USCIS announced that as of yesterday, July 30, 2018, it had returned all FY2019 H-1B cap-subject petitions that were not selected in the lottery.

the White House is considering a second major reduction in the number of refugees accepted for resettlement in the United States. Last year, the Trump administration set the cap for refugee admissions at a historic low of 45,000. President Trump must officially set the cap by the start of FY2019, which begins on October 1, …

Read more

Declining to review the BIA’s denial of the cancellation application, the Ninth Circuit ruled that the petitioner’s guilty plea to the charge of violating a Washington state child assault statute “with sexual motivation” brings the conviction within the definition of the federal offense of sexual abuse of a minor.

Denying the petition to review the BIA’s reversal of the immigration judge’s grant of withholding of removal, the Eighth Circuit upheld the BIA’s finding that “former taxi drivers from Quezaltepeque who have witnessed a gang murder” was not socially distinct and thus could not qualify as a “particular social group.”

The Fourth Circuit granted the petition for review, finding that an assessment of $100 in costs, assessed attendant to prayer for judgment continued under North Carolina law, is not a “penalty” under INA §101(a)(48)(A)(ii) and is therefore not a “conviction” under the INA.

Starting August 9, 2018, a new policy goes into effect for F-1 and J-1 holders. They will start accruing unlawful presence the day after they violate their status, get an order from a Judge they are out of status, or get a ruling from Immigration their status is denied.

USCIS’s new policy on the calculation of unlawful presence for those in student (F nonimmigrant), exchange visitor (J nonimmigrant), or vocational student (M nonimmigrant) status and their dependents will take effect next Thursday, August 9, 2018.

U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee issued an order denying the government’s application for limited relief from the settlement agreement in Flores v. Reno, calling the application “a cynical attempt, on an ex parte basis, to shift responsibility to the judiciary for over 20 years of congressional inaction and ill-considered executive action that have led to the current stalemate.”

The Eleventh Circuit granted the petition for review and found the BIA erred in concluding that immigration judges (IJs) cannot have concurrent jurisdiction over a waiver of inadmissibility for U visa applicants, stating the BIA did not address or analyze the plain meaning of INA §212(d)(3).

USCIS issued a policy memo with guidance to adjudicators regarding the discretion to deny an application, petition, or request without first issuing a request for evidence (RFE) or Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID) if initial evidence is not submitted or if the evidence in the record does not establish eligibility. Guidance is effective September 11, …

Read more

an order issued by a federal judge in San Diego this morning to temporarily stop the government from deporting families who were separated at the border for at least one week after reuniting them.

The Eighth Circuit found that the BIA properly denied the petitioner Temporary Protected Status (TPS) because he was convicted of two misdemeanors, adding that it is irrelevant whether state law classifies crimes as “infractions” or “violations,” so long as punishment imposable under state law meets the definition of misdemeanor.

EOIR is once again including the names of immigration judges on its automated case status hotline, reversing course following complaints over the names being removed from the system in March 2018.

The Fourth Circuit held that Md. Crim. Law §7–104, which combines multiple theft offenses into a single statute, cannot categorically qualify as a CIMT under Diaz-Lizarraga and remanded for consideration for cancellation of removal.

The New York Times reports that as the Trump administration moves to expand family detention, two of the government’s own medical consultants sent a letter to the Senate’s Whistleblower Protection Caucus detailing a series of 10 investigations over the past four years that “frequently revealed serious compliance issues resulting in harm to children.”