Hui Xu, a 46-year-old Chinese national and owner of a massage parlor in Mt. Pleasant, pled guilty to a human trafficking charge in late 2019. Now she moves to revoke the guilty plea, stating that she did not understand English and her previous criminal attorney failed to have a translator during their plea deal. On June 14, a federal immigration judge ordered Xu’s deportation from the United READ MORE READ MORE

New Jersey Sees Dramatic Increase in Driver’s Licenses after Permitting Undocumented Individuals to Apply The state of New Jersey has seen a more than 60% increase in new driver’s licenses issued since May 1, as the new state law took effect law that permitted residents to obtain licenses regardless of immigration status. The Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) does not keep records of immigration status and thus could READ MORE READ MORE

On July 15, the Department of Justice announced that it reached a retaliation claim settlement with Around the Clock Dispatch Inc., a freight and delivery services company in Queens Village, New York. An employee of Around the Clock had filed a charge with the Justice Department’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) to ask for help addressing a concern about the company’s process for an immigration-related employment READ MORE READ MORE

Businesses in busy tourist areas, which count on summer months for the spike in travelers, are struggling to hire sufficient workers to meet their high labor demand. Employers are feeling the slump in workers the hard way, as COVID-19 restrictions are being relaxed and most states have fully reopened. Most employers in such tourist areas rely on temporary workers from abroad to meet the surge in seasonal READ MORE READ MORE

New DACA Ruling Suspends New Applications; Biden Vows to Appeal Decision In a lengthy opinion, United States District Court Judge Andrew Hanen ruled that Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or “DACA,” finding that the implementation of the program violated the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs federal rulemaking. Judge Hanen’s decision is, however, limited to new applications, and does not affect current DACA recipients, nor does it bar READ MORE READ MORE