Grand Rapids Man Sentenced For Felon Firearm Possession and Falsely Attesting U.S. Citizenship

Release Date: May 31, 2018

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN — U.S. Attorney Andrew Birge announced today that Franklin J. Flores, 42, most recently of Grand Rapids, Michigan, was sentenced to two concurrent terms of 24 months’ imprisonment by U.S. District Judge Janet T. Neff, concurrent to his current State of Michigan sentence of 18 to 60 months for identity theft. Flores pleaded guilty pursuant to a plea agreement to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, and one count of falsely attesting U.S. Citizenship on a Form I-130 Petition for Alien Relative and submitting that form to the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services with the intent to obtain benefit for another person.

The investigation began with reports by a New Mexico man that Flores had stolen his identity. On January

Tools Outage

From USCIS News:

USCIS will conduct system maintenance on Sunday, June 3, 2018, from 5 a.m. until 6 p.m. (Eastern).

During this time, our online tools may be unavailable, including:

• Check My Case Status
• e-Request
• Change of Address Online
• Check Processing Times
• Civil Surgeon Locator
• FOIA Status Check
• Office Locator
• Forms by Mail

We apologize for any inconvenience

USCIS to Implement Online Processing of FOIA Requests

From USCIS News:

WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced the launch of our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Immigration Records SysTem (FIRST), which will eventually allow users to submit, manage, and receive FOIA requests entirely online. Before this change, USCIS only accepted FOIA requests by mail, fax, and email, and requestors typically received their documents on a compact disc by mail.

USCIS is commencing FIRST’s digital delivery of services in phases. Initially, requestors who have an immigration court date pending and file a request for documents can create an account within myUSCIS to receive documents digitally, eliminating the time and expense associated with receiving requests by mail.

Through their account, requestors can track the status of their FOIA cases and

DHS Announces Additional Visas for Foreign Workers to Assist American Businesses at Risk of Failing

From USCIS News:

Release Date: May 25, 2018

WASHINGTON — Today, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen M. Nielsen announced that an additional 15,000 H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas will be available for Fiscal Year 2018. In this determination, Secretary Nielsen determined there are not sufficient, qualified, U.S. workers available to perform temporary non-agriculture labor to satisfy the needs of American businesses in FY18. This allocation is in addition to the 66,000 visas already issued this year. Secretary Nielsen made this decision after consulting with Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta, members of Congress, and business owners.

“The limitations on H-2B visas were originally meant to protect American workers, but when we enter a situation where the program unintentionally harms American businesses

USCIS Expands Online Filing

From USCIS News:

WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that Form N-565, Application for Replacement of Naturalization/Citizenship Document, and Form N-336, Request for a Hearing on a Decision in Naturalization Proceedings (Under Section 336 of the INA), can be filed online.

Applicants use Form N-565 to replace a naturalization certificate, certificate of citizenship, or a repatriation certificate. They may also use it to apply for a special certificate of naturalization as a U.S. citizen to be recognized by a foreign country. Applicants use Form N-336 to request a hearing before an immigration officer if we have denied their application for naturalization.

“USCIS is making the process of applying for immigration benefits more efficient, secure and convenient,” said USCIS D

DHS Proposes to Remove the International Entrepreneur Rule

From USCIS News:

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is proposing a rule to end a program that allows certain foreign entrepreneurs to be considered for parole to temporarily come to the United States to develop and build start-up businesses here, known as the International Entrepreneur Rule (IE Final Rule). 

 In July 2017, DHS published a final rule to delay the implementation date of the IE Final Rule to March 14, 2018, to give the Department time to draft a rescission of the IE Final Rule. However, in December 2017, a federal court vacated the delay rule, req

USCIS Efforts Lead to Sentencing in Immigration Fraud Case in the CNMI

From USCIS News:

Sentencing Related to CW Applications for Foreign Workers

SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands – This week, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) efforts led to the sentencing of Arlene Hart for two counts of mail fraud. The defendant was sentenced for her participation in a scheme to defraud the government by submitting fraudulent documents to the USCIS California Service Center (CSC) in support of CNMI-Only Transitional Worker (CW-1) applications for workers from the Philippines. 

Hart forged the signatures of the workers on the employment contracts submitted to USCIS and declared that she had non-temporary, full-time employment for the workers, which was not true. 

“I’m immensely proud of our combined team of experts who aided in bringing these