Even with the passage of immigration reform stalled in Congress, the State of California has been enacting laws benefitting the undocumented population of the State. Notable among these immigration related legislation was a bill allowing illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses. These licenses are expected to be made available no later than January 2015. However, these licenses will have an annotation stating that the document is not an official federal identification and cannot be used to receive public benefits.
Another important legislation that was recently passed was the “Transparent & Responsibility Using State Tolls Act” also known as the Trust Act. The Trust Act seeks to limit the State’s Cooperation with the Federal Program called the “Secure Communities.” On March of 2008, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) introduced the Secure Communities program. The main feature of this program is that once a person is arrested and booked in jail, the arrestee’s fingerprints will be checked against the FBI criminal databases and the US Department of Homeland Security (USDHS) databases. This will allow the government to check not only the arrestee’s criminal background but also the immigration status of the arrestee. Once the immigration status of the person arrested is verified, the enforcement agencies will detain and hold them until they are turned over to ICE custody. With the passage of the Trust Act, local law enforcement agencies are no longer required to detain people for deportation if they are arrested for a minor crime and otherwise eligible for release from custody.
Other immigration related legislation passed includes the following:
• A law which provides that immigrant consultants, attorneys, notaries public, and organization accredited by the United States Board of Immigration Appeals are the only individuals authorized to charge a fee for providing services associated with filing an application under the US Department of Homeland Security’s deferred action program.
• A law which provides that a threat to report the immigration status or suspected immigration status of an individual or the individual’s family may induce fear sufficient to constitute extortion.
• A law which allows applicants, who are not lawfully present in the United States, to be admitted as attorney at law.
• A law which provides for a suspension or revocation of an employer’s business license for retaliation against employees and others on the basis of citizenship and immigration status, and establishes a civil penalty up to $10,000 per violation.
Affected individuals must take advantage of these recently passed laws as they were passed to benefit undocumented population of the State.
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Atty. Dennis E. Chua is a partner in The Law Firm of Chua Tinsay and Vega (CTV), a full service law firm with offices in San Francisco, San Diego and Manila. The information presented in this article is for general information only and is not, nor intended to be, formal legal advice nor the formation of an attorney-client relationship. Call or e-mail CTV for an in-person or phone consultation to discuss your particular situation and/or how their services may be retained at (415) 495-8088; (619) 955-6277; [email protected]. The CTV Attorneys will be at Max’s Restaurant in Vallejo on October 19, 2009 from 5pm to 7pm to hold a FREE legal clinic.
