Shirley L. Wong, LTD.

10/14/2016

California will keep housing its detained immigrants in for-profit facilities

Jerry Brown just vetoed a bill that would have ended the state's reliance on private detention facilities.

10/13/2016

Traveling while African and trying to appease the visa gods

I have been a 'Good African'. I came. I did what I had to do and when the time to leave came, I left.

10/12/2016

3 California Bills Begin to Restore Fairness to Caught up in Criminal Justice System

10/11/2016

Undocumented Immigrants Get First Due Process Law In The US

10/10/2016

Success Story: Mishti becomes a US citizen

Mishti became a permanent resident in 2011 when her company sponsored her green card. After five years as a permanent resident, she became eligible to apply for US citizenship. She came to our office, and we were glad to help. We prepared her application and later did a mock citizenship interview. Everything went smoothly at the real interview, except for a question about taxes. Despite Misthi’s clear statements and records that she had always paid income taxes, the officer required that Mishti obtain tax transcripts and proof of payment for five years of taxes. Our office worked with Mishti to get the required items. Unfortunately, the IRS replied that some requested documents were no longer available. As an alternative, we advised Mishti to get a copy of the actual tax forms. Our office put everything together and filed the reply before the deadline. Then we waited. And waited. When the delay had become unreasonable, our office sent a letter to the local immigration office, pointing out that by law, officials only have 120 days from the interview to make a decision but they had gone over that limit. That strategy worked, and Mishti received a notice for the last step to becoming a citizen: her oath ceremony. Just a few days ago, she took the oath of allegiance to the United States, becoming one of the newest citizens, just in time to vote in the 2016 election!

(names changed for privacy purposes)

10/10/2016

H-1B Visa Lottery Challenge Still Alive

A federal lawsuit challenging the annual lottery for a popular high-skilled temporary visa program overcame a legal hurdle and will go forward (Tenrec, Inc. v. U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Servs.,...

10/09/2016

Multiple Circuits have said immigration's "crime of violence" definition is unconstitutionally vague. SCOTUS will now review.

10/08/2016

Customs and Border Protection Inches Forward in Deployment of Body-Worn Cameras

Additional transparency and accountability is sorely needed at the nation's largest law enforcement agency.

10/07/2016

Deporting All Undocumented Immigrants Would Cost America Trillions of Dollars

Which is the opposite of making America rich again.

10/06/2016

What is the Economic Cost of Deporting All Undocumented Immigrants?

Mass deportation would immediately reduce the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2.6 percent over 10 years, with an annual loss of $434 billion

10/05/2016

Undocumented Immigrants in Chicago to Get More Protections from Police Under Proposal

The City Council's Human Relations Committee approved new restrictions on coercion and verbal abuse.

10/04/2016

U.S. surpasses Syrian refugee goal set by Obama, expects more next year

The country has admitted 12,500 Syrian refugees in the past year, State Department officials said.