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Recent U.S. Immigration News
Noncitizens Reaching Out To The IRS
As Tax Day 2010 approaches, the IRS reports that requests for Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) have tripled over the past ten years. ITINs allow people who are required to pay taxes for earned income, but who are not otherwise eligibl…
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Categories: Immigration Law
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Padilla v. Kentucky – Noncitizen Defendant Has Sixth Amendment Right To Competent Counsel
In a historic decision, on March 31, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Sixth Amendment requires defense counsel to provide affirmative, competent advice to a noncitizen defendant regarding the immigration consequences of a guilty plea. In th…
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Categories: Immigration Law
Border Check Works Both Ways
While it’s common knowledge that Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) routinely checks passengers arriving from international destinations for irregularities such as past criminal convictions and outstanding warrants, today it would appear CBP has exten…
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Categories: Immigration Law
Sentenced to [Married] Life To Avoid Jail Sentence
Frederick Wood of Maryland may have avoided jail time today by marrying the alleged victim. Back in November 2009, Wood was involved in a domestic altercation with his then girlfriend. The police report noted several injuries to the girlfriend. On Ma…
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Categories: Family Law
E-Verify or E-Deny
Compared to my colleagues, I am by far the most politically inactive immigration attorney I know. Yes, I vote, but as a matter of civic duty more than anything else. However, yesterday I felt compelled to spend the afternoon at the state Senate waiti…
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Categories: Immigration Law
Maryland Child Support Guidelines Up For Review
Today, Maryland is considering revising its mandatory child support guidelines for the first time in twenty-two years. When the child support guidelines became mandatory in 1988, it was based on a matrix developed to determine how much parents were e…
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Categories: Family Law
EB-5 Visa: Gamble or Guaranteed Green Card?
Given the long wait times, I’ve been recently been asked by clients if they should try to “buy their way” into the US. What they are referring to is the EB-5 or investor’s visa. To qualify, an investor must: Invest a minimum $1 million (unles…
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Categories: Immigration Law
A Fatal Ending for a Family Forced Apart by Immigration Law
The tale of the Enscalada family is sad because it demonstrates: (1) the harsh reality of current immigration laws, (2) how lack of counsel or poor legal advice may have contributed to this tragic ending, and (3) the uncertainty and difficulties of c…
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Categories: Immigration Law
Same-Sex Marriage Should Be Recognized In Maryland
In an advisory opinion released yesterday, Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler concluded that as a matter of constitutional law, the Court of Appeals would likely recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. The opinion does not enable sam…
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Categories: Family Law
Haitian Humanitarian Parolees Eligible for Medicaid
The Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS) has determined that Haitians granted humanitarian parole as a result of the earthquake are eligible for Medicaid. Normally, individuals granted humanitarian parole are considered non-qualified al…
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Categories: Immigration Law