Guest Blog By Lianne Holt-Jensen J.D.Candidate 2014 Seattle University School of Law On December 15th, 2012, Georgia’s “show-me-your-papers” law was reinforced. This law gives law enforcement, in Georgia, the power to investigate the immigration status of suspects and to detain these suspects if they are believed to be undocumented residents. Police officers in Georgia have…
On November 6th, President Obama won a clear victory picking up all but one of the swing states; same-sex marriage was passed by voters in Washington State, Maine and Maryland; and Marijuana was decriminalized in Washington State and Colorado. In this blog post I will discuss briefly the implications of these results on the current…
Guest Blog By Lianne Holt-Jensen J.D.Candidate 2014 Seattle University School of Law On September 26th 2012, letters were distributed clarifying the guidelines used to apply the policy of prosecutorial discretion in cases of same-sex partners. Under prosecutorial discretion, immigrants, with no criminal records, in same-sex partnerships, have been allowed to remain in the United States.…
By Lianne Holt-Jensen J.D.Candidate 2014 Seattle University School of Law On September 17th, 2012, Mitt Romney announced his platform to fix the “broken” immigration system. A part of his plan is to get rid of the diversity visa program in order to bring “families together”. On the surface this sounds like a great idea bringing…
US Citizenship and Immigration Services has posted a new video that clearly explains the Deferred Action process. While USCIS provides a great amount of information for individuals to apply for DACA on their own, I reccomended that those not famliar with immigration law consult with an immigration attorney or a BIA accredited community based organization before…
I was so excited to see Benita Veliz speak at the Democratic National Convention. This is the first time that an undocumented dream-act activist has spoken at a national party convention. Ms. Veliz brings hope to all those undocumented youth who came to the U.S. young through no fault of their own and have grown…
The long-time Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi died today at the age of 57. Mr. Zenawi has ruled Ethiopia for decades. He and his party is known not to tolerate dissent and have been accused of killing, torturing and imprisoning political prisoners. Mr. Zenawi won 99% of the vote in the last election, so…
Today is the day. As of August 15th, 2012, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will begin accepting applications for deferred action. Thousands of undocumented youth will benefit from this new policy. I encourage all of those who are eligible to apply, but not before understanding what you are applying for. Deferred Action is not…
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has released the immigration form that will be required to apply for deferred action of childhood arrivals, or whome some of us have been calling “dreamers”. The form also comes with a detailed list of instructions which provides suggestion for supporting evidence. In order to apply for deferred action one must…
Western Washington residents, I would like to invite you all to attend the Annual Gala for ReWA on September 14th at 5PM at Marion Oliver McCaw Hall at Seattle Center. There will be international food and entertainment. Ticket proceeds go to ReWA’s programs for Refugees. ReWA (formerly Refugee Women’s Alliance and Southeast Asian Women’s Alliance) was founded…