MORE DETAILS IN ADVANCE ON OBAMA’S EXECUTIVE ACTION ANNOUNCEMENT
Directly from the White House:
Border campaign – Better coordination at the border / better use of resources
New DHS-wide priorities
– Suspected terrorists, convicted felons, gang membership, people apprehended at border
– People convicted for significant misdemeanor, new immigration violators after January 1, 2014,
multiple misdemeanors (3)
– People who failed to abide by removal order or came back after January 1, 2014
– Rescinding Morton memo; Fugitive Ops memo and some other memos and re-doing priorities
– Different standards of PD at each part of the process
Court reform
• DOJ will close cases if people are prima facie cases of DACA and DAP
• Accelerate those cases that are left after prioritizing
• Ineffective counsel – Unclear
DOL reforms
• Three more crimes added to the U Visa
• Will start certifying for T Visas
• New working group for worksite enforcement
• Punting on worker issuesdont yeah don’t
Discontinuing S-COMM but new “Priority Enforcement Program” (PEP)
– Pre-conviction to post-conviction model
– Different from detainer system – a notification system
– Mandatory for national security threats
– More DOJ-DHS cooperation for federal prison releases
Expansion of DACA
– No upper age cap
– Continuous presence from January 1, 2010
– 3 year status
– 90 days implementation
New program DAP (affirmative process)
– Parents of all U.S. citizen sons and daughters, LPR sons and daughters
– Continuous presence from January 1, 2010
– Age of child?
– People with final orders not a problem. May be problem for people who were deported and
then came back
– Same fee as DACA – $465
– Same criminal bars as DACA
– 180 days implementation
Clarify advance parole for both DACA and DAP
1
Notes from White House Briefing 11/20/2014
Embargoed Till 6PM EST
Employment based immigrants
• Enhanced Portability for non-immigrants – H-1B
• Finalize H-4 regs
• Pre-registration – Enable individuals who are eligible to apply for adjustment of status, but for a
non-current priority date, to “pre-register” for adjustment and receive work authorization and
advance parole.
• Clarify “same or similar” in the employment context
• Extending OPT but only for STEM
• L-1B guidance issued
• DOL will modernize PERM
• Employer liabilities for DACA-related discrimination or more of an explanation
I-601A waivers – Stateside waivers
• Extended to LPR parents and spouses- Requires rulemaking
• Clarify extreme hardship – Requires rulemaking
• Waiver is only for 3/10 year bars
Parole in place for family members of anyone trying to enlist (Memo)
New citizenship program in top 10 states with lawful permanent residents
o 410K may benefit