Massachusetts Immigration Lawyer Blog

As a deportation attorney in Boston, I frequently appear in Immigration Court  Currently, I serve as a liaison to the Boston's Immigration Court, Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR), on behalf of the New England Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA).

Looking into my crystal ball, here are some positive changes that I personally predict are coming to Boston's Immigration Court in 2009:

Boston gets a new Immigration Judge:  It is anticipated that in 2009 Boston will have a new immigration judge.  I will post more news on our new IJ as soon as her appointment is made official.

Boston will get a new Immigration Court rooms:  The space on the 3rd floor of the JFK Federal building, formerly occupied by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is being renovated as an additional Immigration Court room.  An extra court room and a seventh Immigration Judge should help ease the Immigration Court's crushing docket of immigration cases.

Immigration Court in Boston goes high-tech:  Boston deportation hearings in Immigration Court will be digitally recorded starting in 2009.  This shift to digital recordings should make it easier for me as deportation defense attorney to obtain and review Immigration Court hearings.

As immigration agencies such as USCIS and ICE consider moves out of Boston, it's nice to see expansion plans for EOIR within the existing office at the JFK Federal Building.  And these significant improvement should improve the functioning of the Immigration Court in Boston. 

Immigration and citizenship lawyers will likely see another change for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS)--this time in Rhode Island.  The USCIS Providence Office is scheduled to move to a new facility in Johnston, Rhode Island in 2009.  I plan to post the address of this new Rhode Island immigration office on this immigration blog as soon as it becomes available.

As a Boston immigration lawyer, I am disappointed to see USCIS move immigration cases in Massachusetts from Boston to Lawrence, MA.  And I'm also sad to see USCIS leave Providence, the capital and largest city in Rhode Island, for a distant locale.  But there is good news for anyone in Rhode Island thinking of applying for US citizenship.  USCIS has requested the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island for permission to conduct naturalization oath ceremonies in the new Johnston Rhode Island immigration office.  With more citizenship ceremonies, applicants for citizenship in Rhode Island should get their citizenship applications processed more quickly.  Also, unlike the USCIS Lawrence MA Office, the new USCIS immigration office in Johnston, Rhode Island will at least offer parking.