PRESIDENTS’ DAY – FEBRUARY 21, 2011

Presidents’ Day, initially called Washington’s Birthday, became a federal holiday in 1880.  It was celebrated on President Washington’s birthday – February 22 – and was the first holiday dedicated to a US citizen.   This holiday was signed into law in 1968. 

By the mid 1980s, many state governments changed this holiday Presidents’ Day so that it could be a day to celebrate the presidency, as opposed to just George Washington.  

While it is still officially called Washington’s Birthday, today it celebrates not only George Washington, but Abraham Lincoln and the presidency in general. 

There is a parade on February 22 in Alexandria, VA to celebrate this holiday.  

image source

Secure Communities a Trap for the Unwary

ICE’s ‘Secure Communities’ program is NOT voluntary.

A voluntary program to run all criminal suspects’ fingerprints through an immigration database was only voluntary until cities refused to participate, thousands of recently released documents show. The Obama administration then tightened the rules so that U.S. cities had no choice but to have the fingerprints checked. The documents made public by the Homeland Security Department provide a behind-the-scenes glimpse of how the administration scrambled to quiet the criticisms and negative publicity surrounding the immigration enforcement program known as Secure Communities.” Suzanne Gamboa, Canadian Press, Feb. 15, 2011.

CHOCOLATE = BEST PRESENT FOR VALENTINE’S DAY

February is Chocolate Lover’s Month, in addition to being the month during which we celebrate Valentine’s Day.  It has been a long-time tradition to present one’s loved one with chocolates on Valentine’s Day. 

There may very well be a good reason for this practice – a study has shown that chocolate can make people experience more intense and longer lasting pleasure than kissing can.  This is especially true if one allows the chocolate to melt on one’s tongue.   

Chocolate contains certain chemicals that produce this effect – phenylethylamine and caffeine.  Phenylethylamine elevates the level of pleasure-arousing endorphins in the brain.  It is also for this reason that chocolate can become addicting. 

Whatever the reason may be, to make your significant other happy this Valentine’s Day, be sure to get them lots and lots of chocolate. 

To read more on this study, please click here.

POVERTY GUIDELINES FOR IMMIGRANT SPONSORS – HIGHER IN 2011 THAN 2010

The poverty guidelines for the year 2011 are significantly higher than those of 2010.  Poverty guidelines are established by the Department of Health and Human Services and affect those who are sponsoring an immigrant. 

In most cases, when someone is applying for a green card, they will need a sponsor. This sponsor will be financially responsible for the immigrant for 10 years.  The purpose of this is to prevent the immigrant from becoming a public charge.  For example, if the immigrant loses their job and has no source of income, the sponsor will be obligated to financially provide for the immigrant so that the immigrant does not end up living on the streets and using the government’s welfare money.

 Normally, this sponsor is the person who is petitioning for the immigrant.  The petitioner’s annual income must meet poverty guidelines to ensure that the Petitioner will be able to provide for himself/herself, their family, and the immigrant.  If the Petitioner does not meet poverty guidelines, then the immigrant will need a joint sponsor.  This sponsor will have to meet the poverty guidelines. 

When counting ones household size to determine whether one meets the poverty guidelines, the sponsor has to count:

1. Themselves;
2. Any dependants they claim on their taxes;
3. The immigrant(s) they are supporting. 

To see the 2011 poverty guidelines and to determine whether you meet them, please click here.

IRS Publishes W-4 Instructions for Nonresident Aliens

“The Internal Revenue Service has revised “Supplemental Form W-4 Instructions for Nonresident Aliens.” The IRS has modified the instructions on the W-4 for nonresidents to reflect restrictions on their filing status, the limited number of exemptions allowed, and the standard deduction. Nonresident aliens must follow special instructions when completing Form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate, available as a PDF, for compensation paid to such individuals as employees performing dependent personal services in the U.S. Compensation for dependent personal services includes amounts paid as wages, salaries, fees, bonuses, commissions, compensatory scholarships, fellowship income, and similar designations for amounts paid to an employee.” Ivener & Fullmer, Feb. 1, 2011.

The Future of Egypt: President Hosni Mubarak Steps Down

by Liz Veit, L.L.M. Candidate George Washington University, J.D. Hamlin School of Law 

The citizens of Egypt have spoken, “Leave, Leave, Leave!”  Their message is heard around the international community. Their call is for the removal of President Hosni Mubarak. Their hope is for a new Egypt where freedom and democracy replace the current regime dominated by repression and control. Their frustrations are the result of military dominance, corruption, human rights violations, and poverty.  Their call for freedom was answered today when President Hosni Mubarak announced that he will step down after 30 years as the country’s President. Mubarak gave control of the country to the high command of the armed forces.  

Anger and frustration renewed today when protestors’ hopes for President Mubarak’s immediate resignation were shattered by his announcement on Thursday, February 10 that he would not step down until elections in September.  His plan was to transfer significant power to Vice President Omar Suleiman who would act as de facto President until elections. Control is now in the hands of the high command of the armed forces. Some say that the “transfer” appears to be more of a military coup. 

President Mubarak was hesitant to take immediate steps to relinquish control stating that stepping down will result in control by the banned opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood. His hesitancy gave way to the persistence of the movement and the undeterred calls for a transition to freedom and democracy. 

Prior to his resignation Egypt’s Military Council promised to lift the 30-year state of emergency law once the “current situation ended.” The conditional promise was ironic considering that ending the three-week movement would leave President Mubarak in power until September and conditions in the country would remain largely the same. If protestors returned to “normal life” as requested and the Military Council was true to its promise, the current state of emergency military law might end but renewed protests may have resulted in a newly declared state of emergency military law. The scenario was plausible while President Mubarak remained in power. Thus a conditional promise to end the current state of military law once protestors “go home” leaving President Mubarak in power was no concession at all. Protestors were well aware of this irony as they gathered again today in cities across Egypt refusing to take “no” for an answer. This time, they succeeded.

In the U.S., the general consensus of politicians on the left and right side of the political spectrum is support for a transition to democracy with President Obama calling on President Mubarak to listen to the Egyptian people and consider their will in moving forward.   Following a meeting with President Obama, Senator John McCain stated that the time is right to arrange for a transition with the necessary pro-democracy elements in place that will lead to free, open and fair elections. 

A small number of politicians opposed the change invoking the ever present national security concern that Egypt will become a terrorist state. The concern is relevant but with a little education and research it becomes obvious that Egypt is quite capable of becoming a vibrant democracy free of terrorist control. The country plays a crucial role in the Middle East as one of the first countries to maintain a friendly and open policy towards the Western world. In 1979 the country entered into a peace agreement with Israel after a series of wars and has since attempted to stifle religious extremism within the country.

Opponents may rest assure that the interests of the U.S. are well served by a transition to democracy in our ally in the Middle East. After all, promoting democracy on a global scale is supposed to be a foreign policy goal in the United States. Isn’t it? For some, change – even change that results in democracy, free press and the free flow of ideas – principles we are quite familiar with here in the U.S., is scary. It seems clear that maintaining the current status quo was not the way to achieve peace in Egypt.

Now that President Mubarak has officially stepped down, the future of this country is unknown. Though conditions for Egypt’s citizens will remain uncertain for some time, there are a few things we do know. We know there is hope for the future and the possibility of a better life. We know the state of emergency law that existed for the past thirty years ended. We know a regime that exerted control over the population and the media for thirty years is no longer in control. Demonstrators called for a society where the government is held accountable for its actions, a society free of political oppression and control where citizens may communicate ideas freely. The movement can be summed up in one word – freedom. While the transition may not be easy, we now know that the will and persistence of the people makes anything possible. Freedom is now more than a mere possibility. It is the future for Egypt.

What happens to Immigrants with Mental Disabilities in Removal Proceedings?

     With little safeguards, each year many non-citizens or even U.S. citizens have been ordered removed without access to counsel and without any clinical analysis. This is a clear violation of both the Fifth Amendment Equal Protection Clause, and of the Fourth Amendment Due Process Clause.

     In Lyttle v.US in December 2010, a U.S. citizen with bipolar disorder was wrongfully deported to Mexico. After serving a short criminal sentence in North Carolina, this U.S. citizen was sent to a federal immigration detention facility as an undocumented alien and then Mr. Lyttle was removed to Mexico after a removal hearing without legal counsel. After months of wandering through Central America, the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala located his U.S. citizen relatives and issued him a passport. This is an absolute violation of both the 4th and 5th Amendments of our Constitution.

     The following four cases as provided by American Immigration Council all indicate the need and obligation of immigration judges to provide competency hearings where there is a question of mental disability.

     In August 2010, in Matter of G-B-N, the BIA remanded the case of a Vietnam native who had been a lawful permanent resident for years. This respondent had suffered severe brain injury and was not provided with any Counsel at the hearing. He had entered the country as the spouse of an Amerasian (one whose father had served in the U.S. military). Although he had been diagnosed by a neurologist after a fishing boat accident in Alaska, his wife and children were unaware of this diagnosis. His conviction was over 10 years old when he was put in removal proceedings for a marijuana charge. At his hearing, his testimony was contradictory and confusing but he informed the IJ that he had been diagnosed by doctors with a “mental problem”. Once Counsel was retained, a motion arguing IJ should have made a competency determination before conducting the hearing and the BIA remanded.

     In Matter of L-T, in November 2010, the Board of Appeals dismissed the appeal of the government who had appealed the Judge terminating proceedings because L-T could not understand the charges against him and so he had ordered a mental competency evaluation. DHS refused to submit the results of the court ordered mental evaluation and argued that a deportation officer should serve as the Respondent’s custodian. The BIA requested amicus briefs regarding statutory and constitutional rights of non-citizens in removal proceedings. DHS then withdrew its appeal and the Judge’s decision became final. This case suggests that the Constitution may require appointment of private counsel for non-citizens with mental disabilities.

     In August 2010, lawyers filed a class action suit on behalf of Franco-Gonzalez and other non-citizens with mental disabilities. This would include those in DHS custody for removal proceedings in California, Arizona, and Washington who have been identified by medical personnel, DHS or an immigration judge as having a mental disorder that could render them incompetent to represent themselves. Violations claimed of the INA, Rehabilitation Act, and Administrative Procedure Act as well as the Due Process Clause are alleged.

     Mr. Jose Antonio Franco-Gonzalez of Mexico – who had an IQ between 35-55 – was kept in immigration custody for over 5 years even though the government had terminated his removal proceedings. A habeas petition under Zadvydas v. Davis, a Supreme Court decision which prohibits the government from detaining non-citizens whose removal is not reasonably foreseeable, was filed which resulted in his release.

     As of November 2010 this class action suit aims at: 

*Conducting competency hearings for all those the government knows or should know are incompetent

*Appointing attorneys for those in need of counsel after the mental evaluation 

*Conducting custody hearings for those facing prolonged detention caused by delays from their mental disabilities

Advance Notice of HHS Poverty Guidelines 2011

Due to increase in prices on goods, the poverty guidelines that determine what the Petitioner, or Applicant must make as income have increased. This affects all I-864 (affidavits of support).

“This notice provides an update of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) poverty guidelines to account for last calendar year’s increase in prices as measured by the Consumer Price Index.” FR Doc. 2011-1237 Filed 01/18/2011 at 4:15 pm; Publication Date: 01/20/2011.

Greece planning border fence with Turkey

According to Citizen Protection Minister Christos Papoutsis, Greece is planning to build a fence to keep out illegal immigrants coming across from Turkey.  In the past six months over 33, 000 illegal immigrants have been detected crossing the Greek-Turkish border.  These illegals are mostly from Afghanistan, Algeria, Pakistan, Somalia and Iraq.  This 206 kilometer fence would be very similar to the one built by the United States along its border with Mexico.  Surprisingly, the Greeks have not heard how well that’s worked for us!   In 2010, however, Papoutsis says over “200 refugees have come in per day” to Greece from Turkey. 

 Over 80 percent of the illegal immigrants arriving in the EU arrive through Greece.  Large numbers then to go to Italy by ferry.  Today over 300,000 people are living in Greece illegally.  Now for the first time a team of EU Rapid Border Intervention agency have been deployed to an EU member state for the first time since 2007.  Daily these individuals are being placed in detention camps that are overcrowded and poorly run.  Human rights groups are severely criticizing Greece’s asylum policy and the inhumane conditions in the detention camps.

Haitian Deportee Allowed to Return to the U.S. to Rejoin Wife and Children

“After being separated from his U.S. citizen wife and his two young U.S. citizen sons for the past two and a half years, a client of the Post-Deportation Human Rights Project (PDHRP) at Boston College will now be able to rejoin his family in Massachusetts. The Project’s Director, Professor Daniel Kanstroom, describes this as “a great, humanitarian decision that is the fruit of much excellent hard work by our Project’s attorneys. It is an example of the type of compelling case for which the Project was designed. We hope that it can serve as a model for other lawyers and law school clinics.”” Boston College, Dec. 2010.