2013 brings several exciting immigration updates. President Obama issued a Presidential Proclamation designating January as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month:
[F]or more than a century, we have made it a national mission to bring slavery and human trafficking to an end. My Administration has been deeply committed to carrying this legacy forward — beginning with trafficking that happens on our own shores. We have strengthened protections so all wforkers know their rights, expanded efforts to identify and serve domestic victims, devoted new resources to dismantling trafficking networks, and put more traffickers behind bars than ever before. In the months ahead, we will continue to take action by empowering investigators and law enforcement with the training they need, and by engaging businesses, advocates, and students in developing cutting-edge tools people can use to stay safe.
-President Barack Obama, Presidential Proclamation issued on 12/31/12
Read the full text of the President's proclamation here.
President Barack Obama listens to Cecilia Muñoz, Assistant to the President and Director of the Domestic Policy Council, during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Dec. 18, 2012. At right is Roberto Rodriguez, Special Assistant to the President for Education Policy. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
In this edition of the newsletter, you will read about the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) recent publication of its Final Rule to support family unity during waiver process; and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' (USCIS) new online resource center, Entrepreneur Pathways. We also provide updates on DHS's draft regulation implementing the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA) in its confinement facilities, the celebration of Bill of Rights Day, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE's) new national detainer policy.
One of the first immigration related announcements of the year came last week on January 2, 2013, when Secretary Napolitano announced DHS had finalized a new rule to establish a process to potentially reduce the time U.S. citizens are separated from their immediate relatives (spouse, children and parents), who are in the process of obtaining visas to become lawful permanent residents of the United States under certain circumstances. The final rule establishes a process that allows certain individuals to apply for a provisional unlawful presence waiver before they depart the United States to attend immigrant visa interviews in their countries of origin. The process will be effective on March 4, 2013. More information about the filing process will be made available in the coming weeks.
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