Baton Rouge Legal Blog

Being the victim of a crime is a frightening experience. When a person is a victim and is also worried about coming forward to report the crime because of his or her immigration status, it can be an even more harrowing time for that person. In some cases, individuals can qualify for U-visas that allow them to remain in the country legally if they can help law enforcement with the investigation into the crime. However, just like many other changes to U.S. immigration law, policies regarding U-visas are seeing modifications.

Louisiana readers may be interested in the recent policy changes regarding U-visas. According to reports, agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement would previously work with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to determine the likelihood of a U-visa being approved before determining whether to approve a person's stay of removal request. If the USCIS indicated a likelihood of eligibility, ICE would be more likely to approve the stay of removal. 

Being in danger or having a family member in danger is a harrowing situation. In some cases, individuals may face threats in their home countries that make it dangerous for them to even remain in their homelands. As a result, many come to the United States to seek asylum, but as of late, obtaining this protection is becoming more and more difficult.

Louisiana readers may be interested in recent reports indicating that the current presidential administration may further narrow the eligibility for asylum seekers. Apparently, the restrictions are coming in efforts to reduce the number of asylum cases, including purportedly fraudulent ones. In particular, individuals who are seeking protection from threats that first came against a family member may no longer qualify. In the past, family members have been considered part of a particular social group that individuals could face persecution for being part of.

For many Louisiana residents and others across the United States, finding love in their local area was not in the cards for them. Instead, they found love while traveling abroad, while overseas for work or maybe even online when talking to someone from another country. While this is not an unusual turn of events, it does mean that individuals will need to follow certain steps in U.S. immigration law if they marry and want their foreign spouses to live in the country.

Like many other immigration processes, sponsoring a spouse involves many steps and can take a considerable amount of time to complete. For instance, the citizen spouse can file a petition for an alien relative, or form I-130, for the foreign spouse to come to the country, but it can take approximately five months for that petition to be approved. Even after approval, the spouse coming to the United States will need to work toward an adjustment of status, which includes additional steps and paperwork.

Many immigrants live in Louisiana and other parts of the United States in fear that they will face deportation. Unfortunately, these immigration concerns are valid as numerous policy changes and actions against immigrants are taking place across the country. In fact, recent reports indicate that approximately one million immigrants with removal orders could be deported in the near future.

The acting director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services indicated that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are ready to "perform their mission" in regard to locating, detaining and deporting about one million individuals who have removal orders. However, all these individuals may not face deportation. The acting director indicated that the operations that ICE will carry out will target specific individuals with removal orders, but those individuals had apparently not yet been determined.