Pace Law School is organizing a panel discussion on “Immigration Reform under the Obama Administration” next Friday afternoon, April 17, and it’s open to the public. The invite says:

On Capitol Hill and in the West Wing, there’s a lot of talk about fixing immigration.  A topnotch panel of leading immigration practitioners and one of the most respected Immigration Court Judges will discuss what is going on, what seems imminent, and what would make sense, with lots of audience participation.

It’s a timely topic, with the growing speculation about the chances for an overhaul and the continuing promises from the Obama team (see today’s front-page story in The New York Times). Here are the speakers:

• Immigration Judge Helen Sichel of the Executive Office for Immigration Review (Update: I’m told it’s important to note that she will speak “in her personal capacity” and not on behalf of the court.)


• Julie Dinnerstein of the Immigration Intervention Project, Sanctuary for Families; and the NYC Family Justice Center in Queens


• Immigration attorneys Stuart Reich of NYC, Philip Berns of Stamford, Conn., and Robin Bikkal of White Plains

The discussion will be moderated by Professor Vanessa Merton. It will run from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Tudor Room at Pace Law School, 78 N. Broadway, White Plains. Participants are asked to RSVP to Michelle Ross at mross@law.pace.edu.

(Photo: Carmen Troesser/The Journal News)

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said this afternoon that since April 1, it has received only about half the number of H-1B visa petitions needed to reach the annual cap of 65,000. The agency is still accepting applications for the visas, which are offered to skilled foreign workers. That’s in contrast to the last two years, when (in better economic times) the 65,000 cap was met within days of the April 1 filing date.

USCIS is also still accepting petitions that are subject to the 20,000-visa cap that applies to those with master’s level degrees or above. Currently it is “just short” of that cap, spokeswoman Sharon Scheidhauer said.

The Fiscal Policy Institute has released data on the number of immigrants in Binghamton, in light of the mass shooting incident that occurred at the American Civic Association.

As of now, some 15 have been reported dead as well as the gunman, Jiverly Voong, a 42-year-old Vietnamese who was recently laid off from his job at IBM.

For those immigration numbers check the Fiscal Policy’s Web site here.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has signed on as co-sponsor of the DREAM Act, which would set up a legalization pathway for undocumented students who came to the United States at age 15 or under. This seems to be the first concrete step in establishing her new stance on the legalization issue.

El Diario reports today that she also favors a halt to raids while the nation takes time to consider comprehensive immigration reform. The article notes Gillibrand’s shift on immigration since her House tenure, where she favored penalties against so-called sanctuary cities.

She said in a press release today:

Every student deserves the opportunity to achieve his or her God given potential. Current law is unfairly punishing thousands of young people who have spent nearly their entire lives in this country. America is the only home many of them know, yet they are being denied the opportunity to achieve their full potential. This legislation says that if they work hard and play by the rules, then they will have the opportunity to get a good education and earn their way to legal status.

The release said that the law would repeal current laws that discourage states from providing in-state tuition to undocumented students.

There are now 18 co-sponsors in the Senate. There are 20 co-sponsors in the House, including New Yorkers Eliot Engel, Carolyn McCarthy and Gary Ackerman.

(Photo: AP)

April 1 marked the start of the five-day season to apply for H1-B visas for skilled professionals. The traditional mad rush is expected to be less so this year because of the economy. Officials at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said last week that they were anticipating another lottery to determine who will be considered, because the agency quickly surpasses its 65,000-visa cap. The economy’s impact is the “big unknown” this year, said Donald Neufeld, acting associate director for domestic operations.

This morning, the agency didn’t want to speculate on this year’s volume.

“We don’t want to unduly influence this process in any way, shape or form,” spokeswoman Chris Rhatigan said.

In White Plains, immigration attorney Susan Henner saw a big drop in the usual demand. “I had about 50 last year and this year I had about 10,” she said. Companies are not eligible if they’ve had a layoff within the last six months in the area of intended employment, she said, and that ruled out a lot of firms right off the bat — particularly in the financial sector.

H-1B’s are a touchy subject, even when the economy’s good. One side argues that the visas take jobs from Americans, the other argues that they enhance the U.S. economy and competitiveness. Here’s a breakdown by the WSJ’s “Numbers Guy.” Microsoft makes its case here.

New York is one of the few states to hold a Spanish spelling bee, and has done so for 25 years. It’s mostly an NYC thing, but New Rochelle will be represented this year by two middle schoolers at the May 29 event. I sat in on the local qualifying rounds yesterday, learned some new vocabulary words, and got to meet the two champion spellers Nikol Palomino and Jonathan Flores, below.

Read on for the story in today’s Journal News.

(Photos: Matthew Brown/The Journal News)

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