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PIERCE'S IMMIGRATION LAW E-NEWSLETTER April/May 2011
 PIERCE'S IMMIGRATION LAW E-NEWSLETTER is free. It is published by the Law Offices of Curtis Pierce, Certified Specialist, Immigration & Nationality Law, The State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. 523 W. 6th St., Ste. 348, Los Angeles, CA 90014. (213) 327-0044. Email: curtis.pierce@cpvisa.com
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Inside this month's issue:  Birthing Center for Maternity Tourism for Chinese Women Shut down in San Gabriel
Authorities in California are investigating a crop of illegally converted maternity centers for Chinese women who come to the U.S. to give birth to American citizens, the Los Angeles Times reports. The unlicensed birthing centers were recently discovered on a quiet residential neighborhood in San Gabriel, less than 10 miles from Los Angeles, according to the newspaper.
Code enforcement officials on March 8, 2011 reportedly shut down the three adjoining two-story condominiums that they say were converted into unlicensed birthing wards. Ten mothers and seven newborns were reportedly found inside the buildings, according to newspaper reports.
A state lawmaker blasted the illegal maternity wards and said the finding underscores the need for immigration law changes, Reuters reports. California state Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, a Republican, called the discovery an abuse of the Constitution's 14th Amendment, which grants citizenship to any baby born in the U.S. -- with few exceptions. "You wind up with these extreme situations where people will go to any length to get U.S. citizenship," Donnelly told Reuters.
From the outside, they looked like other recently built San Gabriel townhouses — two stories, Spanish style, with roofs of red tile. Inside they were maternity centers for Chinese women willing to pay handsomely to travel here to give birth to American citizens.
Southern California has become a hub of so-called birthing tourism. Operators of such centers tend to try to blend in, attracting as little attention as possible. But on quiet, residential Palm Avenue, neighbors had noticed an unusual number of pregnant women going in and out, and some complained about noise. The city fined the manager of the property, Dwight Chang of Arcadia, $800. He was cited for illegal construction and ordered to acquire permits and return the buildings to their original condition. "They had moved walls around without proper permits. They did interior work that can sometimes create unsafe environments afterwards," Davis said. "And it's a business in a residential neighborhood. They are not permitted to operate there." The Chinese mothers have since left the U.S. or moved into hotels, officials said. On Wednesday, construction work in the houses was underway. The doors were open, and visible inside was the detritus of a hasty departure — boxes of diapers, a baby-bottle sterilizer, a rice cooker, an electric kettle, bags of chopsticks and piles of Chinese-language magazines. The garage of one of the buildings appeared to have been converted into an extra bedroom. "It felt like something wasn't right in there," said Taylor Alderson, who was shocked to hear what had been going on next door. "There was a constant barrage of pregnant women going in and out of the house." It is not illegal for pregnant women to travel to the U.S. to give birth. Birthing centers advertise in wealthier Chinese cities, where some women can afford the thousands necessary to make the trip to America for a few months. Most of the women go back to China after giving birth. But they know their children can return easily in the future to enjoy such benefits as free public education.  Diversity Visa Scam Alert
Diversity Visa Program Scammers Sending Fraudulent Emails and Letters: Don' be a victim of an immigration scam.
If you or someone you know is trying to get a green card — the right to live in the United States permanently — be aware that unscrupulous businesses and attorneys are looking for that information. They'll claim that, for a fee, they can make it easier to enter the U.S. Department of State's annual Diversity Immigrant Visa (DV) program or increase your chances of being selected. They may use other names for the Diversity Immigrant Visa program, like the DV lottery, the visa lottery, or the green card lottery.
The DV program offers up to 55,000 visas each year for people who want to immigrate to the U.S. Applicants selected in the random drawing are notified by the U.S. State Department, and then are told about the next steps in the process of applying for an immigrant visa. The State Department doesn't authorize any other organization or private company to notify applicants to the Diversity Visa program about the next steps in the application process for their visas.
The Department of State, Office of Visa Services, advises the public of a notable increase in fraudulent emails and letters sent to Diversity Immigrant Visa (DV) program (Visa Lottery) applicants. The scammers behind these fraudulent emails and letters are posing as the U.S. government in an attempt to extract payment from DV applicants.
All applicants should be familiar with information about DV scams provided by the Federal Trade Commission. Applicants are encouraged to review the rules and procedures for the DV program so that you know what to expect, when to expect it, and from whom. According to the Federal Trade Commission, the nation's consumer protection agency, some businesses and attorneys misrepresent their services when it comes to offering to help people trying to enter the Diversity Visa program. They may claim to have:
What's more, some businesses and attorneys jeopardize an applicant's opportunity to participate in the lottery by filing several entries. They also may charge substantial fees to complete the application process.
Finally, remember that all DV-2012 applicants will not receive a notification letter from the U.S. government but must check their status online. DV Entry Status Check will only be provided through the Department of State secure online site, http://www.dvlottery.state.gov.
 Famous Immigrants: Levi Strauss - Founder of Blue Jean Empire
On February 26, 1829, Levi Strauss was born in Buttenheim, Bavaria to German-Jewish parents. In 1845, Levi's father died, and his two older brothers left to join the Jewish community in New York City. Two years later, Levi, with his mother and two sisters, joined the brothers. Levi found work in his brothers' dry goods business.
After a brief stint at his uncle's ranch in Kentucky, Levi became an American citizen in 1853 and moved to San Francisco to take advantage of the California Gold Rush. There, he set up a small dry-goods house with brother-in-law David Stern. Levi responded to the miners' needs for a sturdy pant that would survive the rough mining conditions, and started making denim fabric.
The business became known as “Levi Strauss & Co." and by 1870, Levi was a millionaire. In 1873, Jacob Davis, a European immigrant tailor and customer of Levi Strauss, approached Levi with an idea for a patent. Davis had been using rivets to strengthen the pocket corners of Strauss' denim fabric. Davis told Levi that if he put up the money for the patent application, Davis would share the patent with him.
The deal was struck and the patent was granted in to Strauss and Davis 1873. Levi Strauss & Co. brought the new workpants to market, and, in 1890, began using the lot number “501” to identify the product: the birth of the infamous 501 blue jean.
Levi Strauss died on September 27, 1902 at the age of 73 years. He never married, and his nephews inherited the company. Levi Strauss & Co. continues to be privately held by descendants of the family of Levi Strauss. The generosity that Strauss was known for during his life continued after his death. His will contained a number of bequests to Bay Area charities which serve children and the poor. In addition, the 28 University of California, Berkeley scholarships that Strauss established in 1897 are still in place today.
 Dividing Lines: The Politics of Immigration Control in America (Princeton Studies in American Politics)
by Daniel J. Tichnor
Princeton University Press, May 2002
This book is a study of the politics and policies the immigration debate has inspired, from the founders' earliest efforts to shape American identity to today's revealing struggles over Third World immigration, noncitizen rights, and illegal aliens. Weaving a robust new theoretical approach into a sweeping history, Daniel Tichenor ties together previous studies' idiosyncratic explanations for particular, pivotal twists and turns of immigration policy. He tells the story of lively political battles between immigration defenders and doubters over time and of the transformative policy regimes they built.
Tichenor takes us from vibrant nineteenth-century politics that propelled expansive European admissions and Chinese exclusion to the draconian restrictions that had taken hold by the 1920s, including racist quotas that later hampered the rescue of Jews from the Holocaust. American global leadership and interest group politics in the decades after World War II, he argues, led to a surprising expansion of immigration opportunities. In the 1990s, a surge of restrictionist fervor spurred the political mobilization of recent immigrants. Richly documented, this pathbreaking work shows that a small number of interlocking temporal processes, not least changing institutional opportunities and constraints, underlie the turning tides of immigration sentiments and policy regimes. Complementing a dynamic narrative with a host of helpful tables and timelines, Dividing Lines is the definitive treatment of a phenomenon that has profoundly shaped the character of American nationhood.
 IMMIGRATION LAW E-NEWSLETTERCurtis F. Pierce Attorney At Law Certified Specialist, Immigration & Nationality Law The State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization THE PACIFIC CENTER 523 WEST SIXTH STREET, SUITE 348 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90014
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