Law Office of Elizabeth M. Nilsen

Free English Classes – Boulder

Liz — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 17:08:03 +0000

The city of Boulder is offering free “conversations in English” to help new immigrants learn the language. These small groups have received national recognition for efforts to help people new to the U.S. learn English. These informal, friendly groups are led by volunteer native speakers of American English. Each group meets once a week.

Schedule

Clases En Espanol

Haitians granted TPS

Liz — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 23:54:39 +0000

The Obama Administration has given the OK to allow the thousands of undocumented Haitians here in the United States to apply for temporary protected status (TPS). TPS will allow the Haitian who are already here up to 18 months of legal status – which includes the ability to work. Deportation flights to Haiti had already been halted in the wake of the earthquake, but this goes one step further in helping Haitians.

The bad news is that newly arriving Haitians will not be eligible for TPS, and will be turned away at the border.

Boulder Citizenship Classes

Liz — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:03:06 +0000

The Boulder Public Library is holding free citizenship classes!

Where : Boulder Public Library-Main Branch, 11th & Arapahoe. All classes are held at the 2nd floor Arapahoe Conference Room except for the first Monday of each month (Boulder Creek Meeting Room).
What time: 6:30 – 8 p.m.

For more information contact Ghada Elturk al 303-441-4941 (elturkg@boulderlibrary.org) or Maria Velasco 303-996-0275 ext.3 (maria@intercambioweb.org).

Informacíon en español

Broomfield Citizenship Classes

Liz — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:47:11 +0000

The Mamie Doud Eisenhower Public Library in Broomfield is offering free citizenship classes starting January 14! The classes will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday evenings January 14 through February 11.
To register, call the Library Reference Desk at 720-887-2350.

Immigration fraud has sad consequences for victims

Liz — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 14:51:33 +0000

A Georgia man posing as an immigration attorney has been charged with fraud. The victims, who were undocumented Guyanese immigrants, paid him thousands of dollars to obtain green cards, but are now faced with deportation because of the mistakes he made. At the moment, there is no immigration relief for victims of fraud, only for victims of violent crimes.

Immigration fraud often has irreparable consequences for the victims, such as deportation and potentially being barred from re-entering the U.S. In Colorado, document filing services such as the Immigration Center, charged victims hundreds of dollars for documents available for free on USCIS.gov. John Suthers, Colorado’s 37th attorney general, recently wrote an editorial about the Immigration Center, which was published in The Pueblo Chieftan.

In Colorado, the perpetrators of this type of fraud are these so-called document filing services, and notarios. There are only two types of people who can legally provide immigration assistance or represent immigrants in immigration matters – licensed attorneys, and recognized representatives of non-profit organizations. People who advertise themselves as notarios, or notario publicos, are not licensed attorneys, and can not represent aliens in immigration court. Sometimes the damage they do to innocent immigrants’ petitions is irreparable, and leads to deportation and bars to re-entry.

DREAM Act

Liz — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:41:18 +0000

Help support the DREAM Act!

The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act is a piece of proposed federal legislation that was introduced in Congress in 2009. This bill would provide conditional permanent residency for certain undocumented immigrant children who graduate from US high schools.

At the moment, these kids have no way to gain legal status in the U.S., and must give up their dreams of college, work, family, and a future here. The DREAM act will grant these kids conditional permanent residency if they attend college and obtain a degree after they graduate from an American high school, provided they maintain good moral character and follow other rules put forth in the DREAM Act.

This legislation will help these kids out of a cycle of poverty and crime, and into the American dream. Help support the DREAM Act by visiting the official website now!