Court Issued Nationwide Preliminary Injunction for Unlawful Presence Memo. What Does That Mean?
Nationwide Preliminary Injunction for Unlawful Presence Memo!
What does that even mean?
What about the word Enjoins in the following statement?
“The motion is GRANTED in that the Court hereby enjoins implementation, in all applications, of the memorandum titled “Accrual of Unlawful Presence and F, J, and M Nonimmigrants”
Is that good or bad?
You should read the following to get a better picture.
“The Court therefore concludes that, under the circumstances of this case, a nationwide preliminary injunction is appropriate. Defendants [DHS] shall be enjoined from enforcing the policy set forth in the August 2018 Policy Memorandum, in all its applications nationwide, pending resolution of this lawsuit.”
I’m not a lawyer. But, the gist of the message goes as follows.
The Court asked USCIS not to enforce or implement the Unlawful Presence Memo until there’s a resolution.
You probably read the analysis and discussion of this FMJ Unlawful memo in the following posts
- What Happens Next for STEM OPT, H1B Visa Under the Unlawful Presence Memo
- Day 1 CPT Universities and Unlawful Presence Memo
You can read the 31-page court decision below and if you just want to know the Order, here’s the screenshot of the last page.
How Does This Memo Impact You?
Here’s how this memo would have impacted you as per USCIS.
If students on F, M or J visa engages in unauthorized activity, and if the total days from Aug 8, 2018 is more than 180 after the activity happens, it could results in a 3-year ban from entering the USA.
Now, the court has asked USCIS to stop implementing this memo until there’s a resolution.
Timeline of Events – Lawsuit to Stop Unlawful Presence Memo
- On October 29, 2018, Guilford College filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina to stop this memo.
- On January 28, 2019, the District Court issued a Temporary Restraining Order. But, this order applies only to these two named plaintiffs and had no effect on any others.
- On May 3, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina issued a nationwide preliminary injunction that temporarily prevents the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from enforcing the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) August 8, 2018 policy memo that sought to change how days of unlawful presence are counted following a violation of F, M, or J nonimmigrant status.
Court Order
[pdf-embedder url=”https://www.happyschools.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/unlawful-presence-memo-f1-opt-usics-guilford-orders-20190503.pdf”]
Here’s the Definition of the word Enjoin
Prohibit someone from performing (a particular action) by issuing an injunction.
I wonder why simple words like prohibit, ban, bar, prevent could be used. I will leave that to the Lawyers!
