Hey friends, I'm streaming live. Today's September 7th, Monday, September 7th, which is labor
day. Happy labor day. For those of you who are here in the United States, um, I'm waiting
for my system to tell me that you guys are able to see me in this session, guys, we're
going to talk about the preliminary injunction order that was issued, um, while the lawsuit,
uh, with respect to the presidential proclamation and the fact that the plaintiffs were seeking
a preliminary injunction while the judge issued its order, his order on Friday, September
4th. Okay. Now I see that you're with me. Good to see you guys. Hello? Hello. Hello.
Um, nice to see you see dojo. Nice to have you on with me. How are you guys doing today?
How are you feeling happy for while happy labor day, not fourth. Happy labor day, Jerry.
It's nice to see you. Thank you for joining me.
Um, who else is on? Nadia is on, Hey Nadia. It's good to see you as usual. Uh, Rashida.
Great to see you as usual. Uh, thank you for that, Sandy. Nice to see you Kerwin. Great
to see you as usual. Um, who else is on Christine? Okay, so it's labor day, right? And I shouldn't
be working, but I am guys can tell I'm really like, I work a lot, uh, but it let's go ahead
and dive into this judge's order because it's very important. And many of you may have already
heard the news that, uh, the judge did issue his order on Friday, but it's a very long
order. It's 85 pages. And so I had time to finally read it and I want to go over some
of the major points with you guys. Okay. Um, it's good to see you, Eric. Thank you for
joining today, Marlin.
Nice to have you on as well. And um, friends, I have good news and I have bad news. So I
just want to make it clear that this is one of those videos that's, um, or sessions. That's
not really that easy to pull off because some of the news is not going to be great. Alright.
Um, it's good for, for others, but not, um, for the Mo for the most part, it's bad news
from my perspective. Okay. Uh, let's go ahead and dive in. And as you're coming on board,
come and join in this session. Just give me, um, some likes and thumbs up and announce
yourself and let me know where you're watching from. For those of you who are new to me,
welcome. I'm Latoya, McBean Pompey and immigration lawyer based in New York, but we work with
people all over the world. And, um, I've been tracking the issues with respect to the pro
presidential proclamations that are preventing so many people from coming to the United States
to be with their family or to start work.
And, uh, the biggest update with respect to this issue is the fact that on Friday, September
5th, judge Metta issued his order and it's 85 pages long. And I'm going to, I have some
notes here. I'm not going to take you into everything that's in this order. It's not
necessary to dive into all of the legal arguments. I'm just going to pull out some main things
here that I think is very important for you guys to understand. Um, now let's do this.
Let me go ahead. And so this is the order it was issued on September 4th, September
4th. And just to refresh your memory, guys, who do these presidential proclamations impact
right now, they impact those who are in the family based preference in a family based
preference category. So we're talking about parents of, uh, we're talking about spouse,
children, um, of green card holders. We're talking about adult children of us citizens.
We're talking about siblings. And then we're also talking additionally about other people
who this impact, uh, we're talking about diversity lottery winners, the H one, B H Tubi J trainees,
uh, teachers are pairs and some others L uh, nonimmigrant visas, uh, visa applicants as
well. Now the proc, the, the proclamations, as you guys know, suspended the issuance of
visa to these individuals, and it also suspended their entry into the United States. And so
with respect to the proclamation, the plaintiffs, the Gomez plaintiffs wanted a preliminary
injunction to stop the enforcement of these policies, right? And so they own, so here's
what happened. Unfortunately, the preliminary injunction guys, um, was not issued with respect
to those who are in the family base preference system. It was only issued to the DV lottery
winners. And so the court found that the DV, the diversity visa winners, right, the lottery
winners, they would suffer irreparable harm if they don't get that visa issued by September
30th this month. And so, um, those are the individuals who, um, the court found had a
more compelling argument and a more compelling case. Everyone else. The other, the argument
with respect to those who are in the family system, um, the, uh, H one B the H two B L
JVs applicants, the court did not agree with, um, the plaintiff's argument
Arguments. Okay.
Okay. So that's, that is the biggest thing that you should know about right now. And
so, uh, let's do this. Let me see what else I could share with you here, based on my notes.
So the DV lottery winners, there were about 43,000 people who had not yet been issued
their visa before the proclamation, the April proclamation went into effect. And so according
to the court, those individuals, the embassies should not interpret the proclamations to
mean that DV lottery winners can not get their visa issued. Um, uh, so those individuals,
the court said that those end of the embassies need to expedite, expedite the processing
of visas for these individuals this month. The court did not say that they would give,
um, the government more time to do this beyond the September 30th deadline, but they did
say that we will revisit this issue, come back to us in a couple of weeks, let us know
how many people have been processed by at, at, at this point.
And we'll revisit the issue about whether we should extend this deadline to give people
more time, to give the embassies more time to process these individuals so that they
would not be harmed by not getting their visa issued and their opportunity to come to America.
Um, and so that's, that's the biggest takeaway from the judge's order. Again, it is 85 pages
long, right? This thing is huge 85 pages long. And let me just read to you a summary here
on page four. Um, it's gonna sound very, you know, it's all legal ease, right? Uh, written
by very smart people. So just bear with me here, but I want you to understand exactly
what the court said and, uh, let's see. Page four. Oh, okay. So let me go pull this up
a little bit better for you here. Okay. So the court rejects plaintiffs statutory and
constitutional challenges to the proclamations, but holds that plaintiffs are substantially
likely to succeed on their claims that the state department's policy of not reviewing
and adjudicating non-exempt visas is in accordance with law. Uh, well, let me back up, firstly,
the court said that they're granting this request in part and denying it in part okay.
As it relates to the preliminary injunction. And so then it says, um,
Uh, if it,
It holds that plaintiffs are substantially likely to succeed on their claims that the
state department's policy of not reviewing an adjudicated non-exempt visas is in, is
not in accordance with law is in excess of statutory authority and is arbitrary and capricious.
Okay. It also says the state department, non processing of 2020 diversity visa applications
constitutes agency action, unreasonably delayed, and the state department's exclusion of 2020
diversity visa applications from its guidance on medical mission, critical services is arbitrary
and capricious. Um, I'm not gonna read the rest of this. I'll put a link in the description
below so that you guys can go back. If you'd like you could go back and read the, the entire
85 pages for yourself so that you could see, um, the arguments that were raised, but in
an, in a nutshell, the diversity visa, the 2020 diversity visa folks will face irreparable
harm.
If the injunction is not issued. So the court has, the judge has held. Now, one thing you
guys got to remember is that this judge was appointed by president Obama, right. And so
you, you know, obviously you would think that, okay, he's going to be on the side of immigrants.
He's maybe more on the liberal side. Right. Uh, but if you read this order, they had,
um, the court had, um, a lot of very strong arguments side and actually with the government,
the Trump administration. And so, um, that's unfortunate, but that's, that's what, where
this is right now. Um, so again, the court temporarily stops the no visa policy as it's
applied to the DV 20, 20 winners and the beneficiaries. So that's great news for them and that em
and embassies should expedite processing, um, and issuing a diversity visa, uh, diversity,
uh, winner visas by September 30th. Um, as it relates to the family, the families, uh,
who are waiting, uh, for an interview waiting for a visa weighed in to come to America,
the court did not stop the enforcement of the proclamation. So all of those individuals
are still, are still,
I'm still impacted
Acted here, unfortunately. So that's good news and bad news. Right. So I wanted, let
me pause for a moment and take a look at some of your comments, um, before we wrap up. Okay.
So Sophia says, what about children under 21 of green card holders? So Sophia for children
who are under 21
On, um,
They are also largely
Band band
Under the proclamation, unless they are going to age out during the period of the proclamation.
So if they're closer to turn in 21 over the next couple of few months, um, while the proclamation
is in effect, then those individuals are exempt and they are able to comment.
Okay. Um, okay.
Danette says, what about children under 21 of us citizens? So they are actually not in
the family preference system. They are immediate relatives of us citizens. And so they are
not banned under this proclamation. Um, someone has asked a question about the F for, uh,
heed Naheed yeah. F four that's the sibling category. So, uh, that category is also banned
under this proclamation. Guys. I do encourage you to go back and watch some of the older
videos that I do have explaining who is caught up in these proclamations so that you have
a good sense of where your family member sits at this point. The point of this video is
to share with you the judge's order. Um, because, because plaintiffs were attempting to get
a preliminary injunction that would stop the enforcement and implementation of these, uh,
awful proclamations, but they were successful with respect to the DV winners.
Um, uh, but not so with the family categories. Okay. So that's, um, that's kind of unfortunate,
uh, Claire, that is unfortunate, not kind of, it is unfortunate. Let me be clear about
that. Clara says, what about marriage base interviews in for those who are already in
the U S I think I had mentioned in my last video on Thursday, I'm not sure if I did or
not, did not, but, um, those who are here in the United States are not impacted number
one by these proclamations and so interviews that were scheduled, but, um, canceled due
to Corona virus, field offices have been sending out notices to those individuals. I don't
know which field office you're in. Some are moving a bit faster than others. Um, there's,
you know, all field offices have new procedures now with respect to how they're conducting
interviews and doing the work that they typically would do due COVID.
And so, um, Clara, the proclamation is not impacting the marriage base interview schedule
here in the U S it's more about what's going on at that local field office and what phase
of reopening or where they are with rescheduling and schedule in interviews. Some are, they
are scheduling interviews. Okay. They are scheduling interviews. Um, okay. I'm getting
a lot of questions about the F four category and yeah, that's part of the proclamation,
the sibling, the sibling, um, the sibling category rock is asking about what about the
vows domestic violence? That's, that's not, um, relevant to the proclamation. The proclamations
have absolutely nothing to do with this, the proclamations impact, those who are outside
of the United States, trying to get a visa to come into the United States. Okay. So I'll
link to those older videos here so that you can get a good sense of what's going on.
Okay. So again, guys, in essence, um, DB winners, just so you know, there, 12,000 people were
issued. DV winners were issued their visas before their visa, before the proclamation
went into effect in April, but 43,000 had not yet already had not been issued their
visa. Those individuals are now, uh, able to obtain their visa. But one thing you should
know as well, DV winners is that the judge's order says, although the embassy and the embassies
and state department can't interpret the presidential proclamations to two prohibit the issuance
of visas to DV winners, um, the order doesn't prevent the embassies from prioritizing how
they're processing and adjudicate and, um, all of the visa, the different types of visa
applications. And it's all gonna be based on what that local embassy determines what
they could handle, meaning their resources, what is what's going on with their resources,
country conditions what's happening with COVID-19 in that country, the embassies still have
the ability to prioritize their caseload based on all of those other external factors.
And so, um, you should know that as well. So the court did not go as far as saying,
well, you guys got a prioritize, prioritize, um, the D the DV winners, regardless of your
resources, regardless of country conditions, regardless of what's going on there with COVID
no, the court did not go that far. So just keep that in mind that the embassies still
have that ability to determine how they are prioritizing people, uh, or applications.
All right. Okay. So I think that's pretty much all that I want to share with you in
this one. Um, so, uh, the proclamations are in effect until December 31st of this year.
And, um, the government, if president Trump is reelected, the government has basically
reserved the right to extend the proclamation, um, as applied to all of those individuals
who are in the proclamation family-based preference category individuals, H one, B H two B J some
J visas and the L visa.
Okay. So, uh, guys, please share this video with others. If you enjoy these sessions and
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Bye bye.