John Valdez’s Legal Blog

Anyone who has studied immigration law realizes that generally there are very few changes to the laws in the period immediately preceding a major election.   Immigration is known as a “hot button issue,” one the raises emotions and, no matter which side a candidate takes on the issue, can harm a candidate’s election prospects.  I suspect that for this reason, both John McCain and Barack Obama have largely ignored immigration issues.  Indeed, neither candidate addressed immigration in the debates. 

Still there have been some small movements in the immigration world.  On October 16, 2008, the USCIS issued final regulations which increase from one to three the amount of time a nonimmigrant can be granted TN status.  This regulatory change does help Canadian and Mexican nationals and their employers by giving them more flexibility in making plans for U.S. employment.  It also saves them expense, since extension requests, which cost money in terms of government fees and legal expenses, will not be needed as often.

In addition, the President signed two new bills into law in the past few weeks.  One law, signed on September 30, 2008, extends the E-Verify Program.  This program is meant to help employers electronically verify worker eligibility.   The program has noted flaws and can potentially be used to assist the government with its efforts to conduct worksite raids.  You may see my earlier blog on the subject for more information.

The other new statute, involving religous workers, was signed into law by President Bush on October 15, 2008.  This law continues the immigration program for non-minister religious workers.

Both the E-Verify and religous worker laws were only extended until March 2009.  Congress may have written such short extensions because of reservations regarding the effectiveness of both programs.  Congress wants the USCIS to promulgate regulations that will help cut down the instances of fraud in the religous worker program.  Congress may also be concerned about the error rate involved in the E-Verify Program.  Both of these laws will be reconsidered in the next Congressional term.

I am very hopeful that next year, a non-election year, will bring major reforms to the Immigration Laws that will aid immigrants.  Until that time, I will keep you posted on any other changes.