100th ANNIVERSARY OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

A year ago today one of my client’s wished me Happy Women’s Day.  I was surprised as I had never before heard of International Women’s Day.  Today is a very special day as it marks the 100th Anniversary and I thought I would share a little history with our readers…

International Women’s Day (IWD) was first celebrated in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on March 19, 1911. More than one million women and men attended IWD rallies campaigning for women’s rights to work and be trained, vote, to hold public office, and end discrimination.  In 1913 IWD was transferred to March 8th and this day has remained the global date for IWD.

Since its birth in the socialist movement, IWD has grown to become a global day of recognition and celebration across developed and developing countries alike. For decades, IWD has grown in strength annually. For many years the United Nations has held an annual IWD conference to coordinate international efforts for women’s rights and participation in social, political and economic processes.  The United Nations designated 1975 as “International Women’s Year.”  Women’s organizations and governments around the world have also observed IWD by holding large-scale events that honor women’s advancement and while diligently reminding of the continued vigilance and action required to ensure that women’s equality is gained and maintained in all aspects of life.

 

Today IWD is an official holiday in Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, China (for women only), Cuba, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Madagascar (for women only), Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Nepal (for women only), Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zambia.   In some countries men honor their mothers, wives, girlfriends, and colleagues with flowers and small gifts.  In other countries IWD is the equivalent of Mother’s Day and children give small presents to their mothers and grandmothers.  The United States does not recognize IWD as a national holiday; but does regard the entire month of March is as “Women’s History Month.”

Annually on March 8th thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate women’s achievements.  A global web of rich and diverse local activity connects women from all around the world ranging from political rallies, business conferences, government activities and networking events through to local women’s craft markets, theatric performances, fashion parades and more.  Many global corporations have also started to more actively support IWD by running their own internal events and through supporting external ones.  For example, today Google changed its logo commemorating IWD.

Many people may think there is one global theme each year for IWD but it has been completely up to each country and group as to what appropriate theme they select.  The 2011 global United Nation theme is:  Equal access to education, training and
science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women.

If you would like to read more on the history of International Women’s Day or want to find an event near you please visit:  International Women’s Day.


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Filing a Change of Address Form with USCIS?

USCIS announced as of April 1, 2011 Change of Address Forms should be mailed to the new filing location at:

DHS/USCIS
Harrisonburg File Storage Facility
Attn:  AR-11
1344 Pleasants Drive
Harrisonburg, VA 22801

 

Change of address forms mailed to the old location will be forwarded to the new filing location beginning April 1, 2011 until April 28, 2011.

You also have the option of notifying USCIS of a change of address online at:  Change of Address on the Internet for USCIS.

Remember:  In addition to changing your address for a pending application the law requires that all non-U.S. citizens, except for holders of A or G visas, report a change of address within 10 days of moving.

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Diversity Visa Scams

Numerous individuals have reported fraudulent e-mails and letters saying they have been selected in the Diversity Visa program and asked to pay a fee to “complete” the Diversity Visa process.  These scammers pose as the U.S. government in an attempt to get money from people hoping to get a visa.  Please do not fall victim to this scam.

To find out if you have been selected for the DV-2012 you may begin checking the status of your DV-2012 Lottery entry on or after May 1, 2011 at http://www.dvlottery.state.gov.  DV-2012 entrants will NOT be notified by mail this year and MUST check the status of their case online on or after May 1, 2011.  Entry Status Check will provide you, the successful selectee, with instructions on how to proceed with your application and notify you of the date and time of your immigrant visa appointment. Again, the Kentucky Consular Center will no longer be mailing notification letters to DV selectees.

The Diversity Visa lottery selectees for DV-2011 were notified by mail between May and July of 2010.  If you applied for the DV-2011 and do not know the status of your entry,  you may check the status of your entries at http://www.dvlottery.state.gov under 2011 Entrant Status Check. For successful DV 2011 entrants, the diversity immigrant visa application process is underway, and be completed and visas issued by September 30, 2011.

If you need immigration assistance or have questions about the Diversity Visa program please call an accredited Immigration Attorney today.

For information on avoiding this scam or other types of immigration scams, visit USCIS’ website: Don’t be a Victim webpage.

 

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UPDATE: Anti-Illegal Immigrant Activist Sentenced to Death

Update to our previous post on February 18, 2011:

Shawna Forde, the leader of the Minutemen American Defense, a small border watch group, becomes the third woman on Arizona’s death row, the Pima County Attorney’s Office said.

The 43-year-old Forde was convicted February 14, 2011 of first-degree murder and other charges in the May 2009 home invasion in Arivaca, a desert community about 10 miles north of Mexico. Raul Flores, 29, and his 9-year-old daughter, Brisenia, were murdered during the invasion.

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UPDATE: Suspected Honor Killer Found Guilty

Update to our previous post on February 15, 2011:

A Maricopa County, Arizona, jury convicted Faleh Hassan Almaleki, 50, on Tuesday of second-degree murder in the 2009 death of his daughter, Noor Faleh Almaleki.  The jury also found him guilty of aggravated assault, for causing serious injuries to Amal Edan Khalaf, the mother of Noor’s fiancé, and two counts of leaving the scene.   Almaleki, wore headphones as he listened to an interpreter, showed little emotion when the jury read the verdict.

During the trial Almaleki chose not to testify.  Evidence was also presented that demonstrates after the incident, Almaleki drove to Mexico, abandoning his vehicle in Nogales.  He then made his way to Mexico City and boarded a plane to Britain, where authorities denied him entry into the country and put him on a plane back to the United States.

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UPDATE: Two Men Found Guilty in Federal Court of Hate Crime Murder of Mexican Immigrant

Update to our previous post on October 15, 2010:

Two Pennsylvania men convicted of a hate crime in the beating death of an undocumented Mexican immigrant were each sentenced Wednesday to spend nine years behind bars, according to a U.S. District Court statement.

Derrick Donchak and Brandon Piekarsky were found guilty in federal court in October of several charges, including hate crimes and depriving the victim Luis Ramirez of his civil rights.

During the federal trial, witnesses testified that racist language was used before and during the attack and that Ramirez was kicked in the head repeatedly after he fell down. The defendants, they said, did not want immigrants in their neighborhood and repeatedly ordered Ramirez to leave.

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U.S. CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES PRESS CONFERENCE ON STRATEGIC GOALS AND INITIATIVES FOR 2011

Today the Director of USCIS, Alejandro Mayorkas, outlined the agency’s priorities and goals for 2011.

Goal 1: To strengthen the immigration system’s national security safeguards and combat fraud. We have no mission more important than guarding against those who might seek access to the United States to do our nation harm.

Goal 2: To improve agency operations and customer service. Of course, the critical program that we have to accomplish this strategic goal is the deployment of our transformation effort. And at the end of this year we intend to deploy “Release A” of that effort, which is an agency-wide effort to move our immigration services from a paper based system to an electronic environment.

Goal 3: To promote quality and consistency in the administration of our immigration laws.

Goal 4: To promote citizenship and immigrant integration. We are leading the citizenship public education and awareness initiative, a nationwide Congressionally funded program to promote both the values of the U.S. citizenship and the free educational resources available to eligible, lawful permanent residents.

Goal 5: To increase agency transparency and public engagement and to continue on the record all that we have established in this past year of engaging with the public. We will, for example, expand our multilingual public engagement offerings and increase our engagements with the underserved and the vulnerable.

For more information about these goals, or for the “Question and Answer Session” please visit: Press Conference Transcript

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Update on Delayed I-130 Applications

In our February 15, 2011 post we reported USCIS implemented a rapid response plan to expedite the adjudication of approximately 36,000 I-130 petitions.

To date USCS has:

Approved: 10,264

Denied: 55

Mailed out Requests for Evidence/Intents to Deny: 4,137

Referred to District Office for Interview:  408

We will continue to provide updates as to the progress of the adjudication of these petitions.  In the meantime USCIS encourages people with pending cases at the service centers to monitor the progress of their cases by accessing “My Case Status” online.

If you have one of the 36,000 delayed I-130 petitions and there is no action on your case, such as an approval, denial or an RFE, by March 1, 2011 you can contact USCIS at: I-130Inquiries.Tsc@dhs.gov.

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Anti-Illegal Activist Convicted of Murder and May Face Death Penalty

Shawna Forde, an anti-illegal immigration activist, was convicted Monday on eight counts, including two counts of murder for the shooting deaths of Raul Flores and his daughter, Brisenia, and the attempted murder of the child’s mother, Gina Gonzales.  The jury also convicted Forde on two counts of aggravated assault, and one count each of burglary, armed robbery and aggravated robbery.

The jury could begin deliberating on the death penalty case as early as Friday afternoon, the Pima County Attorney’s office said. Her alleged accomplices, Albert Robert Gaxiola and Jason Eugene Bush, are scheduled to go on trial later this year.

During the trial Forde was portrayed as the ringleader of the hit squad, planning the raid and the murders to steal weapons, money and drugs to finance a new anti-illegal immigration outfit.  The trio picked Flores’ home in Arivaca, prosecutors said, because of a claim made by Gaxiola they would find drugs there.  Flores did have a history of drug-related offenses but no drugs were found in the house.

On the night of the murders the Forde, Gaxiola and Bush posed as border patrol and law enforcement officers at at the Flores’ home after midnight.  The victims had returned several hours earlier from a shopping trip in Tucson to buy shoes for Brisenia for summer camp.  Brisenia was sleeping on the couch with her puppy when the group demanded to be let into the home. They accused Flores of harboring illegal aliens and said told the victims house was surrounded by agents.  Once inside, the gunman shot Flores in the chest and Gonzales in the leg. Brisenia was later shot as she pleaded for her life.

Brisenia and her father were both American-born U.S. citizens.

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Update on Suspected Honor Killer’s Trial

The murder trial of Iraqi immigrant, Faleh Almaleki, accused of fatally running down his daughter with an SUV in 2009, is in the hands of the Maricopa County Superior Court jury.

During the trial Almaleki chose not to testify and he plead not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault and leaving the scene of an accident.

Please check back for case updates.

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