Yesterday Ray Lahoud, Chair of our Immigration Law Group, spoke on Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification at our in-house lunch and learn, “Are You I-9 Compliant?” Ray spoke to a crowd of HR Professionals, business owners, management, and administrators from several organizations and companies. He provided a complete overview of the I-9 process and how to be compliant, including Form I-9 basics and compliantly completing the Form READ MORE READ MORE

Without the influx of lawful immigrants into the Lehigh Valley, the area would have experienced a net loss in its population. In a Morning Call report analyzing recently-released Census Bureau statistics, Reporter Eugene Tauber noted that the Lehigh Valley has seen a 0.58% increase in its population since 2017, with 842,913 residents. Tauber, however, looks beyond the total population numbers to “the four components of population change READ MORE READ MORE

On Friday, United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) updated its internal policies related to the adjudication of naturalization applications of lawful permanent residents who partake in the marijuana industry in states like Pennsylvania and New Jersey, which have enacted laws permitting “‘medical’ or ‘recreational’ use of marijuana.” According to USCIS, if you smoke weed, you may lack the good moral character to become a U.S. Citizen, READ MORE READ MORE

On Saturday, the Trump administration, through a Tweet from @realDonaldTrump at 9:47 p.m., floated the idea of sending all those entering at the border to sanctuary states and cities across the United States, where the president said the states and cities can take “care of” immigrants seeking admission, and in many instances asylum protection, at the United States border with Mexico, at designated ports of entry. While READ MORE READ MORE

Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the end of a month-long operation across 14 New Jersey counties, which led to the arrest of 128 immigrants. The operation focused “on the arrest of individuals convicted of serious crimes and are a threat to public safety,” noted John Tsoukaris, Newark’s Enforcement & Removal Operations (ERO) Field Office Director. According to ICE, however, a collateral result of the operation is READ MORE READ MORE