Thread: ALIPAC Researchers Needed

ALIPAC Team,

I was under the impression that illegal aliens currently inside of the US were prohibited from trying to apply for legal status while in the country illegaly.

I believed that the Bush administration's push for a Temporary Worker Program or Guest Worker Program or Z Visa was designed to address this by changing the law to allow illegals to apply for legal status while in the US.

Over the last few months, I'm seeing more and more articles that describe illegal aliens in the US applying for visas or Green Cards.

In fact, the suspect in the Bologna murders is reported as having applied for a Green Card or temporary visa, then permanent status.

Source link...
http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-727195.html#727195


I need to know what is going on here....

is it

A. I was confused about the law.

B. Congress has changed the law recently.

C. The Bush administration has changed the laws without Congressional or public approval through 'regulatory' changes under the SPP?


This is a very serious question and I need volunteer researchers to find me the answers.

W

Great observation!!

I googled and found this:

April 30, 2001 is the deadline to apply for immigration benefits under 245(i). This article shall try to explain the benefits of 245(i) in simple terms.

WHAT I'S 245(i)?
245(i) is designed to help people who are in the United States illegally. This includes people who entered the United States illegally as well as people who entered with a visa but remained in the United States after their visa expired.

In order to qualify, an employer or close family relative must file a petition for you by April 30, 2001. Also, you had to be physically present in the United States on December 21, 2000. When are ready to apply directly for a green card (adjustment of status), you will have to pay a fine of $1,000.

Immigration law 245(i) allows people to apply for a green card without leaving the United States. This is important because without 245(i), many people who are eligible for a green card would have to travel to the American Consulate in their country to apply for a green card.

http://www.cpvisa.com/245.html

WILLIAM: THEY DO IT BY MARRYING A US CITIZEN OR HAVING A BABY IN THE COUNTRY. THEY ARE STILL ILLEGAL, BUT CAN APPLY FOR GREEN CARD BASED ON MARRIAGE OR ANCHOR BABY.....EVEN IF THEY ARE HERE ILLEGALLY. IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN LIKE THIS. IF THEY APPLY JUST ON THEIR OWN...THEY WONT GET ANYWHERE.

OH I JUST NOTICED MIGUELINA'S POST. SO I GUESS THEY HAVE CHANAGED IT? BUT I KNOW THAT SOME PEOPLE STILL DO THIS. THATS WHY THEY ARE STILL HAVING ANCHOR BABIES. THATS WHY THEY STILL TRY TO MARRY US CITIZENS. IS THIS YET ANOTHER IMMIGRATION LAW NOT BEING ENFORCED? LOOKS LIKE IT TO ME.

OH BUT WAIT. IN THE PAST THE APPLICANT WOULD ALWAYS HAVE TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY AND ENTER AGAIN TO LEGALIZE THEIR STATUS. SO I SEE IN THE POST THAT NOW THEY HAVE TO LEAVE AND COME IN AGAIN. SO THIS DISCONTINUED LAW ONLY MEANT THAT THEY DID NOT HAVE TO LEAVE.....THEY COULD JUST DO IT HERE. BUT I BET THEY CAN STILL APPLY WHILE HERE ILLEGALLY. IT JUST MEANS THAT THEY DONT HAVE THE LUXURY OF DOING IT FROM USA.

Maybe we can find something here:
Sorry about that Zeezil.

www.uscis.gov

I know wiki is NOT always a reliable source, I have to show this because it proves that you were not mistaken W:

A pending adjustment of status application entitles the applicant to work and travel authorization in the forms of an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) card and Advance Parole documents that must be renewed on a yearly basis. The application may be considered abandoned if the applicant does not attend a biometrics appointment or interview. Applications may also be denied for any of the following reasons:

1. The underlying immigrant petition is denied or withdrawn
2. The applicant is found to have entered or resided in the United States illegally (although this may be waived for one who originally entered with a valid visa and is an immediate relative of the US citizen-petitioner)
3. The applicant is judged as undesirable on the grounds of prior criminal convictions, affiliation with unsuitable political parties or organizations (e.g. former members of the Communist Party), poor character or have debilitating health problems, as well as other grounds.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_visas

Most immigrants lived in California illegally, study says
By Matt O'Brien
Contra Costa Times
Article Launched: 06/04/2008 09:22:00 PM PDT
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-118135.html

More than half of new California immigrants who are permanent legal residents lived in the state illegally before getting green cards, according to an analysis released Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California.

The study suggests that the conventional notion of a legal immigrant as a brand-new arrival who has waited in a home country to get a green card is not the norm.

"The idea (is) you sit at home, you wait, you get the green card," said research fellow Laura Hill. "That's certainly an experience for immigrants, but it's not the most common."

Of green card holders living in California, only 33 percent are new to the United States, never having entered the country before becoming legal residents here, according to the study. Another 15 percent previously visited the country at least once without violating immigration rules.

But a majority — 52 percent — had past experience living in the country illegally, usually without the government knowing about it, Hill said.

The numbers were based on a survey of 8,000 people with green cards who shared detailed histories of their migration experiences with researchers as part of The New Immigrant Survey in 2003 and 2004.

Thirty-five percent of the California green card holders had come into the United States at least once before by illegally crossing the border, while 18 percent violated the terms of a legal visit by overstaying a tourist visa or working when they were not supposed to.

"It highlights how overly simplified our understanding of immigrants and immigration can be," said Hill, who said a stark distinction between "illegal" and "legal" immigrants does not acknowledge the frequent correlation between both categories. "We need to be a little more cognizant of the variety and breadth of experience."

Along with California, the study looked at the country as a whole. It found that a somewhat smaller percentage of green card holders — 42 percent — have previously lived in the country illegally. Of those, 20 percent had crossed the border illegally and 22 percent had violated their visa terms.

Those who overstayed their visa before obtaining legal residency were most commonly from Europe and Central Asia, where the numbers were about 30 percent compared with 22 percent overall.

Latin Americans were those most likely to cross the border illegally — 41 percent compared with 20 percent overall. In California, the rate was even higher, with 62 of Latin American and Caribbean legal permanent residents having once crossed the border illegally.

Hill said her study also tried to compare current results against what might happen if the immigration reform measures that were proposed but dropped by the U.S. Congress last year were to come to fruition.

Those measures emphasize a more merit-based immigrant selection process compared with the family-focused immigration system in place since 1965.

The study reports that those immigrants now labeled as brand-new arrivals, who make up about 33 percent of current green card holders in California, would be least likely to be admitted under the proposed system because they are less likely to have relatives to sponsor them and, by definition, cannot obtain the U.S. work experience that would be an important factor in the merit-based system.

For the full report, visit http://www.ppic.org/main/publication.asp?i=768

http://www.contracostatimes.com/bayandstate/ci_9483556

http://www.uscis.gov/propub/ProPubVAP.j ... 57da89cd82

AGENCIES: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, DHS; Executive Office for Immigration Review, DOJ.



ACTION: Interim rules with request for comments.



SUMMARY: The Secretary of Homeland Security and the Attorney General are amending their respective agencies' regulations governing applications for adjustment of status filed by paroled arriving aliens seeking to become lawful permanent residents. The Secretary and the Attorney General are also amending the regulations to clarify when United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, or the immigration judges and the Board of Immigration Appeals of the Executive Office for Immigration Review, have jurisdiction to adjudicate applications for adjustment of status by such aliens. In addition, the Secretary and the Attorney General are requesting comments on the possibility of adopting further proposals in the future to structure the exercise of discretion in adjudicating these applications for adjustment of status.



DATES: Effective date : These rules are effective May 12, 2006.

*continued:

Before the enactment of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA), Public Law 104-208, Division C, 110 Stat. 3009 (September 30, 1996), an alien who was subject to deportation proceedings (an alien who had already entered the United States) could file an adjustment of status application with the immigration judge. This avenue of relief, however, generally was not available to an alien placed in exclusion proceedings (an alien seeking to enter the United States) as an i nadmissible alien, even if the alien had been paroled from custody under section 212(d)(5)(A) of the Act. See Matter of Manneh, 16 I&N Dec. 272 (BIA 1977) (immigration judge lacked jurisdiction over paroled alien's adjustment application). The former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) generally had exclusive jurisdiction over an adjustment of status application filed by a paroled alien in exclusion proceedings and the alien was not able to file or renew the application before an immigration judge. Id. Thus, an alien in deportation proceedings (who had entered the United States), if eligible, could obtain adjustment of status as relief from deportation, but an alien in exclusion proceedings (who was seeking to enter the United States) generally could not obtain adjustment of status from an immigration judge. The only exception was for aliens who had applied for adjustment of status while in the United States, traveled abroad and returned pursuant to a grant of advance parole, and then had their adjus tment applications denied by INS; such aliens could renew their applications before an immigration judge in the resulting exclusion proceeding. See 8 CFR 245.2(a) (1995); cf. Matter of Castro-Padron, 21 I&N Dec. 379,380 (BIA 1996) (describing exception to general jurisdictional bar to adjustment by immigration judge in exclusion proceedings)

Press Release

Many Legal Immigrants Spent Time In U.S. Illegally

Route to Getting a Green Card Often Includes Illegal Entry or Visa Violation

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SAN FRANCISCO, California, June 4, 2008 -- Many immigrants who recently became legal permanent residents first lived in the United States illegally, according to a report released today by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC). This is particularly true in California, where more than half lived in the state illegally before getting green cards.

The report analyzes the pathways immigrants take to become legal permanent residents and finds them far from straightforward. It sheds light on the poorly understood system that selects which immigrants can live here permanently. The findings can help guide lawmakers as they weigh policy changes, from sweeping reform bills like the one debated in 2007 to current efforts aimed at securing more green cards for foreign-born engineers.

The report finds that rather than being new arrivals, most immigrants have lived in the United States for some time when they get their green cards, the official identification of a legal permanent resident.

“The public debate about immigration can be so simplistic,â€

MODS: Someone needs to do a "tiny URL" on JAK posting to shrink up the wide body of all these postings.