a U.S. citizen or permanent resident spouse or child. INA §212(e). There are three other bases for filing a waiver to the two-year foreign residency requirement, but this discussion will be on the exceptional hardship waiver.

In determining a hardship waiver, exceptional hardship must be shown with respect to the U.S. citizen spouse or child in the event they remain in the United States and the foreign spouse returns to the home country. The applicant must also show hardship if the spouse or child accompany the foreign national abroad for two years.

Factors considered to form the basis of exceptional hardship include where the U.S. citizen spouse would be required to interrupt a professional career, suffer unemployment and separation of family.The country conditions to which the exchange visitor and the U.S. citizen or resident spouse would return must also be considered, particularly where they are shown to impact psychological and physical health. Other factors are considered to form the basis of a finding of exceptional hardship as well.

For example, where it is shown that the citizen spouse would suffer adverse consequences to their medical studies by the departure of their J-1 spouse, and that their career would be set back if he or she were either to interrupt their education or attempt to continue their studies in the spouse's country. Similarly, the threat of disruption of the education of an exchange visitor's spouse would constitute sufficient hardship to justify granting the waiver. In evaluating a claim of exceptional hardship, evidence of the disruption of the career or of the education of the U.S. citizen or resident spouse will be considered, along with other relevant factors mentioned above.

To learn more about waivers to the two-year foreign residency requirement, please call us at 214-999-9999.

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Foreign nationals who do not have a valid immigrant visa and wish to travel multiple times outside the United States will need permission to re-enter the United States. An individual who filed an adjustment of status (AOS) application will need a travel document (advance parole) to re-enter the United States. If the AOS application is pending, the foreign national should submit form I-131 Travel Document Application prior to departure. Otherwise, if the foreign national leaves the United States while the AOS application is pending, the application will be deemed abandoned and the AOS application will eventually be denied.

Be aware travelers, in order to avoid the termination of a pending AOS application, it is imperative to apply for Advance Parole prior to leaving the United States. An advance parole is approved within 90 days and is valid for multiple trips throughout one year. Of course, once the foreign national receives his or her green card, an advance parole is no longer needed.

Please note there are certain foreign nationals who may not apply for advance parole. An advance parole document is not available for individuals in the United States illegally, under removal proceedings, or who are exchange foreign nationals subject to the residency requirement.

Please contact us to learn more about Advance Parole and the information needed to apply for an Advance Parole.

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The Dallas Morning News reports today that tougher anti-immigrant laws in nearby states are encouraging immigrants (legal and illegal) to move to Texas. Depending on your point of view, this is either bad for Texas taxpayers or good for Texas businesses. We're getting a lot of new labor into the Texas market, but for those who believe immigrants are a drain on state-provided services, it's not a positive development. I'm not one of those people, so I welcome the new residents. Here are excerpts:

Illegal immigrants are coming into Texas, but not from where most people think.

The rush is coming from Oklahoma, Arizona and other states, places that have recently passed tough new anti-illegal immigrant laws.

The Oklahoma statute, which took effect in November, makes it a crime to transport, harbor or hire illegal immigrants. Effective Jan. 1, the Arizona law suspends the business license of employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. On a second offense, the license is revoked.

In Tulsa, Okla., the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce has estimated that 15,000 to 25,000 illegal immigrants have left the area. One builder estimated that 30 percent of the Hispanic workforce left Tulsa.

"There's been a tremendous impact in Oklahoma City," said David Castillo, the executive director of the Greater Oklahoma City Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. "We've had several companies close shop and leave the state. Banks have called us and say they're closing 30 accounts per week."

Enrique Hubbard, Mexico's consul general in Dallas, said a dozen Mexican families from Oklahoma have applied for consular documents listing their new homes in the Dallas area. He expects more to arrive because jobs are available in North Texas.

Texas' reputation as a welcoming destination has experts predicting more immigrants will come to Houston and other cities in the state. Texas has not passed any statewide law targeting the employment of undocumented workers.

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