Immigration software news and updates.

The case known as Matter of A-B, 27 I&N Dec. 316 (A.G. 2018) which was decided by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, has made Gang Violence and Domestic Abuse Asylum Claims harder to win by narrowing the definition of what constitutes a social group for purposes of claiming asylum, and increasing the burden on asylum seekers to show that they cannot find any safe area in their own country to which they can relocate. In deciding this matter, the Attorney General invoked a rarely used executive power to take an immigration case out of the hands of the Immigration Court system and render a decision on it himself.\ \ Case Background

Ms. AB was a Salvadoran woman who suffered extreme domestic violence from her husband.

She fled to the US and passed her credible fear interview. IJ Stuart Couch at Charlottesville Immigration Court denied her asylum claim, concluding based on perceived omissions in her testimony that she was not credible and thus not eligible for asylum. Judge Couch rejected AB’s proposed social group supported by patriarchal conditions in El Salvador that mirror those in Guatemala (which has been the subject of the Matter of A-R-C-G which allowed asylum claims based on domestic violence claims ).

Ms. A.B. appealed, the Board unanimously reversed the IJ, finding Ms. A.B. eligible for asylum based on her experience of domestic violence. The Board overturned the IJ’s negative credibility finding, concluding that Ms. A.B. had in fact testified credibly and that the minor omissions in her testimony were a result of the traumatic violence she had endured and its lasting psychological impact. The Board also found that Ms. A.B.’s proposed particular social group met the legal requirements for asylum, noting similarities between her case and the Board’sA-R-C-G-decision. The Board remanded to the IJ for a grant of asylum.

DHS completed AB’s background checks, but in a departure from usual practice, the IJ refused to issue a new decision instead attempting to “recertify” the case back to the Board for further consideration. In his order, the IJ questioned the continued “legal validity” ofA-R-C-G-. Seven months later, on March 7, 2018, the Attorney General referred the case to himself for a decision.

Holding

(1) Matter of A-R-C-G-, 26 I&N Dec. 338 (BIA 2014) is overruled. That decision was wrongly decided and should not have been issued as a precedential decision.

(2) An applicant seeking to establish persecution on account of membership in a “particular social group” must demonstrate: (1) membership in a group, which is composed of members who share a common immutable characteristic, is defined with particularity, and is socially distinct within the society in question; and (2) that membership in the group is a central reason for her persecution. When the alleged persecutor is someone unaffiliated with the government, the applicant must also show that her home government is unwilling or unable to protect her.

(3) An asylum applicant has the burden of showing her eligibility for asylum. The applicant must present facts that establish each element of the standard, and the asylum officer, immigration judge, or the Board has the duty to determine whether those facts satisfy all of those elements.

(4) If an asylum application is fatally flawed in one respect, an immigration judge or the Board need not examine the remaining elements of the asylum claim.

(5) The mere fact that a country may have problems effectively policing certain crimes or that certain populations are more likely to be victims of crime, cannot itself establish an asylum claim.

(6) To be cognizable, a particular social group must exist independently of the harm asserted in an application for asylum.

(7) An applicant seeking to establish persecution based on violent conduct of a private actor must show more than the government’s difficulty controlling private behavior. The applicant must show that the government condoned the private actions or demonstrated an inability to protect the victims.

(8) An applicant seeking asylum based on membership in a particular social group must clearly indicate on the record the exact delineation of any proposed particular social group.

(9) The Board, immigration judges, and all asylum officers must consider, consistent with the regulations, whether internal relocation in the alien’s home country presents a reasonable alternative before granting asylum.

Credible Fear

USCIS Memorandum on Processing Reasonable Fear, Credible Fear, Asylum and Refugee Claims in Light of Matter of A-B

\ James Pittman is co-founder of Docketwise and was previously engaged in the private practice of US Immigration Law. He also regularly teaches Continuing Legal Education (CLE) classes on immigration law topics and legal ethics. He is admitted to practice in New York and New Jersey and is a graduate of Northeastern University School of Law.

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The creation of the DACA program by the Obama administration in 2012 brought hope to over a million young people who who were brought to the United States without immigration documents as children. DACA is an acronym for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Created by Executive Order, this program allowed those without legal status to be protected from deportation and apply for work authorization if they were under 16 when they were brought to the US, graduated from or were currently enrolled in high school or had earned a General Equivalency Diploma (GED), and did not have a criminal record, among other requirements. Hundreds of thousands of young people appllied for DACA status, were granted work authorization, and have been moving forward with their lives.\ \ However, President Donald Trump, since his emergence as a national political figure, has criticized and attacked DACA and promised to rescind the executive order that created it. Soon after his inauguration, he began to fulfill this promise. On September 5, 2017, Attorney General Sessions made a public statementannouncing the rescission of DACA. The same day USCIS issued a Memorandum stating that USCIS would no longer accept initial DACA requests or renewal requests except for those that fit within a certain narrow time-frame.

\ The actions of the AG and USCIS provoked a wave of litigation. At the present time there are two federal injunctions in place, aJanuary 9, 2018 injunctionfrom the Northern District of California, and a February 13, 2018 injunctionfrom the Eastern District of New York. Essentially these judicial decisions require USCIS to hold open the DACA program on the same terms as it existed before the AG’s announcement. USCIS is not presently accepting requests from individuals who have never before been granted deferred action under DACA, nor is it accepting any requests for Advance Parole based on a grant of DACA.\ \ Tips for Preparing DACA Application Packages:

• DACA requests are filed on Form I-821D. Applications for Employment Authorization based on a DACA request are filed on Forms I-765 and I-765WS. Attorneys entering their appearance to represent the Applicant must file Form G-28.
• Applicants who previously received DACA and whose DACA expired on or after Sept. 5, 2016, may still file a DACA renewal request. They should list the date their prior DACA ended in the appropriate box on Part 1 of the Form I-821D.
• Applicants who previously received DACA and whose DACA expired before Sept. 5, 2016, or whose most recent DACA grant was previously terminated, cannot request DACA as a renewal because renewal requests typically must be submitted within one year of the expiration date of the last period of deferred action approved under DACA. Instead, these Applicants may nonetheless file a new initial DACA request in accordance with the Form I-821D and Form I-765 instructions. To assist USCIS with reviewing ther DACA request for acceptance, if filing a new initial DACA request because the Applicant’s DACA expired before Sept. 5, 2016, or because it was terminated at any time, please list (if available) the date the prior DACA grant expired or was terminated on Part 1 of the Form I-821D.

James Pittman is co-founder of Docketwise and was previously engaged in the private practice of US Immigration Law. He also regularly teaches Continuing Legal Education (CLE) classes on immigration law topics and legal ethics. He is admitted to practice in New York and New Jersey and is a graduate of Northeastern University School of Law.

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Of all areas of the law, immigration practice can be one of the most personally meaningful, as it involves helping clients work through profoundly significant life transitions.

That said, running an immigration law firm can be difficult work. Luckily, like in many other fields, technology has made everything a bit easier. Using it effectively can lead to increase business and reduced costs. For many lawyers, technology is a real no-brainer, but the most difficult part is knowing how to start. Luckily, doing so is more straightforward than one might think!

By necessity, immigration law requires the submission of extensive forms to federal agencies like USCIS. This used to mean hours of tedious data entry, done mostly by hand. Now though, immigration software has made this part of the practice easier than ever before! Technology has allowed for the preparation of these forms to be almost fully automated, leaving more time for the work that really matters.

Software provides a user-friendly interface for organizing cases, establishing timelines, and delegating work to team members

But immigration software does more than just simplify the completion of forms! It can also double as a robust case management platform. In other words, the software provides a user-friendly interface for organizing cases, establishing timelines, and delegating work to team members.

Put simply, technology can increase the efficiency of law firms that handle immigration cases. It boils down to this—less time spent on each case equals more cases which equals more impact. Rather than doing mindless clerical work, attorneys can spend more of their valuable time helping clients.

Here are some of the features which make technology such a boon to the field of immigration law:

Send Personalized Questionnaires to Clients

One of the first steps in an immigration case used to be having clients sit down with a pen and paper to write down an exhaustive array of personal information, some of which might not even be applicable in their particular case. Requiring everything from citizenship status to marital details to past employment, this process could be quite lengthy.

These sorts of dynamic features greatly reduce the time and effort needed to gather pertinent client information.

Now though, immigration case management software like Docketwise makes it possible for attorneys to streamline the information collection process by sending personalized questionnaires to their clients. These questionnaires allow lawyers to choose which specific questions to ask on a case-by-case basis, meaning that clients only have to provide information that is really needed. Questionnaires also come professionally branded with a firm’s individual logo, and have multilingual functionality, meaning they can easily be toggled to whichever language a client is most comfortable with. These sorts of dynamic features greatly reduce the time and effort needed to gather pertinent client information.

Create and Edit Forms with Ease

Immigration software handles not only the completion of forms, but also the selection of forms in the first place, a process which can be complicated.

As previously noted, technology has helped automate the job of completing forms for immigration proceedings. Much of this is due to the advent of smart forms, which can populate long, complicated documents with client information in a single click.

The data is received through the aforementioned questionnaires, stored in a digital profile, and matched to forms as needed through a finely-tuned software. These smart forms feature complicated logic that can determine the exact array of forms to prepare based upon the details of the case.

Immigration software handles not only the completion of forms, but also the selection of forms in the first place, a process which can be complicated. Reputable services include every form an immigration practitioner might need, even the most obscure. In special cases, attorneys can also create and edit forms from scratch for ease and flexibility. Notice an input error, or want to change something later? Forms can be easily edited after the fact.

With the ability to produce hundreds of pages in just minutes, this technology can save vast amounts of time and effort.

Organize and Delegate Cases to Staff

Aside from expediting the process of creating forms, immigration software can also serve as a fully functional case management platform. This means that it often includes an array of useful administrative features, which allow immigration law firms to sort their work in an intuitive fashion.

Cases can be assigned to particular members of a team, so each individual knows what he or she is responsible for. Time-sensitive tasks can be given due dates, which will trigger automated reminders as deadlines approach.

Immigration software also allows attorneys to write notes for each particular case, in order to keep track of useful details. All this comes in a single, centralized location, making for an easy and efficient workflow. Because of this all-in-one functionality, practitioners do not have to switch between platforms while working, which makes things simpler.

Store Client Information Securely on the Cloud

Another benefit of immigration case management software is cloud-based storage, which makes it possible for lawyers to access their cases from anywhere. Rather than having data stored on in-house servers or in physical form, immigration software provides firms a secure home for their cases online. Accessible only through password-protected logins, which can be issued to multiple team members, immigration software provides attorneys a user-friendly repository of client information.

Out of the office?

Traveling?

No problem.

This interface can be accessed with just an internet connection. With this emerging technology, different individuals in an immigration law firm can access case information no matter where they are. Attorneys should make sure to look for a service which employs a highly-trusted cloud encryption protocol, like Docketwise’s Amazon S3, to ensure that data is being handled with the utmost care.

Ignore the Hassle and Danger of Regular USCIS Changes

USCIS rolls out changes to its many forms on a regular basis. Keeping up with each new edition can be a huge headache

From smaller cosmetic updates to more substantive overhauls, USCIS rolls out changes to its many forms on a regular basis. Keeping up with each new edition can be a huge headache.

Luckily, immigration software like Docketwise closely monitors these updates, and adjusts accordingly within just a few business days of a change. Subscribers never have to worry about filing outdated versions of forms, and can instead focus their attention on more substantive areas of their practice. These updates, as well as round-the-clock customer service, are included with the basic package.

Intrigued about all the ways in which technology can help streamline your immigration law practice? See for yourself with a 30 day free trial of Docketwise, and experience all that a comprehensive case management software has to offer your firm.

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