Charleston Immigration Law Blog

Last month, officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that they have decided to shelve 7.5 percent of deportation cases that are currently in the system. The decision is part of an effort aimed at refocusing deportations on detainees with criminal backgrounds. Roughly 16,500 deportation cases will be suspended under the plan.

So far, about 2,700 of the cases have already been put on hold, while the remaining wait for paperwork and background checks to go through. Latino Fox News reported that it is uncertain how many of the immigrants involved in the cases have been notified of the suspensions, or how many have accepted it.

This weekend, many people throughout the nation celebrated Cinco de Mayo, including the president of the United States. In fact, the president took the opportunity to reach out to the Hispanic population and tell them that he is prepared to sign a bill that would provide a path to citizenship for immigrant students and young people.

The Dream Act, as it is called, would allow immigrants who are in the country illegally to gain citizenship through the perusal of higher education or service in the armed forces. The goal is to avoid deporting the many young people who have spent most of their lives in the United States and consider it to be their home.

Last June, South Carolina lawmakers passed a strict new immigration law that makes it extremely difficult for undocumented immigrants to live and work in the state. The law was supposed to go into effect in January, but a judge blocked portions of it after the federal government filed a lawsuit to stop the law.

The portions of the law that were blocked include the section ordering police to check the immigration status of people they pull over if it's suspected the person is in the country illegally, the section that makes it a crime for immigrants to not carry immigration paperwork at all times and the section that makes it illegal for immigrants to transport or house themselves.

This week is an important one for immigration law in the United States. Before tougher immigration laws were passed in South Carolina and several other states, Arizona became the first to implement legislation that served as a blueprint.

Now, over two years later, the United States Supreme Court will weigh the validity of Arizona's controversial immigration law and the decision will undoubtedly affect all the states that have followed in Arizona's footsteps.