Happy New Year and Welcome to 2016!

We hope that everyone enjoyed a wonderful Holiday Season. Once again, we’d like to take the opportunity to say thank you for your business and friendship!

IMMIGRANTS HAVE CHANGED THE U.S. TECHNOLOGICAL FIELD

The United States has become a leader in technological advancements from Google to Hotmail, and immigrants were the leading forces behind these life-changing innovations. Sergey Brin, an immigrant from the Soviet Union, became one of the founders of Google. Brin came to this country when he was six years old and excelled through the educational system. After graduating at the top of his University of Maryland class, the National Science Foundation helped finance his Ph.D. studies! He met Larry Page while they were both pursuing doctorates at Stanford and the rest is history. Sabeer Bhatia of India also made his dreams a reality, thanks to the support of investors. Bahtia and Jack Smith brought their idea of web-based electronic mail to Tim Draper and his venture capital firm partners. Although they had no entrepreneurial experience, Draper gave them a shot and it led to the creation of Hotmail. Immigrants will always be crucial in the technological arena since they bring a different perspective to the table and offer new business practices.

HUGE BACKLOG OF IMMIGRATION COURT CASES

There are approximately 500,000 immigration cases pending in court. The average court case has been open for over 600 days – nearly 2 years. This puts immigrants seeking asylum in a very tough spot both legally and financially. It’s also doubling the caseload of immigration judges around the country. Eliza Klein is now retired, but she worked as an immigration judge for over 20 years in Miami, Boston and Chicago. She chose to retire earlier than expected because she “no longer wanted to be part of the system.” When caseloads multiplied in the spring of 2014 due to the influx of youth crossing the border illegally to escape violence in Central America, she morally did not want to send the youth back to their dangerous native countries but was legally required to.

FWD.US AIMS TO REFOCUS ELECTION TOWARDS IMMIGRATION REFORM

FWD.us is the immigration reform lobbying group that was founded by Mark Zuckerberg. They aim to refocus the election campaign conversation away from mass deportations and towards comprehensive immigration reform. They plan to make “substantial” investments in battleground states. These investments will come in the form of advertising as well as pushing voter education through research, polling and engagement. FWD.us firmly believes in the value of immigrants and the organization plans to use their influence to push immigration reform forward quickly under the next president.

As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact the office!

New Jersey Immigration Attorney Susan W. Scheer and Staff