The REALLY BIG news is that President Obama is poised to announce unilateral reforms to the U.S. immigration law as early as next week. It appears that this will be done through the grant of “Administrative Relief”. This information was leaked to the press last week and the news references a “memo” that will be released that will set forth the form(s) that the administrative relief will take(many of which have been already discussed in NPZ’s prior E-zines).
“Administrative Relief” which is based on prosecutorial discretion (which has its genesis in the Morton Memorandum from 2011), is a broad term-of-the- art that encompasses various forms of temporary relief from Removal from the U.S. that does not formally grant legal immigration status. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) prosecutorial discretion powers include the ability to refrain from placing a potentially removable persons into proceedings, suspend and/or terminate a proceeding, postpone a removal, release a person from detention, or de-prioritize the enforcement of a particular immigration law.
Many forms of “prosecutorial discretion” include the grant of work authorization (work permit). The ability to obtain a work permit in the U.S. is critical to members in various immigrant communities. One recent example of the use of “prosecutorial discretion” was the implementation of the Deferred Action and Childhood Arrivals Program (DACA). It appears that President Obama will be seeking to expand DACA benefits (work and travel authorization) to parents of DACA beneficiaries. This makes sense in light of our Nation’s recognition of “Family Unity” as a very strong underlying policy of immigration law.
With then stewardship and reasoned guidance of the Obama Administration, DHS has the capability to expand the use of prosecutorial discretion. In fact, it has done so already by instituting the “Parole-in-Place” Program for military family members. While the details of President Obama’s plan still remain vague, it is clear that there are several existing forms of prosecutorial discretion, including existing DHS administrative remedies, that can be expanded. At this point, we urge any individuals who think that they may be able to benefit for the new immigration programs to begin to collect-up you legal documents.
As soon as the Obama Administration and DHS makes a formal announcement about the administrative relief and prosecutorial discretion, the Nachman Phulwani Zimovcak (NPZ) Law Group’s immigration lawyers and attorneys will provide more detailed guidance and will conduct initial consultations about the ways that the programs may be able to serve you, your friends and family members, and various members of the numerous immigrant communities. For more information, please feel free to contact the VISASERVE TEAM’S U.S. immigration lawyers or attorneys by e-mail at info@visaserve.com or by calling us at 201-670-0006 (x107). In the meantime, please be sure to check out our website at https://www.visaserve.com for updates.