Immigration Tidbits

USCIS Memo On Legal And Discretionary Analysis

For Adjudication USCIS Acting Deputy Director Divine issued a memo dated May 3, 2006 on the importance of carefully analyzing the factual findings, legal requirements, and discretionary factors in adjudicating applications and petitions.  Click here to see the memo.

USCIS Interim Guidance On Criminal History Disclosures

USCIS Acting Deputy Director Divine issued a memo dated May 3, 2006 to provide interim guidance to USCIS adjudicators regarding when it may be appropriate to disclose certain information relating to a visa petitioner’s criminal history to potential visa beneficiaries.   Click here to view the memo.

NPR Story on Immigration Act of 1965

NPR on May 9 ran the first of a three part series looking at legal immigration.  The first story looks at the 1965 Immigration Act, along with a Q&A with Senator Ted Kennedy, who helped shepard the act through Congress.  Here is an excerpt:

As Congress considers sweeping changes to immigration law, nearly all the debate has centered on the problem of illegal immigration. Little discussed are the many concerns of legal immigrants, the estimated 3 million to 4 million who are, as it’s so often been put –“already standing in line.” The current system of legal immigration dates to 1965. It marked a radical break with previous policy and has led to profound demographic changes in America. But that’s not how the law was seen when it was passed — at the height of the civil rights movement, at a time when ideals of freedom, democracy and equality had seized the nation. Against this backdrop, the manner in which the United States decided which foreigners could and could not enter the country had become an increasing embarrassment.

Click here to check out the story in audio and print.  For related NPR stories, click here.

KJ