The Bortel Firm

TPS for Haitians: Deadline Extended

angela — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 21:13:53 +0000

The registration deadline for Haitian TPS has been extended to January 18, 2011. This means that US Citizenship and Immigration Services must receive your application by this date.Please consult with a qualified immigration attorney before applying for any immigration benefits because there is always a risk of removal from the United States.

For more information on the registration deadline: http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextchannel=e54e60f64f336210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextoid=e54e60f64f336210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD

ICE Detainers or Holds are usually not legal.

angela — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 21:11:23 +0000

Suppose you are an immigrant. Suppose you are stopped by police for a minor offense, such as driving without a license. Depending on where you live, the police might arrest you and take you into custody, even though it was a minor infraction. Once you get in jail, the police run your fingerprints. Then there’s an officer from Immigration and Customs Enforcment (ICE) there to talk to you. He or she tells you now have a “hold” or a “detainer” on you, even though you may be eligible to post bail or even completely finished with your time for the minor offense.

ICE uses holds or detainers to keep you in jail until they can take you into custody and place you into removal proceedings (if you don’t have valid immigration status or if the criminal offense has immigration consequences).

What ICE will not tell you is that their detainers or holds are mostly illegal as they are used. The law authorizes ICE holds for people convicted of drug offenses. However, I have seen them used against people accused (not convicted) of driving without a license or with no proof of insurance. These offenses are certainly a far cry from a drug conviction in terms of level of severity.

There are strong arguments to be made that once an individual has completed serving time and paying fines in relation to the criminal offense or have been allowed to post bail by the criminal court, the county jail no longer has the authority to detain the individual, even with an ICE “detainer” or “hold” in place.

An experienced attorney should be retained to intervene with the county authorities as soon as possible to try and secure the individual’s release. I have been successful in similar cases.

I strongly advise consulting with an immigration attorney about your particular case before filing any papers with immigration, particularly if the person for whom you are filing has any past negative immigration or criminal history and is in the United States. There is always a risk of removal from the United States.

USCIS Fee Increase November 23, 2010.

angela — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 21:05:30 +0000

A final memo from US Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced fee increases to go into effect on November 23, 2010. Luckily, they are not as drastic as those of a few years ago. But anyone planning on making an application for immigration benefits will want to save themselves some money and try to apply before the fee increases go into effect November 23, 2010. You should consult with your attorney to see if you can beat the deadline for the fee increase.

For more information, see the final memo here:

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=5be73dc5cb93b210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=68439c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD

Welcome to The Bortel Firm

admin — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 23:38:41 +0000

We’re happy to announce the Bortel Firm’s website, new and improved.