Charlie Oppenheim of the U.S. Department of State has announced that the EB-3 category for Filipino nurses and other professionals will be become current in July 2019 and will stay...

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By Chris Musillo

USCIS has finished the data entry for all FY 2020 H-1B cap-subject petitions. Musillo Unkenholt continues to see H-1B checks being cashed and continues to receive H-1B receipt notices in our mail. Therefore H-1B cap-subject...

This is the third part of my four-part series of comments about Trump's latest so-called "merit-based" immigration plan, This plan would impose educational and English language "point system" requirements that are obviously intended...

On May 17, 2019, the U.S. State Department announced that the family 2A category(spouses and unmarried children of lawful permanent residents) will become current for the first time in many years.

The State Department’s Charlie...

Immigration Haunting: Social Security Administration Resumes Issuing No-Match Notices By Angelo A. Paparelli on May 16, 2019 Posted in Enforcement/USICE, Homeland Security, I-9s, Immigration Discrimination, No-Match Notices, Trump Immigration Policies, USCIS If the U.S.’s dysfunctional and baffling immigration laws were a bemusement park, one of the scariest rides would be that tottering roller-coaster, “Worksite Enforcement.”  The ride is rickety and showing its age (having been constructed in 1990 with the enactment of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 [IRCA]).  This law — like every good ride — was designed from the outset to push, pull and contort riders in opposing, vertiginous directions, prompting all to become excited and some to heave, as they continuously revolve around the Form I-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification). The ride propels millions of U.S. employers and innumerable new hires in a circular journey during the first three days of the new employment relationship.  Employers on the ride are pushed by one group of carneys (the Homeland Security Investigations [HSI] of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE], and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services [USCIS] in the Department of Homeland Security [DHS]) to confirm that all new hires and current employees with expiring work permission are okay to work in the United States. These carneys frighten employers on the ride by fining and sometimes criminally prosecuting those who know or should know that persons they employ lack work permission. At the same time, other carneys (the Immigrant and Employee Rights [IER] Section of the Department of Justice [DOJ]) pull employers on the ride in the opposite direction — away from the temptation to discriminate against workers on the basis of citizenship status or national origin, or to engage in other unlawful practices. Employees, prospective and current, must also spin on the I-9 unmerry-go-round.  Without the employer’s help or suggestion, workers must choose the original forms of ID from the dizzying I-9 Lists of Acceptable Documents to present to the employer in order to prove personal identity and the right to work. No bemusement park would be complete without a haunted house — and I-9 Land does not disappoint.  It features a stomach-churning trolley ride known as the Social-Security Administration (SSA) No-Match Notice for employers who are dared or goaded to enter.  Last March, SSA pulled the canvas off this ride (having allowed it to go dark for several years after a history of complaints from far and wide). Like every good haunted house, SSA starts the No-Match trolley with a surprise — a seemingly innocuous notice that alerts employers of a curious discrepancy.  SSA records, the agency notice states, contain data fields that are inexplicably different from the same information reported by the employer to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).  The notice to employers states: You reported X# employee names and Social Security numbers (SSN) on the Wage and Tax Statements (Forms W-2) for tax year xxxx that do not match our records. We need corrected information from you so that we can reconcile employer wage reports and credit your employees’ earnings to their Social Security records. It is important because these records can determine if someone is entitled to Social Security retirement, disability, and survivors benefits, and how much he or she can receive. If the information you report to us is incorrect, your employee may not get benefits he or she is due. There are a number of reasons why reported names and SSNs may not agree with our records, such as typographical error. (Bolding in original) Witting or not, SSA lulls credulous employers into believing that this is an important but merely ministerial paperwork matter requiring simple correction: IMPORTANT: This letter does not imply that you or your employee intentionally gave the government wrong information about the employee’s name or SSN. This letter does not address your employee’s work authorization or immigration status. You should not use this letter to take any adverse action against an employee, such as laying off, suspending, firing, or discriminating against that individual, just because his or her SSN or name does not match our records. Any of those actions could, in fact, violate State or Federal law and subject you to legal consequences. (Bolding in original) SSA also helpfully (in the sense of the adage, “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help you”) offers dupable employers a sample notice to employees with discrepant payroll records, which soothingly reports: According to Social Security, the information above does not match Social Security’s records. You should: Check to see if the information above matches the name and Social Security Number on your social security card. If it does not match, please provide me with the exact information as it is shown on your Social Security card. If the information above matches your card, please check with any local Social Security office to resolve the issue. Once resolved, please inform ...

Update, May 17, 8:33 pm:

ThinkProgress reports on May 17 that the White House won't rule out the use of the military for deportations, using the Insurrection Act as a pretext. This would go far beyond any conceivable legitimate purpose of...

One of the favorite, and most misleading, slogans constantly repeated by supporters of Trump's immigration agenda is that he is not motivated by racism or "animus" against immigrants of any particular color, ethnicity or religion, as two Stanford...

By: Bruce Buchanan, Sebelist Buchanan Law



Although the Iowa Senate passed a mandatory E-Verify bill, with bi-partisan support, in April, the Iowa House of Representatives did not pass the legislation. Proponents of mandatory...

Earlier this month, the Executive Office for Immigration Review ("EOIR")--the office that oversees our nation's Immigration Courts--issued a Myths vs. Facts sheet, to explain that migrants are bad people and that most of them lose their asylum...