Immigration Newsletter – May 13, 2011
Departments of Justice and Education Remind Local Agencies that
All Children, Regardless of Immigration Status, Are Eligible for
Public Education.
May 09, 2011: Late last week the U.S. Departments of Justice and
Education issued a notice reminding state and local agencies that
all children, regardless of their parents’ real or perceived
immigration status, are given the right to equal access to public
education at the elementary and secondary level. The two federal
departments noted that they had received information that there
have been recent incidences in the U.S. in which student enrollment
was hindered based on a child’s family’s immigration
status. The agencies remind all stakeholders that such practices go
against federal law and that all children residing in the U.S. must
be given equal educational opportunities.
As stated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and supported by
mandates from the Supreme Court, state and local educational
agencies cannot discriminate on the basis of race, color or
national origin and students cannot be barred from enrolling in
elementary or secondary-level public school on the basis of their
citizenship or immigration status of that of their parents. Any
such infringement is a form of unlawful discrimination.
Read the full message at: http://1.usa.gov/jsRUJX
Napolitano Announces New Immigration Index to Measure Effects
of Border Security on US Residents Living at the US/Mexico
Border.
May 06, 2011: Janet Napolitano, secretary of the Department of
Homeland Security, has announced a new immigration index to measure
border security at the Southwestern border of the United States in
a more pertinent fashion than such data are currently recorded and
analyzed. This new index, Napolitano says, will look beyond simple
statistics of crime and will look more deeply into environmental
damage, levels of personal security and the economic impact to U.S.
residents living near the border with Mexico.
To describe the intricacy of information that will be in the
immigration index, Napolitano described examples of data that would
be collected, including data such as “calls from hospitals to
report suspected illegal aliens, traffic accidents involving
illegal aliens or narcotics smugglers, rates of vehicle theft and
numbers of abandoned vehicles, impacts on property values, and
other measures of economic activity and environmental
impacts.”
USCIS Posts Final RFE Template for Aliens of Extraordinary
Ability.
May 04, 2011: USCIS has just posted a revised final RFE template
for Form I-140 E11, the Alien of Extraordinary Ability Form. This
template was updated to incorporate stakeholder feedback received
by USCIS after posting the template in its Feedback Opportunities
website section. This updated template, USCIS says, will be posted
online for a total of 10 days for stakeholder visibility. USCIS
Service Centers plan to immediately begin using the template.
Access the template online at:
http://dhsconnect.dhs.gov/uscis/news/Documents/E11%20RFE%20Template_04212011.pdf
USCIS and USPS Implement Secure Mail Initiative.
May 02, 2011: USCIS recently posted a notice informing the
public that it has fully implemented the Secure Mail Initiative
(SMI). This initiative uses the U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS)
Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation option to deliver certain
immigration documents in a secure, safe and timely manner. This
initiative was made possible through a partnership between USCIS
and USPS and enables USCIS to confirm that permanent residence
cards and documents related to travel and employment authorization
were successfully delivered to recipients.
Through the use of USPS tracking data, applicants can easily
access delivery information and stay up to date on the status of
their documents. In addition, the new initiative will enable a
speedier delivery process; on average, documents sent through
priority mail will arrive two to four business days earlier than if
they were sent via first-class mail.
USCIS Undergoing ‘Transformation’ to Electronic
Environment.
Apr 27, 2011: USCIS is moving closer to being a fully electronic
organization, according to Alejandro Mayorkas, USCIS director. Last
week, Mayorkas announced that he wishes to transform the agency
into a more streamlined paperless service.
“We are a paper-based agency, what that means is that all of
our records are really kept in paper form and that is not very
efficient. It has implications of operations, cost efficiency and
accuracy,” Mayorkas said.
As part of this continued transformation, USCIS is currently
converting Form I-539, the Extension of Change of Status into an
electronic version and giving applicants the ability to create
online accounts to manage their immigration status.
According to Mayorkas, the agency is current undergoing a
‘transformation,’ an effort to fully modernize USCIS. USCIS
has a multi-year effort underway to move to a fully electronic
environment in which all records are maintained in electronic form.
Mayorkas noted that such a transformation would enable better
access to services for applicants and lead to major cost savings
for the agency.
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