The Atencia Law Firm, PLLC

08/22/2025

"Trump administration is reviewing all 55 million foreigners with US visas for any violations
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There were 12.8 million green-card holders and 3.6 million people in the U.S. on temporary visas last year, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The 55 million figure suggests that some people subject to review would currently be outside the United States with multiple-entry tourist visas, said Julia Gelatt, associate director of the U.S. immigration policy program at the Migration Policy Institute. She questioned the value of spending resources on people who may never return to the United States."

The Trump administration said Thursday it is reviewing more than 55 million people who have valid U.S. visas for any violations that could lead to deportation, part of a growing crackdown on foreigners who are permitted to be in the United States. In a written answer to a question from The Associate...

04/09/2025

From uscis.gov

02/22/2025

This new law, the Laken Riley Act, "mandates the detention without bail of certain noncitizens arrested or charged with certain crimes...There is no provision allowing for the person’s release if the criminal charges are later dropped. ... There is no exception for minors." Read article for more details.

The Laken Riley Act is the first piece of legislation of Trump’s new presidency dealing with immigration enforcement, and it drew wide bipartisan support. Forty-six House Democrats and ten Democratic senators joined all Republicans in backing it.

01/30/2025

List of the executive orders signed by President Trump so far: what the order said, the president's comment, and what it actually means.

The president has signed orders to pardon January 6 rioters, scrap DEI policies and end ‘gender radicalism’ in military

01/25/2025

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/5

Summary of S.5 - 119th Congress (2025-2026): Laken Riley Act

12/16/2024

These SC cases stood out to me in 2024:
1. Immunity for former president (6-3 voting along party lines): Former president Trump may be prosecuted for private conduct, but not official acts. Mr. Trump is now the president elect.
2. Chevron case overturned! (chevron v NRDC). Under Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, SC says courts no longer have to defer to "well-reasoned" agency interpretations of ambiguous laws.
3. US v Rahimi: The SC upheld a federal law that bars anyone subject to a domestic-violence restraining order from possessing a gun. This came out of Texas, naturally, and the SC chided the 5th circuit, saying “some courts have misunderstood the methodology of our recent Second Amendment cases,” and cautioned against taking too rigid a view of the historical tradition required.
4. Remember the Las Vegas massacre in 2017? So, the government tried to ban bump stocks (gun attachments that increase a semiautomatic weapon's rate of fire to hundreds of bullets per minute). In AG Garland v Cargill, the SC said- to the Bureau of Alcohol, To***co, Fi****ms and Explosives- no, you cannot ban, that would be overstepping your powers. :-|

Apart from this, it has been a very interesting end of 2024 in the news. In the US and abroad.

Be safe, and to those who celebrate them, happy holidays!

06/20/2024

As of June 13, 2024

No Supreme Court term in recent memory has featured so many cases with the potential to transform American society.

06/20/2024

New Biden policy, TLDR:
(1) offer relief to undocumented individuals married to U.S. citizens and who have lived in United States for at least 10 years. ("parole-in-place");
(2) ease the process for DACA beneficiaries to access high-skilled employment visas

The regulations still have to be determined and published, and the inevitable lawsuits settled, before they can be implemented.

Since his first day in office, President Biden has called on Congress to secure our border and address our broken immigration system. As Congressional Republicans have continued to put partisan politics ahead of national security – twice voting against the toughest and fairest set of reforms in d...

02/06/2024

https://abc13.com/ken-paxton-sues-five-texas-cities-that-decriminalize-ma*****na-austin-san-marcos-killeen/14388776/

In 2022, voters in Austin, San Marcos, Killeen, Elgin, and Denton approved policies that would end arrests and citations for possession of less than four ounces of ma*****na, which the attorney general says violates Texas laws.

05/02/2023

Not yet the law. Still has to go through Texas senate, then the gov.

The bill also includes a path to expunging ma*****na-related criminal convictions in...