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https://www.propublica.org/article/ice-officers-told-to-take-action-against-all-undocumented-immigrants

Travel Ban to be Partially Implemented on June 29, 2017

Trump's "travel ban" on nationals of six Muslim countries (Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen) will go into partial effect on June 29, 2017. In an order dated June 26, 2017 that relates to both Trump v. International Refugee Assistance Program (Docket No. 16-1436) and Trump v. Hawaii (Docket No. 16-1540), the Supreme Court partially lifted the injunctions that prevented the travel ban from going into effect. You can read the text of the order here.

The injunctions against the travel ban were lifted only for "foreign nationals who lack any bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States." These people will be banned from entering the United States for at least 90 days from June 29, 2017.

The injunction were not lifted for persons who do have "any" bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States. The order list several examples of such persons who are not going to be banned as follows:

A foreign national who wishes to enter the United States to live with or visit a family member, like Doe’s wife or Dr. Elshikh’s mother-in-law, clearly has such a relationship. As for entities, the relationship must be formal, documented, and formed in the ordinary course, rather than for the purpose of evading EO–2. The students from the designated countries who have been admitted to the University of Hawaii have such a relationship with an American entity. So too would a worker who accepted an offer of employment from an American company or a lecturer invited to address an American audience. Not so someone who enters into a relationship simply to avoid §2(c): For example, a nonprofit group devoted to immigration issues may not contact foreign nationals from the designated countries, add them to client lists, and then secure their entry by claiming injury from their exclusion. 

This creates an unmitigated mess because the extent to which the travel ban can be put into effect is so vague. Nonetheless, the concept of a "bona fide" relationship is not a new one. An alien who gets married during removal proceedings, for instance, must prove that the marriage is bona fide and thus it is a standard that most experienced immigration litigators will be quite familiar with.

If you are worried that this order will affect you or a someone you know, please schedule a consultation with us by calling (818)804-5729.

Supreme Court rules in favor of immigrant in headline naturalization case

The Supreme Court ruled today in Maslenjak v. United States (Docket No, 16-309) that an alien, in order to be convicted of procuring naturalization through false representations, must have made a material misrepresentation that effected the decision on the naturalization application. The case generated panic headlines when it went to the Supreme Court because the government had taken the position that any misrepresentation could support a conviction even if the misrepresentation was about some very minor matter (i.e. failing to disclose a speeding ticket from 30 years ago). People were calling our office in a panic that they had heard that the government was going to start taking away peoples citizenship. Everyone can relax now. You can read the opinion here.