Forced Sterilization Is Persecution, Court Says
Recent Cases
A Chinese citizen should not be returned to her homeland due to the high probability that she would be forcibly sterilized, the 7th Circuit ruled.
Xiu Zhen Lin, the mother of three, protested a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals that she had not shown that China's "one child" policy was "implemented through physical force or other means that would amount to persecution."
The board made this ruling despite a letter from the government of Lin's village, which stated that she would be subject to sterilization if she returned. The appellate court disagreed with the board's rationale.
"The implication," Judge Posner wrote, "is that if a government tells a religious heretic we are going to fine you $1 million for your heresy and if you cannot pay we will burn you at the stake, and the heretic cannot pay and therefore is executed, the burning of the heretic would not, in the board's view, amount to persecution."
A 2006 State Department report showed that China's policy is strictly enforced in Lin's home province of Fujian.
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USCIS Will Begin Accepting CW-1 Petitions for Fiscal Year 2019
On April 2, 2018, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin accepting petitions under the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)-Only Transitional Worker (CW-1) program subject to the fiscal year (FY) 2019 cap. Employers in the CNMI use the CW-1 program to employ foreign workers who are ineligible for other nonimmigrant worker categories. The cap for CW-1 visas for FY 2019 is 4,999.
For the FY 2019 cap, USCIS encourages employers to file a petition for a CW-1 nonimmigrant worker up to six months in advance of the proposed start date of employment and as early as possible within that timeframe. USCIS will reject a petition if it is filed more than six months in advance. An extension petition may request a start date of Oct. 1, 2018, even if that worker’s current status will not expire by that date.
Since USCIS expects to receive more petitions than the number of CW-1 visas available for FY 2019, USCIS may conduct a lottery to randomly select petitions and associated beneficiaries so that the cap is not exceeded. The lottery would give employers the fairest opportunity to request workers, particularly with the possibility of mail delays from the CNMI.
USCIS will count the total number of beneficiaries in the petitions received after 10 business days to determine if a lottery is needed. If the cap is met after those initial 10 days, a lottery may still need to be conducted with only the petitions received on the last day before the cap was met. USCIS will announce when the cap is met and whether a lottery has been conducted.