Update on the President's immigration-related Executive Orders

On April 18, 2017 President Trump signed his latest Executive Order "Buy American and Hire American." While this recent order sent shockwaves through the business immigration community, the order itself will not have an immediate impact.  The administration made clear their desire to reform the H-1B program but the Executive Order notes it will focus on reviewing current policies in order to identify "fraud and abuse" and then at a later date propose actual regulatory reforms so that H-1B visas are awarded to the most skilled or highest-paid applicants. 

In his previous Executive Order titled, "Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States," signed on January 25, 2017, the President threatened that "sanctuary jurisdictions", including "sanctuary cities" who refuse to comply with immigration enforcement measures, will not be eligible to receive Federal grants, except as deemed necessary for law enforcement purposes by the U.S. Attorney General or Secretary of Homeland Security. But on April 25, 2017 Trump's administration was handed yet another legal blow to their issuance arguably unconstitutional executive orders when the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued a nationwide injunction against §9(a) of the order, halting enforcement.  In his Order, Judge William H. Orrick determined that the localities were likely to succeed on the merits of their challenge that the proposed Executive Order violated the U.S. Constitution - largely based on the order violating the Tenth Amendment which expresses the principle of federalism and states' rights: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."  It remains to be seen if President Trump will revise and reissue his order similar to his Muslim & Refugee Ban or fight this one out in court. 

We will post any news on these Executive Orders and the ensuing litigation on our website at http://www.iandoli.com/newsandupdates.