The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has retreated once again from the silly summer brouhaha it sparked on June 2 with the issuance of an ill-advised press release announcing the audit of all corporate clients of the Fragomen law firm. As readers of this blog know from my previous posts, the DOL has been roundly…

In a perverse and delicious irony, the Bush administration, and Attorney General Michael Mukasey in particular, recently bestowed what may prove to be a helpful gift on foreign citizens in removal proceedings. The gift results from the AG’s refusal to fire or reassign any of the roughly 31 judges (18 of whom the New York …

I am sure this post will be controversial, and I welcome comments.

I’ve long believed that the practice of immigration law, which has become dramatically more challenging since 9/11, is not for the dabbler (of course) but also poses a risk for attorneys who choose to specialize only in business immigration. The linked article, “A…

Chalk up one for USCIS and a Federal Judge. The agency’s 17-month extension of F-1 optional practical training has survived a motion for preliminary injunction sought by the Programmers Guild. U.S. District Judge Faith S. Hochberg issued an August 5 order finding a lack of causal connection and insufficient harm to sustain the claim of…

The dog days of summer have arrived. Congress is on a five-week holiday, er, excuse me, a “Summer District Work Period,” as the House calls it. The economy is in the doldrums. Gross Domestic Product grew a feeble 1.9% in the second quarter of 2008 from 0.9% in the first quarter. Foreclosures and…

The National Foundation for American Policy this week released a bluntly accurate critique of the recent anti-attorney, anti-employer shenanigans at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). The report, entitled “Certifiable: The Department of Labor’s Approach to Labor Certification,” chastises the agency for crafting the labor certification process without statutory authority (“DOL’s mandated advertising and recruitment…

The saga of DOL’s new focus on PERM enforcement continues. As reported yesterday in the National Law Journal (“Labor Agency Audit of Firm Angers Immigration Lawyers“), after clearing away its pre-PERM backlog in the fall of last year, the Department of Labor found itself with time on its hands.

Apparently adopting the view…

On July 9, Alma and Jose Bustamante forced open the door of consular absolutism just an inch or so, but this wasn’t enough room for the couple to go through that unjust portal. Consular absolutism (also known as consular nonreviewability) is the longstanding judicial doctrine that the courts will not consider visa refusals based on…