Immigration: Is the Government Shutdown Affecting Immigration?

My clients have been emailing and calling me asking if the US Government shutdown is affecting immigration.  I received an email earlier this week, letting me know that the Immigration Court in Hartford was closing down.  This was good news for my immigration clients in deportation/removal proceedings and not detained.  For clients who are out on bonds or promises to appear and who have cases scheduled in Immigration Court, cases may be rescheduled to a later date when the courts reopen. When I appear in an immigration court, either in New York City, Philadelphia, Newark, Hartford or Boston, I represent the interests of my immigrant-client.  On the other side of the table is the District Counsel who represents the US Citizenship and Immigration Services.  While I am arguing the case to keep my client inside the US, the District Counsel is arguing the case on behalf of the Immigration Service for the deportation/removal of my client.  The Immigration Judge listens to both sides of the arguments, and makes a decision to allow my client to remain in the US, or to be deported/removed.  Right now, Immigration judges, District Counsel, staffers who run the courts and the court offices may not be working.  Consul your local immigration court to find out if the court is open before attending any immigration court hearing.

 ICE officers (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) are still working.  Immigrants can still be picked up and detained.  If the immigrant is not released, then he/she could potentially languish in detention, without a day in court, until the courts reopen.  Since we don’t have immigration detention facilities in the greater New York area, the clients could sit in prisons and jails wherever the Immigration Service can rent a bed:  not good news for those who are detained.

Many of my clients are overseas at this time.  I am processing their cases through our US Consulates located in other countries.  Since our US Consulates are primarily funded through application fees and not through congressional appropriations, most US Consulates remain open at this time for both US citizens abroad, and for processing visas for my immigrant clients to come to the US.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) offices do remain open although they may experience delays if their cases involve other affected branches of our US government. Adjustment interviews, naturalization interviews, Removal of Condition interviews and InfoPass appointments are still being scheduled and conducted. 

E-Verify, the program that businesses use to check the immigration status of a worker has been put on hold.  J-1 Waivers of foreign residency requirements may be delayed or suspended since they depend upon other offices of the federal government.

The Department of Homeland Security which protects our borders is still mainly in operation, since that is considered an essential service for the safety of human life or the protection of property.

Most days I file online for a prevailing wage determination from the US Department of Labor, so that an employer-sponsor can begin a case for one of his prospective employees to become a lawful permanent resident.  With 82% of the US Department of Labor employees being sent home, I expect to see a significant backlog in obtaining prevailing wage determinations. (These were already taking upwards of 3 months to obtain)

Congress may only have about a month left of days in session before they take their recess in December.  How this affects immigration reform remains to be seen.