Request for Evidence in Immigration Cases

Generally in an Immigration Petition, the burden of proof is on the applicant or the Petitioner. The petition is filed usually with the forms, supporting letters/briefs and copies of documents to prove the elements of law. Unless there is some evidence in the petition that prima facie negates the elements of the law in a case, the Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) cannot deny the petition without due process. Thus they issue "request for Evidence" or RFEs. Although RFEs are supposed to give the applicant due process rights to prove their cases, the CIS Officers use it for anything and everything, and the RFEs vary in intelligent quotient with the IQs of the officers. Here are some weird reasons for the RFEs:

Officers need more time

Some Officers use it for additional time, and give a template with an exhaustive list of things way beyond what would be normally necessary for the petition. They know that the applicant will take time gathering all these thousands of documents and meanwhile its not the officer's fault that the petition has not been adjudicated

Officers are Either Stupid or Lazy or Both

These are the DUH RFEs. I have been asked by the Texas Service Center to prove that Breast Cancer research is National vs Local in scope for a National Interest Waiver Case. Does Dallas have those little pink ribbons for Susan Komen Foundation every October? An Immigration Attorney friend of mine was asked, "whats the difference between Cylon and Sri Lanka?"

Officers are Plain Lazy

There are ample instances where if the petition is little thick, the officers will simply ask for documents that are already in the original petition.

Officers have not met their denial quota

I don't know if there is such a quota, but some RFEs are so lengthy, you can tell that the officer is fishing for any reason to deny the case.

Currently the standards for RFEs vary enormously. However the CIS is looking into standardizing RFEs, if that is they can be standardized. But standardizing RFEs is just one equation, inputting common sense into the officers are easier said that done.

For more information contact Houston Immigration Lawyer or Houston Immigration Attorney, Annie Banerjee

When life, liberty and property goes by Government mistake

The purpose of modern democratic Government is to look at the welfare of the Public. It is not to hang people, it is not to deport people, it is to protect people. Yes, the Government should enforce the law, but they do not have the right to restrict the life and liberty of innocent people. Yet very often that's what happens.

Recently, the Innocence project of New York uncovered that a man executed in Texas in 2000 by a proof of a single strand of hair was a mistake. The hair did not match DNA evidence. The New Yorker Magazine last summer also uncovered how a Texas man was put to death for a fire that killed his children, a fire he did not set. Not only did he loose his children, but he also lost his life falsely at the hands of the Government.

Similarly TRAC came out with a report that of all the persons that ICE seeks to deport, the judges have found 33% were wrongly held. Many people born here cannot speak the language, and are assumed to be illegal. If ICE is doing such a poor job, I shudder to think what Arizona will do.

Yet when the country was founded, it was founded to ensure that the Citizen's life liberty and property were protected. The founding fathers guaranteed that in our Constitution. Yet more and more we are moving away from a benevolent state to one were laws are enforced sometimes unfairly.

For more information contact Houston Immigration Lawyer or Houston Immigration Attorney, Annie Banerjee

Elections and Immigration

The elections are over, and voters have chosen overwhelmingly Republican candidates. Steve King would probably become the next chairman of the House committee on Immigration.

He is fervently anti immigrant. He believes that illegal immigrants are all terrorists, and that they have killed more Americans than Iraq and Afganistan combined. He hates Muslims. And yes, he loves the Arizona Immigration Act. A model Republican.

Will he change? Will he attempt any Comprehensive Immigration Reform? That all depends on what the voting climate is, about a year from now. If the Republicans maintain their "just say no" policy, voters may get frustrated. Also if the economy improves, the general public may want to have immigration reforms. Then he will certainly change colors.


For more information contact Houston Immigration Lawyer or Houston Immigration Attorney, Annie Banerjee

The Image Program

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has a program called IMAGE (ICE mutual Agreement between Government and Employers.) The program is designed to prevent employers from hiring illegal workers.

It is a voluntary program whereby the employers participate in E verify and Social Security Verification Service and train their personnel in "Image Best Practices."

There is a report out that two Houston Area businesses joined IMAGE. One is a Maintainance and Costruction Company which does exclusively federal Government services, and the other is a staffing agency which provides high level jobs. Obviosuly both these businesses cannot hire illegal workers. So its easy for them to sign on.

But the businesses that cannot find workers--- restaurants, poultry, general construction, etc, will not sign on. They prefer to have American workers, but those workers dont work hard, and charge too much.

If there were no jobs in the US for the illegal people, they would not be here. But there is. They do the jobs that American people would rather collect welfare than do.

For more information contact Houston Immigration Lawyer or Houston Immigration Attorney, Annie Banerjee

Secure Communities

I seldom have reason to praise the Department of Homeland Security, but I think that the Secure Communities Program will work. The program will automatically check fingerprints of prisoners, convicted of crimes, and if they are found to be illegal, they will be deported. Whats neat about this program is that since it will be done by an automated fingerprint check, there will be no violations of innocent people's rights as it is in Arizona. No one will deport anyone simply because they look Hispanic. All deportees under this program will be convicted criminals. This program started in Texas, and is scheduled to take place all over the US by 2013.

Yet no one is happy. Jim Harrington, the head of Texas Civil Rights Project told Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that people who have committed minor crimes will also be deported. It seems that Immigration activists don't want ANY deportation--- period. While the anti immigrant groups praise this saying that illegal immigrants make up all murderers, and violent criminals. That is simply not true. Most crimes are committed by US Citizens, so the program will not "secure" our communities. Yet, it will send a message to the illegal communities that if you get convicted, you will be deported.

The division shows how the left and the right just cannot see eye to eye and compromise on anything. I have no problems with law abiding illegal workers who earn a living simply because Americans will not do the work at their price. The price that the illegal people set for a job is the market price--- not the artificially inflated prices of labor unions. But Americans will rather collect food stamps than work hard jobs at competitive prices. However illegals are here illegally, and should be deported even if they commit minor crimes like possession of drugs. And that is why I think this is a great compromise between the right and the left wing, and laud the DHS for introducing this program.

For more information contact Houston Immigration Lawyer or Houston Immigration Attorney, Annie Banerjee

Memories of Durga Puja

I have immigrated more than 25 years ago, and that was the last time I saw a Kolkata Durga Pujo. Today is Ashtami, a day usually filled with work, kids and very little else in the US. I have not even visited my local Durga Pujo in Houston in years. Yet my facebook home page is filled with greetings for Durga Pujo. Memories of Pujos past come flooding back to me. Maybe facebook and social media will do what immigration or emigration could not create, a true melting pot world.

This was the Kolkata of the 1970s. The excitement started about a month before when we used to buy cloth and take it to the local tailor to make into dresses. I still remember the dark blue frilly dress (frock in Indian English) I had as a child. And then of course there were bell bottoms, and hanging earrings in the 70s. The clothes would arrive from the tailor, but we could not wear it until Shasti. But before that came Mahalaya--- the start of the festivities. On a new moon day, we would set our alarm clocks to 4 am. We would get up and turn the radio on for the Mahalaya program, inviting Devi Durga into our world. We would fight to stay up. I would not understand the Sanskrit chants, but just as I would be dozing off a well known song would come on and wake me up. After the radio program, people would go to the Ganga to offer prayers for their forefathers.

On the sixth day after that came Shasti. This was the start of the five day festival. We would break out one of the new clothes and go see the richly decorated images and their elaborate, lighted bases called "pandals." Kolkata, the city with limited power supply would illuminate into thousands of lights and elaborate decorations the likes of which I have yet to see in the Western world. And of course as with anything else in Kolkata, the pujos were in direct competition with each other. There were awards for the best "pandal", best lighting, best sound effects, best image. Nothing like capitalist competition to spruce up religion.

Ashtami was the biggest day. We would reserve our best clothes for that day. After coming back from viewing the images (pratimas) we would have the same supper every year--- luchi (puri) which is fried dough and goat curry. And then of course sweets. We Bengalis covered all our food groups: fat, carbs and spices.

Then came Bijoya Dashami. The pujo was over, the pratimas were dismantled. People formed huge procession, with light and band playing and carried their pratima to the Ganges to be thrown into the water. Art to us is dynamic, to be enjoyed fleetingly in this transient world and then destroyed to be rebuild again next year. We also went to all our relatives houses to touch the feet of elders and seek their blessings. They gave us sweets and fried samosas, nimkins, etc. No supper, just desserts and junk food, that one day of the year.

I wonder how many of these traditions have survived today. My older relatives do not go to see images any more, its too crowded. Many would not be able to digest goat and puri in their health condition. Yet the sounds of the drums (dhak) come drifting through the air from the pandals, the crisp new saris of people walking on the streets, the sound of the band after dashami will never be lost. Neither will the competition to build a bigger, better pandal for a prettier image die from people to whom cultural expression is greater than the need to make money. It is this spirit of Kolkata that I miss.


For more information contact Houston Immigration Lawyer or Houston Immigration Attorney, Annie Banerjee

Reference Letters for National Interest Waiver Cases

Reference letters are key to proving many research based immigration cases. However the reference that Citizenship and Immigration Service (CIS) likes is not the same type one would get to obtain a job. The major thing that CIS is interested in, is the opinion of scientists in the field.

The CIS does not care about big names in the field. The Government would be barred by 14th amendment, to give more credence to someone from say Harvard, rather than say Podunkhollow University. Yet scientist very often want to get so so references from big names in the field, rather than good reference from not so well known scientist. CIS officers are NOT scientists. They just want a scientist in the field. Their credentials are meant to just qualify them to speak on the issue. It is more important what they say, rather than who they are.

The CIS does not care if you are hard working, diligent, easy to get along with. They are not paying you to work, nor are they working with you. The referees must prove the points of the law.

The referees need to say:

1. Why your work is important in their field
2. Why you are better than the average researchers in your field
3. How your research will help the US as a whole

Usually disinterested referees are the best, those people who are not your friends, or co-workers, but know you only professionally and are familiar with your work, rather than with you.

There is no magic number of references, but I usually go for 10.

Conclude by saying why the referee thinks that labor certification will be a laborious process that might hinder the research progress.



For more information contact Houston Immigration Lawyer or Houston Immigration Attorney, Annie Banerjee