Posted by Angelo A. Paparelli on May 25, 2007

Immigration Law Training DVDs Available Featuring Paparelli & Partners LLP Lawyers:

Fighting Crime: A Workshop for Immigration Lawyers http://www.ilw.com/workshops/march2007crimes.shtmImmigration lawyers today, no matter the focus of their practice, increasingly are coming face-to-face with the dreaded word "CRIME." A valued client has been charged with a crime, or worse yet, a shamefaced client belatedly "remembers" that a criminal conviction rests in the closet. More and more often, federal authorities dismiss the option of a civil violation in favor of criminal prosecution. Immigration attorneys dread the word "crime" - not just because it may waylay even the best nonimmigrant or green-card strategy and mean escalated consequences for their clients. They dread it because it signifies work outside the immigration comfort zone, or perhaps beyond the lawyer's level of competence. So they face a painful dilemma: Refer the client and a lucrative matter to a more-experienced practitioner or jump into the deep water without a life vest. It doesn't matter if their practice is white- or blue-collar, family- or employment-based, immigration-court focused or service-center centric, most lawyers simply dread the "crime" word. They may have attended past seminars on the immigration consequences of criminal convictions, but then Congress, the agencies and the courts keep changing the rules and interpretations. What worked before, now may be foreclosed or ineffective. Order the DVD today.

Solving Complex Immigration Challenges While Super-Charging Your Career and Your Law Firm http://www.ilw.com/workshops/march2007challenges.shtm

Immigration-law representation and practice management have never been more difficult. The ever-changing law is mind-bogglingly complex, agency regulations are either indecipherable or nonexistent, and the bureaucratic response is typically confused, nonsensical or unforgiving.

Media bloviators befuddle, inflame and frighten the public about America's "Broken Borders". ICE conducts unannounced raids of employers and sweeps of the hapless alien parents of U.S. citizen children. USCIS launches a new website that spits out more error messages than answers. CBP snares both overstays and legitimate travelers alike who apply for admission at ports of entry. The DOL's buggy PERM program perplexes long-time and new practitioners. DOS and DHS are hamstrung by delays in FBI security clearances. The AAO rubber-stamps USCIS denials while pretending to be impartial. The State Department reports monthly quota backlogs that move at a chelonian pace. Future H-1B hopefuls are stuck like insects in amber while awaiting April 1 and October 1. A newly reconstituted, Democrat-controlled Congress is set to attempt a grand resolution on comprehensive immigration reform legislation with Pres. Bush.

Meantime, today's clients are more demanding and panic-stricken than ever because the stakes for them have never been greater.

  1. With all that is riding on the work of today's immigration lawyers, are you and your law firm ready for the minefields and IEDs that lie ahead?
  2. Are you drowning in tedium, paperwork, red tape and online inanity, finding it hard to make an honest buck, and feeling unloved and undervalued?
  3. Is your immigration practice where it should or could be?
  4. Is it time to stretch yourself beyond your comfort zone and ramp up your immigration career and your law firm to a higher level?

If you answered "yes" to even one of these questions, then you should request the DVD of this one-day groundbreaking seminar presented by world-class immigration lawyer, Angelo Paparelli, and other handpicked crème de la crème experts. Order this DVD today.

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Posted by Angelo A. Paparelli on May 18, 2007

Gratitude and Gripes Await Senate on Cutting Bipartisan Immigration Deal

With the rough contours of a deal set for floor debate soon, the U.S. Senate should get ready for kudos and kvetches on steroids.

The praise is for hunkering down and crafting a bipartisan deal with some hope of passage.

The complaints from pro-immigration supporters center on the proposed jettisoning of family reunification as a foundation stone of our immigration laws, and the lack of due process protections in the bill. Predictable griping will also be heard from immigration restrictionists who prefer the status quo of raids, deportations of aliens and criminal prosecution of employers.

Meantime, expect to hear the nightly drumbeat of Lou Dobbs’ fact-defying rants, such as his latest charge that 7,000 leprosy cases in the U.S. each year are caused by illegal immigrants, ably refuted by 60 Minutes and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Beelzebub, as usual, resides in the minutiae of the Senate bill. Here are some questions worth considering:

  • Is it realistic that employers who use the new guest worker provisions will invest in the costly training of provisional employees required to develop job proficiency if the investment is interrupted every two years by the worker’s required departure for a year?
  • Will Congress provide sufficient funds to make employment eligibility verification more meaningful than the broken I-9 process and inadequate basic pilot program?
  • Are American’s ready to adopt a point system that merely gives some undefined weight to family relationships rather than the nation’s historical preference for family unity under the immigration laws?
  • Are 400,000 guest workers per year sufficient to meet the demands of our national demographic of aging boomers and shortages of essential workers?

This blogger’s prediction: The answer to all of these questions will be a resounding “no.” Next week’s debate should show that the temperature on the Senate floor will be hotter than the globally-warmed streets of Washington. Stay tuned to CSPAN. But beware, Bismarck’s warning about averting one’s eyes from the making of sausages and of laws still holds true.