Source: http://www.abilblog.com/us-blog/category/advance%20parole
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 07:04:44+00:00

Document:
I was escorted to the woodshed on January 15, a very public woodshed, and deservedly so. Alejandro (Ali) Mayorkas, the Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), politely took me to task at a Public Engagement during the Q & A session when I raised two points. One involves the subject of a future post. The other -- today's topic -- challenged an aspect of the agency's program for DREAMers known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
As noted below, I criticized USCIS's stricter eligibility requirements for DACA recipients than other foreign citizens present in the U.S. who wish to travel abroad and be allowed back into the country. Mr. Mayorkas rejected my criticism (as also discussed below), but then offered one of his own.
He noted that in my recent blog post, "The 2012 Nation of Immigrators Awards - The IMMIs," USCIS received the "Not Especially Nimble" IMMI for its lack of agility on matters of employment-based immigration. Mr. Mayorkas suggested that if nimbleness is the measure of performance, then glaring by its omission was my failure to mention the speed with which USCIS introduced the DACA program -- a scant two months from President Obama's Rose Garden announcement.
Ali Mayorkas is right and I was wrong. In lightning speed for a federal agency, USCIS launched DACA and on its first day of implementation, was prepared to act on all requests from qualified applicants. Rather than just wagging a finger at the slow pace of USCIS action on business-related immigration, I should also have tipped my hat to the phenomenally acrobatic DACA roll-out, for it showed what the agency's people can do when they roll up their sleeves and swing into action, notwithstanding naysayers like me. For this, I offer sincere "parole di scuse" (words of apology, in Italian).
But there is another species of DACA-related "parole" for which I offer no "scuse." This is a form of foreign-travel-and-reentry authorization known in immigration parlance as "parole." Unlike the use of that word in the criminal law context, however, immigration parole has nothing to do with conviction of a crime.
Parole-in-Place (an administrative mechanism permitting an individual in the U.S., often a member of the U.S. military or a relative, to overcome an obstacle to adjusting status here and being awarded a green card).
During the Q & A portion of the January 15 Public Engagement, a member of the audience identifying himself as a DREAMer who'd been granted DACA designation, asked why USCIS required DACA recipients seeking advance parole to provide compelling humanitarian evidence. (For details, see Travel Requirements and Restrictions.) He noted that many DREAMers have been separated from family abroad for many years and just wanted to visit them and then return here.
Mr. Mayorkas responded that parole is an extraordinary remedy requiring powerful evidence of an emergent nature.
When my turn came, I challenged that assertion, and suggested that DACA grantees should be treated no differently than applicants for adjustment of status seeking advance parole while their green card applications remained in process. Adjustment applicants seeking parole need only cite a reason, or perhaps no reason at all, other than a desire to travel.
Besides diplomatically escorting me into the woodshed for my sin-by-omission grant of the IMMI award to USCIS, Mr. Mayorkas also disagreed emphatically on the grounds for parole, stating that the agency's eligibility criteria for "Humanitarian Parole" was well established by precedent decisions and judicial case law. Then, he moved on to the many other questioners.
Had time permitted (as it now does), I would have responded that Mr. Mayorkas was conflating Advance Parole and Humanitarian Parole. A glance at the instructions to the parole application (Form I-131), shows that persons outside the U.S. must establish that they seek to enter the U.S. "for emergent humanitarian reasons" (Humanitarian Parole) but those already in the U.S. applying for adjustment of status must show that you they seek to travel abroad "for emergent personal or bona fide business reasons" (Advance Parole) and then return to await the outcome of their green card application.
Although the instructions on the Advance Parole application require a showing of "emergent personal or bona fide business reasons," immigration practitioners and historians of the immigration process know that current USCIS practice is to accept any personal reason for foreign travel offered by an adjustment applicant. No proof of "emergen[cy]" is now required because the agency found long ago that when such evidence was demanded, applicants flooded the agency's offices with such evidence, personnel resources were diverted substantially from other tasks, and some number of deserving applicants departed the building crestfallen because their reason was not found sufficiently emergent, while others left gleefully for the opposite reason. Any reason now will do.
But you say, DACA beneficiaries are out-of-status immigrants while adjustment applicants must show proof that they maintained lawful immigration status. Certainly, one would think, USCIS is right in differentiating between the two groups. Not really.
DACA grantees -- by definition -- entered the U.S. as minors before age 16. They are faultless in the eyes of the law, given that their tender age absolved them of culpability (and they must have proven that they "[h]ave not been convicted of a felony, significant misdemeanor, three or more other misdemeanors, and do not otherwise pose a threat to national security or public safety" to be granted DACA relief). Moreover, some adjustment applicants are allowed to apply even if they have not maintained lawful status for "technical reasons" or reasons other than "through the fault" of the applicant.
While it makes sense to insist on compelling humanitarian reasons to let someone outside come to the U.S., it is hard to fathom a reason to require no such evidence of one (largely) faultless group of similarly situated persons in the U.S. (adjustment applicants) and yet require it of another entirely innocent group residing here (DACA recipients).
Perhaps the real reason has less to do with adherence to old case law on Humanitarian Parole, and more to do with a recent decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) in Matter of Arrabally and Yerrabelly. There, the BIA held that an adjustment applicant's departure from the U.S. on a grant of advance parole does not trigger the three- or ten-year "unlawful presence" bar on reentry that usually applies to persons who stay more than six months or one year beyond the period granted by the government.
The significance of Arrabally and Yerrabelly is that once a person is paroled back into the U.S., most prior failures to maintain status are purged and the person is adjustment-of-status eligible through the usual family- and employment-based sponsorship avenues, as my scholarly colleagues, Messrs. Endelman and Mehta, explain here. The BIA's reasoning in Arrabally and Yerrabelly would seem to apply not just to adjustment applicants but to DACA grantees as well. This is the conclusion reportedly reached by USCIS's Chief Counsel, Stephen Legomsky, according to this tweet of Ben Winograd, Staff Attorney at the American Immigration Council.
Maybe the real pragmatic and political reason to be inferred from the strict DACA rules on Advance Parole is the fear that entry on parole will facilitate the mass legalization of DREAMers through the usual adjustment process -- a backdoor "amnesty" to those opposing a path to citizenship for the undocumented.
Back to the Public Engagement: I also suggested that the denial of equal treatment to DACA beneficiaries may be a violation of Equal Protection. Mr. Mayorkas rightly noted that Equal Protection is a principle of constitutional dimension with strict requirements not necessarily applicable in all situations of disparate treatment. Yet, in another context during the Public Engagement (involving the need for written rather than telephonic communications between the bar and USCIS personnel), he noted that he is a big believer in people being on an equal footing or level playing field (and that therefore adjudicator/attorney oral exchanges are not allowed because lawyers can be overbearing).
While denial of Advance Parole to DACA beneficiaries who want to visit Grandma in the old country (unless she is certified by a doctor as at death's door) may not rise to the level of an Equal Protection violation, it surely undermines the principle of an equal footing and leveling of the playing field that the Director espouses. I therefore hope he and his agency reconsiders and -- when definitive requirements are published -- issues the same easily satisfied Advance Parole eligibility criteria for DACA designees as now exists for adjustment applicants.
No woodshed visit or apology would be required.
In Matter of Arrabally and Yerrabelly, 25 I&N Dec. 771 (BIA 2012), the Board of Immigration ruled that an individual who came into the US illegally but who is now on an adjustment of status applicant, who obtains a travel documents (advance parole) through USCIS and then leaves the US and reenters on that Advance parole, is eligible to adjust status IN the US (with an available immigrant visa), and is NOT subject to the 10 year bar waiver typically associated with his departure after having been illegally in the US for longer than 1 year. This is an AMAZING development and unexpected good news for several hundred thousand people. TPS status holders are eligible for the same type of advance parole document.
Arrabally and Yerrabelly are not characters in a children’s fantasy story book. They were the respondents in a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals styled Matter of Arrabally and Yerrabelly, 25 I&N Dec. 771 (BIA 2012), which to immigration attorneys is like a fairy tale story come true. The decision is magical, and truly benefits foreign nationals who are subject to the 3 and 10 year bars even if they travel abroad.
A companion provision, INA § 212(a)(9)(B)(i)(I) triggers a 3 year bar if the non-citizen is unlawfully present for more than 180 days and less than one year, and leaves the US prior to the commencement of removal proceedings.
The 3 and 10 year bars create a federal Catch-22. An individual who is unlawfully present cannot generally apply for lawful permanent residence in the US through adjustment of status unless he or she falls under limited exceptions. Such an individual who is ineligible to apply for a green card in the US must leave the US to process for an immigrant visa at an overseas consular post. But here’s the catch: If this person leaves the US he or she will trigger the bar and cannot return for 10 years. Thus, this person, even though approved for a green card, remains in immigration limbo.
Arrabally and Yerrabelly were unlawfully present too for more than 1 year, and would have triggered the 10 year bar had they “departed” the US. Fortunately, they were able to file Form I-485 applications for adjustment of status under an exception, INA § 245(i), after the employer’s I-140 petition got approved. § 245(i), which expired on April 30, 2001 but which could still grandfather someone if an immigrant petition or labor certification was filed on or before that date, allows those who are out of status to be able adjust status to permanent residence in the US. Due to a family emergency in India, they left the US under advance parole, which is a special travel dispensation one can obtain when one is a pending applicant for adjustment of status. At issue is their case was whether they effectuated a “departure” under advance parole and thus triggered the 10 year bar.
The DHS has always taken the position that leaving the United States under advance parole effectuates a departure and thus triggers the 10 year bar under § 212(a)(9)(B)(i)(II) if the individual is unlawfully present for one year.
The adjustment of status applications of Arrabally and Yerrabelly were denied on the basis that they were inadmissible for 10 years, and were subsequently placed in removal proceedings. The Immigration Judge affirmed the DHS’s finding, but the BIA like magic reversed on the ground that their leaving the US under advance parole did not result in a departure pursuant to § 212(a)(9)(B)(i)(II) thus rendering them inadmissible under the 10 year bar. The BIA reasoned that travel under a grant of advance parole is different from a regular departure from the US, since the individual is given the assurance that he or she will be paroled back in the US to continue to seek the benefit of adjustment of status. Thus, traveling outside the US under advance parole does not trigger the 10 year bar. Although Matter of Arrabally and Yerrabelly interpreted the 10 year bar provision under § 212(a)(9)(B)(i)(I), its logic can apply equally to the 3 year bar under § 212(a)(9)(B)(i)(I).
Notwithstanding the lack of “parole in place” for all applicants, in yet another ground breaking case, Matter of Quilantan, 25 I&N Dec. 285 (BIA 2010), the BIA held that someone who presents herself at the border, but is waived through, is still inspected for purposes of adjustment eligibility. For example, a person who is a passenger in a car, and is waived through a border post at the Mexico-US border can still establish a lawful entry into the US. Matter of Quilantan can be further extended to someone who enters the US with a photo-switched fraudulent non-US passport. Such a person has also been inspected, albeit through a fraudulent identity. Foreign nationals in such situations, if they can prove that they were inspected, can qualify to apply for their green cards in the US through adjustment of status if they marry a US citizen or are the minor children or parents of US citizens. They may however be subject to other grounds of inadmissibility, such as fraud or misrepresentation, but they can at least file those waivers with an I-485 application in the US. While it is true that in another feat of administrative innovation, the DHS has proposed that some can apply for the waiver of the 3 and 10 year bars in the US prior to their departure, this rule may not extend to applicants who are applying for an additional waiver, such as to overcome the fraud ground of inadmissibility.
Despite Matter of Quilantan, USCIS examiners during an adjustment of status interview require corroborating evidence of this admission, and may not accept only the sworn statement of the applicant regarding the manner of his or her entry into the US. They may want to actually see the photo-switched passport, which may no longer in the possession of the applicant. Such a person may still be found ineligible to adjust status despite being inspected and admitted in the above manner under Matter of Quilantan. But if this person, after filing an adjustment of status application, left the US under advance parole and returned to the US, he or she would be considered “paroled” into the US and qualify for a new adjustment of status application as an immediate relative of a US citizen. If the first I-485 application is denied, he or she could file this second application where the “parole” would be a clearer basis for adjustment eligibility than the initial “waived through” or fraudulent admission. Moreover, under Matter of Arrabally and Yerabelly, this individual would not have triggered the 10 year bar during travel under advance parole during the pendency of the first adjustment application. Travelling abroad under advance parole during the first adjustment application without triggering the 10 year bar could give an applicant a second bite at the apple in filing another adjustment application if the first one gets denied for lack of evidence of an admission. There is one caveat though. This is still an untested theory but the authors do not see why it could not be argued in the event of a denial of the first adjustment application, assuming it was filed in good faith and denied only because of lack of corroboration of the admission. Using Matter of Arrabally and Yerrabelly in the manner we propose seeks to do just that. Once again, as with the concept of parole, we seek to build on past innovation to achieve future gain.
Matter of Arrabally and Yerrabelly can come to the rescue of DREAMers too. In our recent blog, DEFERRED ACTION: THE NEXT GENERATION, June 19, 2012, we proposed extending the holding of Matter of Arrabally and Yerrabelly to beneficiaries of deferred action. There are bound to be many who will be granted deferred action who will also be on the pathway to permanent residence by being beneficiaries of approved I-130 or I-140 petitions. As already explained, unless one is being sponsored as an immediate relative, i.e. as a spouse, child or parent of a US citizen, and has also been admitted and inspected, filing an application for adjustment of status to permanent residence will generally not be possible for an individual who has failed to maintain a lawful status under INA § 245(a). Such individuals will have to depart the US to process their immigrant visas at a US consulate in their home countries. Although the grant of deferred action will stop unlawful presence from accruing, it does not erase any past unlawful presence. Thus, one who has accrued over one year of unlawful presence and departs the US in order to process for an immigrant visa will most likely face the 10 year bar under INA § 212(a)(9)(B)(i)(II). While some may be able to take advantage of the proposed provisional waiver rule, where one can apply in the US for a waiver before leaving the US, not all will be eligible under this new rule. A case in point is someone who is sponsored by an employer under the employment-based second preference, and who may not even have a qualifying relative to apply for the waiver of the 10 year bar.
Since the publication of our blog, the USCIS has issued extensive guidelines for consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) in the form of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), which will take effect on August 15, 2012. We were pleasantly surprised to find in the FAQ that those granted deferred action beneficiaries can apply for advance parole. It is yet unclear whether one who has been granted deferred action and who has accrued unlawful presence and travels under advance parole can take advantage of Arrabally and Yerrabelly and the current FAQ does not suggest it. At this point, a DACA applicant should assume that Arrabally and Yerrabelly will not apply, and an individual who has accrued over one-year of unlawful presence and leaves even under advance parole could face the 10-year bar. Still, there is no reason for Arrabally and Yerabelly’s magic to not apply in this case too. Here too, the individual will be leaving the US under advance parole, which under Matter of Arrabally and Yerabelly, did not effectuate the departure under INA § 212(a)(9)(B)(i)(II). This is something worth advocating for with the USCIS as the DACA program unfolds. Obviously, USCIS will tread carefully as it is already facing criticism from opponents of the program, including members of Congress. Yet, applying Matter of Arrabally and Yerrabelly to young people who have been granted a fresh lease of life would be a logical extension. The FAQ also indicates that the USCIS will only grant advance parole if one is travelling for humanitarian purposes, education purposes or employment purposes. Again, the FAQ does not expand on what humanitarian, education or employment purposes mean. A deferred action beneficiary with an approved I-130 or I-140, which has become current for green card processing, can conceivably apply for advance parole based on humanitarian purposes to apply for immigrant visa at the consular post overseas. His or her departure under advance parole, if Matter of Arrabally and Yerrabelly applies, will not trigger the 10 year bar. If this person successfully comes back on an immigrant visa to be granted permanent residence upon admission, query whether the holding will still apply. After all, the BIA in Arrabally and Yerrabelly contemplated a return as a parolee and not as a permanent resident. Yet, again, just as the BIA performed magic when interpreting "departure" to not apply to those leaving the US under advadnce parole, there is no reason for the USCIS to not stretch it to a scenario where the deferred action beneficiary will leave on advance parole, thus not triggering the 10 year bar, in order to return to the US as an immigrant. This is clearly not the current position of the USCIS as articulated in its FAQ. The purpose of our blog is to advance interpretations that would be favorable for DREAMers down the road.
On the other hand, Matter of Arrabally and Yerrabelly can be more readily applied to those who otherwise would not be able to adjust status if they made an entry without inspection but were immediate relatives of US citizens. Such people would not need to process an immigrant visa at a US consulate overseas if they could adjust status. Unlike an adjustment of status applicant, a DACA applicant can file an application for deferred action even if he or she entered without inspection. If later, this applicant, now granted deferred action, married a US citizen, he or she could leave under advance parole and not trigger the 10 year bar. At the same time, he or she would have also been paroled back into the US, making him or her eligible to adjust status, which prior to the parole would not have been possible. This fact pattern clearly falls under the four corners of Matter of Arrabally and Yerrabelly as opposed to someone proceeding overseas under advance parole and returning as a permanent resident. Yet, we reiterate, at this point, it is not at all clear whether Matter of Arrabally and Yerrabelly will apply to deferred action beneficiaries who travel abroad, and they should seek the advice of competent legal counsel before they wish to apply for advance parole in order to travel.
All we have to do is dream!

References: § 212
 § 245
 § 245
 § 212
 § 212
 § 212
 § 212
 § 245
 § 212
 § 212