Category: ESTA News

The governor of Texas, which has one of the most stringent abortion bans in the United States, has recommended that sexual assault victims take the morning-after pill to avoid becoming pregnant. This seems to be one of the attempts to stop the controversy from spreading by informing people how to prevent unwanted pregnancies as the Democratic Party’s supporters gather as the issue of abortion emerges as one of the issues ahead of the midterm elections in November.

In an interview with local media KXAS-TV and the Dallas Morning News on the 4th, Republican Governor Greg Abbott of Texas reminded victims of sexual assault that they can get “mortem contraceptive” medical services to avoid pregnancy.

“We want to support victims,” ​​Abbott said in an interview, the Dallas Morning News reported.

“If you get medical care right away, you can first get a Plan B pill to prevent pregnancy,” he said.

Since last month, Texas has enacted an anti-abortion law that bans abortion even in cases of rape or incest and imposes civil and criminal penalties for providing an abortion.

In addition, the law bans abortion after 6 weeks of pregnancy, which in effect completely bans abortion.

Plan B, also known as the morning after pill, is an emergency contraceptive pill that was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1999. A synthetic hormone called levonorgestrel prevents fertilization.

The emergency contraceptive pill is supposed to be used within 72 hours of having sex, but it is said to be most effective if taken within 24 hours.

If you say that you are a citizen even though you are not a citizen and it becomes a problem, the way to obtain permanent residence is permanently blocked. We have summarized the issues surrounding the too deadly false citizenship claims.

What is a false citizenship claim? It is a problem if you claim to be a citizen even if you are not a citizen. This argument does not necessarily have to be made against the public authorities. Even if you make this claim to a private employer, it holds true. For example, if you falsely indicate that you are a citizen on the I-9 form you fill out to check whether you are eligible for work at the beginning of your working life, you are calling it a false citizenship.

Why is this issue particularly problematic? If you falsely claim to be a citizen before September 30, 1996, you will be treated the same as any other form of fraud or false claim. There was also a way to get an exemption. However, after that day, if you falsely claim to be a citizen, you will be subject to harsher sanctions. Fortunately, before 2019, if there was no willful intent, it was not considered a false citizen. However, the situation changed when a related ruling was issued at the BIA in 2019. A Chinese citizen, a permanent resident, who was not confident in the English test, bought a citizenship certificate from an immigration office worker. With this certificate of citizenship, Jang made a US passport and traveled abroad. In the end, Mr. Jang, who was handed over to a deportation trial, claimed that he believed he was a real citizen. However, the BIA emphasized that the intent to deceive is not a violation of the rules and emphasized that if Congress had intended to do so, the phrase would have been inserted into the statute at the time of legislation, but it did not.

Following the BIA’s decision, USCIS also revised its guidelines the following year. As a result, if the following three requirements are met, it is a case of false citizenship claim. First, claim to be a citizen. Second, you must not actually be a citizen. Third, they may have claimed to be a citizen for a specific purpose or to enjoy benefits under related laws such as immigration law.

However, the California Southern District Court in San Diego in 2021 stated that the BIA’s case was “unacceptable to the extent that it is different from the BIA’s past position, contradicts the interpretation of the State Department, and goes against the purpose of the federal legislative session.” The federal district court held that the claim of a false citizen can only be established when you are a citizen even though you subjectively know that you are not a citizen.

– How does the State Department view this issue?  The Ministry of State is of the position that to be a false citizen case, you must know that you are not a citizen. The State Department cites other BIA cases in the Consular Guidelines (FAM), citing a contradictory position with the Jang case and USCIS. However, if you claim that you are a citizen because you don’t really know that you are not, the person making the claim has the burden of proving it clearly. The State Department believes that it does not matter if a minor under the age of 18 is falsely claiming to be a citizen if he or she will make a mistake without knowing the consequences of this claim. This is also a different position from USCIS.

Are individual decisions of federal district courts, such as the Southern District of California, binding? Individual judgments of the Southern District of California are not binding on USCIS or BIA decisions. Therefore, the interpretation of USCIS or the BIA cannot be reversed based on this decision. If this judgment is in the form of a federal court of appeals precedent, the decision of the USCIS or the BIA is also binding on the jurisdiction of that court of appeal.

Are there any exceptions when claiming a false citizenship? If you claim to be a citizen and then voluntarily cancel it before it’s too late, it doesn’t matter. The revocation must be made before the USCIS examiner can establish the truth of the facts and before the process is over. In addition, there is one more exception. First, you must live in the United States as a permanent resident before you turn 16. Second, both parents must be citizens. Third, when you claimed to be a citizen when you had reason to believe so.

If false citizenship is a problem, what is the solution? Even if you have a history of making false claims of citizenship, you can cancel your deportation or apply for asylum. However, an application for cancellation of deportation can only be applied after the deportation trial has passed. Moreover, it is very difficult for a person without permanent residence to apply for deportation cancellation to meet the conditions. First, you must have lived in the United States for at least 10 years. Second, there must be no moral flaws in the last 10 years. Third, they must not have committed any crime that could result in deportation or entry ban. Fourth, if you are deported, you must prove that your spouse, parent, or child who is a citizen or permanent resident will experience exceptional and very special difficulties.

Massachusetts, located in the New England region of the northeast of the United States, was ranked as the best place to live among the 50 states.

WalletHub, a Washington, DC-based financial information company, ranked Massachusetts at the top of its list of ‘2022 Most Liveable States’ on the 16th.

Massachusetts ranked first in education and health conditions, fourth in safety, and sixth in quality of life, scoring a total of 62.65 points, ranking first overall.

After Massachusetts, New Jersey was in second place, followed by New York in third, Idaho in fourth, Virginia in fifth, New Hampshire in sixth, Florida in seventh, Wyoming in eighth, Minnesota in ninth and Wisconsin in tenth.

New Jersey ranked first in safety, fifth in education and health conditions, and New York ranked first in quality of life and second in safety, respectively.

WalletHub said, “The ranking was made by scoring a total of 52 items divided into five categories: housing cost, employment opportunity, educational and health conditions, quality of life, and safety.” said to have

The bottom was Mississippi, with a total score of 39.77. Mississippi was rated 50th for education and health, 49th for economy, and 49th for quality of life.

Alaska is ranked 49th, Louisiana is 48th, Arkansas is 47th, and New Mexico is 46th. Alaska ranks 50th for quality of life and 45th for safety, while Louisiana ranks 49th for health and education and 45th for economy.

Meanwhile, California has the highest cost of living and Iowa has the lowest.

West Virginia had the highest home ownership rate and New York had the lowest.

Mississippi has the highest poverty rate, New Hampshire has the lowest, Louisiana has the highest crime rate, and Maine has the lowest.

In general, states in the northeast and north-central regions made it to the top of the overall rankings, while states in the south remained mostly at the bottom, with the exception of Florida.

A US consumer has filed a lawsuit against the company, claiming that there is no mango in Starbucks’ mango drink.

According to Bloomberg News on the 8th, the woman named Joan Comenis filed a lawsuit with the federal court in Manhattan, New York on the 5th.

She claimed that some Starbucks drinks that had ‘mango’ in their product name didn’t contain mango.

She also added that there was no acai in the drink that had ‘acai’ in its name, a type of palm tree fruit.

Comenis claims that water, grape juice concentrate and sugar are the main ingredients in these drinks ‘unwittingly’ by the consumer.

She did not disclose the basis for making this claim about the ingredients of the beverage.

A Starbucks spokesperson declined to comment, saying she has not yet been contacted by the complaint.

One day, she ordered a drink of acai, and she was shocked to find out that she didn’t have acai, Comminis claims, depriving her of the health benefits of the fruit.

The company also argued that Starbucks violated a New York State law prohibiting consumer deception and false advertising in that the product name was viewed as an “implicit promise” to an ingredient.

She also said that Starbucks took advantage of this by cheating on the ingredients of its products.

The price of a mango drink in Manhattan is $5.25 (about 6,830 won) for a medium-sized (Grande).

“The consumer pays a high price when he sees the product name,” the company said in a statement.

According to Bloomberg, the amount claimed by Comminis is said to be more than $5 million.

New Jersey auto insurance will raise the minimum liability insurance limit to $35,000.

As a result, insurance premiums for the 1.1 million auto insurance subscribers are expected to inevitably increase.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed a bill that would raise the minimum limit for auto insurance companies’ liability and damages caused by uninsured drivers from $15,000 to $35,000.

The minimum compensation limit will be raised to $25,000 in 2023 and then raised to $35,000 in 2026 in stages.

The insurance industry expects the legislation will add $125 more each year to the insurance premiums of about 1.1 million New Jersey auto insurance subscribers.

Rep. Robert Earth, a Republican who has opposed the bill, called it “evil law that places a financial burden on New Jersey’s low-income, middle-class and working-class families.”

On the other hand, supporters said, “The minimum compensation limit for car insurance has been too low, so even if an accident occurs, the necessary medical expenses have not been sufficiently paid. Reform of the outdated system is necessary to protect victims of car accidents.”

However, the insurance industry believes that the average amount of claims for injuries in New Jersey is about $18,000, and that raising the minimum compensation limit to $35,000 is too much.

The law, initiated by State Senate Speaker Nick Scutari, raises the minimum amount of personal injury protection (PIP) in car insurance to $250,000, and provides compensation for medical expenses in case of a traffic accident to the personal health of the insured, not the car insurance company. The main goal was to prohibit claims to insurance companies first. (Reported on page A3 of this report on June 22)

However, during legislative discussions, criticism for causing excessive increases in insurance premiums became fierce, and eventually the policy was turned to raising the minimum limit of liability insurance.

Meanwhile, Governor Murphy also signed legislation (S-1368) requiring business owners or landlords to maintain liability insurance coverage of at least $500,000 in case of injury or death on rental properties.

In Los Angeles County, non-citizens can also apply for civil service jobs.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors recently voted unanimously to remove the citizenship rule from the condition of applying for county civil service positions.

The agenda, co-initiated by supervisors Hilda Solis and Supervisors Sheila Quill last year, aims to allow non-citizens to apply for Los Angeles County officials.

“LA County is a community of immigrants from all over the world,” Sollis Supervisor Board Chair said in a statement. he emphasized.

However, for some positions that require only citizenship under federal and state laws, the citizenship rule will be maintained, and the citizenship rule will still apply when recruiting police personnel, including the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office.

As of 2018, approximately 880,000 non-citizens were living in Los Angeles County. Solis said she hopes to open new opportunities for immigrant residents who have been unable to challenge public officials because of her status.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the U.S. Immigration Services (USCIS) and immigration-related agencies, which have deepened since the COVID-19 pandemic, have worsened the backlog of procedures to the worst, requiring major reforms.

The LA Times cited the case of an Indian applicant who died of COVID-19 last year ahead of an interview for a permanent residency after waiting for more than 16 years for the door to open the door to immigration with family invitations. He pointed out that he had reached the point of dying first while waiting.

According to an analysis by the Cato Institute, an estimated 1.6 million elderly applicants die before they get approval because of the long waiting period for family invitation immigration, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The number of applications pending at USCIS, ranging from permanent residency procedures to work permits, visa applications and citizenship, has increased by one-third since the pandemic, reaching 8.6 million as of March.

In addition, the number of backlogs pending in federal immigration courts reached 1.8 million, up 25 percent from pre-pandemic levels.

In addition, the time required for work permits to be processed by the Federal Department of Labor prior to the Immigration Service’s review was previously possible within two months, but now it takes more than seven months, the LA Times reported.

Not only this. The backlog of visa procedures at US embassies abroad, which is in charge of the State Department, is also very high, so in the case of last month, cases that should have already been granted visas had not yet been scheduled for an interview. In total, it was found that there were more than 410,000 cases. This is a significant increase from the average monthly waiting list of 61,000 people before the pandemic.

The waiting period at the US embassy for a B1 or B2 visa interview, such as for travel or business, was only 17 days during the pandemic, but now averages 247 days, the Cato Research Institute analyzed.

The USCIS auditor’s office analyzed that the root cause of this situation was a combination of an increase in immigration applications, a shortage of USCIS budget and staff, and a situation in which immigration services were paralyzed during the pandemic.

In relation to this, the federal congress allocated $275 million in the budget for relieving the immigration backlog, including the expansion of immigration at the Immigration Service, in this fiscal year, but it seems unlikely that the immigration backlog will be fundamentally resolved, the newspaper pointed out.

Immigrants from Latin America and other countries who went to the United States to find a new life are dying one after another at sea and on land.

On the 28th of last month, five smugglers drowned in waters near Puerto Rico. According to the Federal Coast Guard, a smuggler forcibly disembarked illegal immigrants off the island of Mona, an uninhabited island west of Puerto Rico, and in the process, five people drowned.

The Coast Guard rescued 66 people, including 41 men and 25 women, including two minors, from a boat carrying smugglers.

In Nicaragua, Central America, a bus on a highway crashed down a cliff, killing 13 Venezuelans. According to Nicaragua police, 16 people have been killed and 47 injured in the accident that occurred the night before.

Nicaragua is a region mainly through which Venezuelans who want to go to the United States and other countries to escape the economic difficulties of their country pass.

Until last year, they used to cross the U.S.-Mexico border after flying to Mexico. However, starting this year, as Mexico requires entry visas for Venezuelans, more and more people travel by land through other Central American countries.

Some beaches in King County have been closed as more and more residents are seeking to escape the heat and enjoy swimming in lakes and beaches as the heat wave hits the Seattle area.

King County officials said a recent beach water test in the area showed that some beaches had high levels of bacteria and decided to close them for the time being until they drop again.

The beaches that were decided to be closed include Jean Coulomb Park, Green Lake East Beach, Hidden Lake, Juanita Beach, Maiden Bauer Bay Beach, and Newcastle Beach. It is a place that is often visited by families and tourists, so inconvenience and disappointment is expected.

Authorities measure bacterial concentrations in water from three different locations per park each week, average the results, and then close them down if the numbers are high.

Even if the bacteria level goes down, the water quality test will be conducted twice a week until it is determined that it is safe for residents to use it again, he said.

The sector most sensitive to currency effects is the information technology segment. 58% of its turnover is generated outside the United States. In the United States, the strength of the note is causing a stir among several multinationals. The list of plaintiffs could grow with the results of the tech giants.

What is happening in the currency market is starting to worry big American companies. Already faced with galloping inflation – which reached 9.1% in June – and an increasingly perceptible slowdown in global growth, they must now contend with the strength of the greenback.

The dollar index – which compares it to a basket of other international currencies – has been soaring since June 2021. It has already gained almost 20% in just over a year and returned to its highest level in two decades. This enabled it, among other things, to achieve parity with the euro EURUSD 0.03% at the beginning of this month.

This relatively exceptional rise is supported by two main factors. First, the dollar is considered a haven in case of shocks in the financial markets. It was, for example, strongly acclaimed in March 2020, when the health crisis caused a panic on equities.

But what triggered this new run on the dollar were monetary policy expectations. The Federal Reserve (Fed) completely changed its tune last year to fight rising prices. And unsurprisingly, this attracts foreign investors looking for yield.

Earnings Pressure

This strength of the dollar is not at all to the liking of large American companies since they make part of their turnover outside the United States. According to Morgan Stanley’s calculations, each year-over-year percentage point increase in the U.S. dollar index translates to a 0.5 percentage point drop in earnings growth for the S&P 500.

“The strength of the dollar comes at an inopportune time for companies already facing pressure on margins and increasingly weak demand,” said its analysts.

Several American multinationals have already sounded the alarm. It said last week that exchange rates slashed its revenue by 6 points of growth for the second quarter. Or 900 million dollars flown away. And to warn that the negative impact on its balance sheet could amount to 3.5 billion dollars by the end of the year.

Tech giants’ revenues under threat

The pharmaceutical group Johnson & Johnson and the video-on-demand platform Netflix also alerted. And the list is very likely to grow this week with expected results from Apple, Coca-Cola and Microsoft. According to data compiled by FactSet, about 40% of the revenues of S&P 500 companies come from abroad. The sector most sensitive to currency effects is the information technology segment. 58% of its turnover is generated outside the United States.

The question remains whether the rise of the dollar will continue over the next few months. Unlike in previous years, the authorities do not seem alarmed by the situation on the currency market, being more concerned about inflation. For its part, the greenback retreated slightly. After peaking in mid-July, the US currency recorded its worst weekly performance in nearly two months on a statistic showing a slowdown in economic activity.