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Tuesday, March 19, 2024 - 5:55 am

Immigration

USCIS Announces Citizenship and Integration Grant Opportunity

All information provided below taken from USCIS’s own announcement, available here.

USCIS has announced a 5 million dollar grant in funding for citizenship preparation programs in communities across the U.S.  The grant is designed with the goal of expanding the availability of high-quality citizenship preparation services, via organizations that will provide both citizenship instruction and naturalization application services to permanent residents seeking those services.

USCIS expects to announce an estimated 31 award recipients in September 2012.

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Are you interested in knowing how we can assist you with your naturalization process?  We can help!  Contact Swaray Law Office today at 763-549-0670 and learn of your options.

Wrongly Deported Honduran Citizen dies in massive fire in Comayagua prison.

All information on this story taken from FoxNews.com

A Honduran citizen living in Los Angeles was wrongly deported in October, and went on to die in last month’s massive prison fire in his home country, immigration officials said Friday.

Nelson Avila-Lopez, 20, was mistakenly deported in October, and was one of the 360 inmates who died in the Feb. 14 fire at the Comayagua prison in Honduras, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told KPCC radio in a statement.

Four years earlier in an attempt to avoid gang recruitment in Honduras, Avila-Lopez crossed the border illegally at age 16 to be with his mother in Los Angeles, KPCC reported.

Don’t allow yourself or a family member be wrongly deported. Call upon Ed Swaray today at 763-549-0670 and find out what your options are.

Mississippi lawmakers pass controversial immigration bill

Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant

Image still of Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant

(CNN) — Another controversial immigration bill is on the horizon in the South, a regional battleground that has seen a number of states pass reforms on illegal immigration.

Mississippi’s Republican-dominated House of Representatives voted 70-47 Thursday to pass the “Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhood Act.”

The bill now goes to the Senate for approval, where it is also expected to pass. Both the House and Senate are controlled by Republicans, who won majorities last year for the first time in 140 years.

Gov. Phil Bryant, a Republican who supports the measure, said he believes too little has been done on immigration policies and a crackdown is urgently needed.

To read more about this story, please click here.

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Are you in need of help with your immigration case?  Contact Ed Swaray at 763-549-0670 — and let us help you today.

New ICE Detention Facility Unveiled in Karnes County, Texas

large_Karnes County Civil Detention Center_0

Above–an image of the recently built Karnes County Civil Detention Center.

All information below taken from the article by Guillermo Contreras as it appeared here.  Please click the link at left for the full article.

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KARNES CITY – Federal officials say it is the first-of-its kind “civil” detention center in the country built from the ground up, designed to make the immigration detention system more humane.

Critics say the $32 million facility, known as the Karnes County Civil Detention Center, is not needed.

The center, unveiled on Tuesday, was built as part of an agreement between the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Florida-based The GEO Group, which already runs a jail here. It spans 29 acres and has 608 beds, with the capability of expanding to 1,200. It will hold nonviolent, low-risk adult men apprehended in Texas. Detainees will start arriving this month.

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Are you currently detained?  You may be able to be with family and friends while awaiting your court date with immigration officials.  Call Ed Swaray today at 763-549-0670 and learn what your options are.

Attorneys for Uriel Alberto to ask for his release from jail

Uriel Alberto shown during his hunger strike at the Wake County Jail in North Carolina (photo taken from the article that appeared on the Winston-Salem Journal).

All information on this story taken from the article that appeared on the Winston-Salem Journal.

Attorneys for Winston-Salem activist Uriel Alberto – who is on a hunger strike lasting more than a week – plan to file a bond motion Tuesday in immigration court to try to get him out of the Wake County Jail.

Alberto and two other protesters were charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct after they interrupted a special House committee on immigration in Raleigh on Feb. 29.

Alberto, 24, who was brought into the United States by his parents when he was 7, does not have legal permission to be in the country. Because of his residency status, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials could deport him to Mexico

Court blocks 2 provisions of immigration law

All information below courtesy of the Montgomery Advertiser.

A federal appeals court Thursday blocked two sections of Alabama’s immigration law, which is known as HB 56, in­cluding one that had been par tially enjoined by a U.S. Dis­trict Judge in Montgomery.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals enjoined Section 27 of the law, which forbids Alabama courts to enforce contracts be­tween unlawfully present aliens and parties who know their immigration status.

The appellate court also blocked Section 30 of the law, which forbids state and local agencies from doing business with undocumented aliens.

For more information on this article, please click here.

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Are you in need of immigration assistance?  Let Swaray Law Office help you with all of your immigration issues.  Call today at 763-549-0670.

High School Valedictorian Daniela Pelaez and sister get a 2-year deportation stay

Daniela Pelaez

Daniela Pelaez is seen above in an undated video still.

All information below courtesy of the Miami Herald.

WASHINGTON — Daniela Pelaez, the North Miami Senior High School valedictorian threatened with deportation and the new poster teen of the DREAM Act movement, is in Washington, D.C. this week.

She’ll be meeting with U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami, and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. Rubio’s office invited her to Washington last week. Pelaez is scheduled to appear at a news conference at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday with Nelson and Wilson.

Pelaez learned Tuesday that she’ll be able to stay in the United States for two more years without fear of deportation. The news came just days after a massive rally at her school propelled her case to the national stage.

The question remains: What does Pelaez’s case mean for the DREAM Act? And will lawmakers such as Rubio, who’ve called for Republicans to moderate their language on immigration policy, change their minds about it?
Her lawyer said both Pelaez and her sister, Dayana, were given a deferred action for two years, meaning federal immigration authorities will not carry out any deportation order during that time.

Read more here

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Are you a student in a similar situation? Please have your parent or guardian contact Mr. Ed Swaray today for information on what can be done for you, before a deportation order is carried out.

Indonesian immigrant avoids deportation, seeks refuge at Highland Park church

large_Supporters of Saul Timisela sing during vigil--Indonesian Immigrant

HIGHLAND PARK — Saul Timisela was ordered to report to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Newark early Thursday morning to be deported.

Instead, the Indonesian Christian took sanctuary at the Reformed Church of Highland Park, where the Rev. Seth Kaper-Dale is trying to save all at-risk Indonesian refugees who fled their country to escape religious persecution more than a decade ago.

Timisela may have felt safe given ICE’s historical reticence to raid churches where illegal aliens are being harbored. But at the same time, he was sorry to say goodbye to his wife of 10 years — another Indonesian Christian now in hiding because she has overstayed her visa and does not have an open case with the immigration agency.

For more information on this story, please click here.

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Do you have a pending deportation order? You may have options you have not considered. Please call Ed Swaray today at 763-549-0670 and learn of your options.

Alabama immigration law arguments to be heard today by federal appeals court panel

Tamitha Villareal

Tamitha Villareal (shown above) gets ready to lead a march of protesters of the new immigration law in Athens, AL.

ATLANTA, Georgia — The law that put Alabama in the middle of a national debate over immigration goes before a federal appeals court in Atlanta today, pitting Alabama against the U.S. Justice Department and a coalition of civil rights groups.

A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear 30 minutes of arguments – 15 minutes per side – by lawyers for the Justice Department and the State of Alabama. Two of the judges were appointed by Democratic presidents and one by a Republican.

To read more on this story, please click on this link.

Are you in the United States illegally? Learn what your options are now by calling Edward Swaray at 763-549-0670 today! No matter how complex your issues, we can help.

Opponents of immigration bill rally at Ga. Capitol

Immigration Protesters

Students, educators and lawmakers plan to gather at the Georgia Capitol to protest legislative proposals that would ban illegal immigrant students from state colleges and universities.

The ACLU of Georgia, the Georgia Undocumented Youth Alliance and the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights oppose Senate Bill 458.

To learn more about this story, please click here.

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Are you an illegal immigrant student? Do you wish to learn what your options are in order to change your immigration status? Call Amadu Edward Swaray today to learn what options you may have that you have not considered. We look forward to assisting you with your immigration case.