Thread by @HMAesq

Last week, USCIS issued two new memos that are going to affect *all* immigration applications. That includes green cards, fiancé visas, H-1B's, citizenship, work permits, extensions and changes of status - the whole nine yards.

The first memo says that if an application is denied, and that denial leaves the applicant without lawful immigration status, the applicant will be placed in removal proceedings (deportation.)

uscis.gov/news/news-rele…

The second memo says that if an application is filed incompletely, without certain required evidence, then USCIS has the right to deny the application *without* requesting further evidence (commonly known as an "RFE.")

uscis.gov/news/news-rele…

Read together, this means one thing: You better get it right the first time. Otherwise, you might find yourself standing before a judge who, because of other decisions also made this year, is powerless to put your case on hold while you try to fix the problem with USCIS.

As an immigration and citizenship lawyer, this effectively means the system just got a lot more unforgiving. Even a simple, straightforward application, one that might be considered "routine" - can no longer be so considered.

This is what happens when immigration hardliners are elected into office, and allowed to appoint other immigration hardliners into supervisory positions. First, it was CBP, then ICE. Now USCIS officers have been given free reign over applications.

thehill.com/blogs/pundits-…

The stated reason is to discourage frivolous, placeholder filings. But in practice, it's hard to imagine how an officer will know. More mistakes will be punished, and then the rest of the immigration system (ICE, ERO, the courts) will suck up the trapped people and chew them up.

How to fight this nonsense?

1. Get the right advice, at the right time. It's never been more important. Things are different now.

2. This is a time for our elected officials to really hold USCIS's feet to the fire. Highlight those Congressmen who use their position to fight for their future constituents through their immigration liaison services, to convince USCIS to take back an improper denial.

3. We need a legislative fix. There are already penalties for filing a frivolous application. If an applicant doesn't get it right the first time, it does NOT mean they are not eligible for the benefit. This is the law, and attempts to comply with it should not be punished.

4. Know where these policies are coming from. The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) and its spinoff "think tank" Center for Immigration Studies (CIS, not to be confused with USCIS) have been peddling restrictionist and nativist rhetoric for decades.

CIS director Mark Krikorian confirmed that the Trump Administration’s harsh immigration principles were developed with the help of CIS’s 2016 report "A Pen and a Phone: 79 immigration actions the next president can take."

cis.org/Report/Pen-and…

Here's Krikorian asking for money on #GivingTuesday due to his group's success in advocating killing programs like #DACA:

web.archive.org/web/2017120603…

This is why I am suing to unseal the papers of FAIR's founder, Dr. John Tanton. We need to know where these policies were born.) It's time to cut off the hate at the source.

hmalegal.com/blawg/tantonfo…

And to understand the fortune that has gone into these efforts over the decades:

splinternews.com/the-eugenicist…