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News in Brief

The following additional items may be of interest to our readers:

Premium Processing Suspended Until 7/27/2015 for H-1B Extensions: On May 26, USCIS temporarily suspended premium processing for all H-1B Extension of Stay petitions until 7/27/15. USCIS advised that the suspension would allow USCIS to implement the H-4 work authorization (EAD) final rule in a timely manner.

DACA Immigrant May Practice Law in New York State: An appellate panel of the New York Supreme Court held that an undocumented immigrant who is authorized to be present in the U.S. under DACA meets all other eligibility requirements governing admission to practice law in New York, including the requisite good character standard. The individual becomes the third undocumented immigrant lawyer to become eligible to practice law after court decisions in California and Florida in 2014. In those states, the legislatures also have enacted laws paving the way for the licensing of undocumented immigrants. In New York, however, such a bill died last year. The decision could be a test case affecting hundreds of would-be lawyers and empowering immigrants who arrived as children to the United States and who have been granted a reprieve from deportation.

OSC Settlement is Largest Civil Penalty in Discrimination Suit Under INA; ICE Settles I-9 Case with Washington Orchard: A Department of Justice Office of Special Counsel settlement with Luis Esparza Services, Inc., resolving claims that the company discriminated against individuals because of citizenship status, is the largest civil penalty ever secured to resolve a discrimination claim under the INA. The agreement includes $320,000 in civil penalties. Meanwhile, ICE reached a $2.25 million settlement with Prescott-based Broetje Orchards, LLC, for civil violations relating to Form I-9 issues uncovered during an audit, revealing that nearly 950 employees were suspected of not being authorized to work in the United States.