Navigating US immigration law can be daunting, complex, and, at times, frustrating—for both attorneys and foreign nationals. Immigration law changes and bureaucratic delays and hurdles can seem insurmountable. There are good and bad days for immigration cases, and today we take a look at some recent wins and losses in the world of immigration law.

Wins
Dario Guerrero Meneses is a third-year Harvard student. He is also an undocumented immigrant who left the US without travel authorization (effectively "deporting" himself) to take his dying mother to Mexico for alternative medical treatment. He said: "'I don't think I'd be able to forgive myself for letting her basically continue the decline in her condition[.]'" His mother died in August, and after being unable to reenter the US from Mexico for months, he was granted permission to return home, where he will have to reapply for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) for "Dreamers."

Will immigration reform be passed? Everyone (including us) has been asking this question since the Senate passed their own comprehensive immigration reform bill, S. 744, back in June 2013. President Obama promised and then delayed executive action. But a newly-released draft solicitation by US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) possibly hints at good news. The USCIS "Request for Proposal" is seeking a vendor who can produce a minimum of four million blank cards per year for five years, and nine million in the early stage. These appear to be cards that would be used for Green Cards and employment authorization documents—suggesting possible major executive action regarding immigration reform. A USCIS official says the vendor proposal was sought "'in case the president makes the move we think he will,'" and that the agency has not yet committed to buying these materials.

The Obama administration announced "The Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program" that "would reduce the lengthy delays facing thousands of Haitians who have already been approved to join family members in the United States and become legal permanent residents." While this is not part of President Obama's executive action on immigration reform, he could potentially enact similar measures to deal with the lengthy wait times that many foreign nationals experience in waiting to join family members in the US.

Losses
The practice of immigration law has many challenges, but most attorneys (okay, pretty much all) will never need to bring their four-week-old infant child to immigration court. This, however, happened to attorney Stacy Ehrisman-Mickle when an immigration judge in Atlanta denied her request to delay a hearing that fell within her six-week maternity leave. With her husband working out of town and no family in the area, she had no choice but to bring her newborn child with her. The judge then "scolded her for inappropriate behavior and commented that her pediatrician must be appalled that she was exposing the baby to so many germs in court[.]" Ms. Ehrisman-Mickle filed a formal complaint against the judge that day.

Overstaying the visa waiver program is taken very seriously by immigration authorities. Ben Sangari, a British man with plans to invest $1.5 million in the Buffalo area, found this out when he was stopped for a speeding ticket and is now in an immigration detention facility in Batavia, New York. While in detention he married his fiancée, who is from Buffalo, but an ICE spokesman said: "'After conducting a comprehensive review of Mr. Sangari's case, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has chosen not to exercise prosecutorial discretion in this matter. Additionally, under the visa waiver program, Mr. Sangari is subject to mandatory detention and his case is not eligible for immigration court hearings."

In West Africa, the death toll from Ebola exceeds four thousand and the region's inadequate healthcare infrastructure is desperately struggling to deal with the crisis. Meanwhile in the US, Ebola fear is leading to hysteria and racism against Africans as well as backlash against immigrants from Mexico and Central America.

To end on a more positive note, kindergarten students in Texas won a competition to name a recently-adopted Mustang horse, as part of a program by the Laredo Sector Border Patrol. The horse's name: Bravo.

Liberian national, Thomas Eric Duncan, has become the first person to die in the US from the effects of the Ebola virus. Anti-immigration critics were using Mr. Duncan's immigration status (he was reportedly in the US on a visitor visa) to advocate for travel restrictions or bans for those from the West African nations hardest hit with the worst Ebola outbreak in history. Calling the late Mr. Duncan another "visa mistake," Jessica Vaughan of The Center for Immigration Studies estimated that there are about 13,000 people from Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea with valid visas to travel to the US, and faulted the Obama administration on their refusal to "use immigration controls even to protect the homeland." (Senator Ted Cruz suggested restricting or banning flights to West Africa and one US general expressed apocalyptic-type fears of mass immigration to the US border by infected Central Americans.) In addition, a recent survey found that a majority of respondents wanted flights from the "Ebola" countries banned.

President Obama called the Ebola outbreak a matter of national security and said that the "ability of people who are infected to carry that [Ebola virus] across borders is something that we have to take extremely seriously." While the president did not discuss visa bans or restrictions, in response to the US outbreak and the death of Mr. Duncan, federal officials announced they will begin additional screenings at five US airports, including Kennedy International Airport here in New York City, for passengers from Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea.

The Department of Homeland Security explained how such screenings would work for travelers as they exited their home country and subsequently attempted to enter the US. Travelers will be given information on Ebola and its symptoms before being questioned about their exposure to Ebola and having their temperature taken. If travelers have a fever or have been exposed to Ebola, they will be referred to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for additional evaluation. For the late Mr. Duncan, these temperature screenings would not have mattered in all likelihood, as he reportedly did not display symptoms until several days after he entered the US.

The State Department indicated that while they ordered the departure of family members of Embassy staff in Monrovia and Freetown due to lack of routine health care services, their "Embassies remain open and will continue business as usual in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. They also said: "We remain deeply committed to supporting regional and international efforts to deliver health care as well as contain and control the transmission of the Ebola virus."

The US Embassy in Monrovia, Liberia has stated that visa applicants will be screened for symptoms of Ebola and any visitors exhibiting symptoms will be asked to leave and reschedule the interview. In general, the US Embassies in West Africa have posted information on the US government's fight against Ebola, including the "White House Fact Sheet" detailing the US government's four-point strategic response:

Controlling the epidemic at its source in West Africa;
Mitigating second-order impacts, including blunting the economic, social, and political tolls in the region;
Engaging and coordinating with a broader global audience; and
Fortifying global health security infrastructure in the region and beyond.

To meet these goals the government is using US military and broader uniformed services for command, logistics, training and engineering, and is providing new resources, such as health care and hospital staff, Ebola Treatment Units, protection kits, and home health care kits, in addition to the resources, staff, health specialists, and emergency supplies already provided.

As we reported, US Citizenship & Immigration Services still has certain immigration-relief measures for nationals of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone who are currently in the US.

The White House Fact Sheet notes: "Every outbreak of Ebola over the past 40 years has been contained, and we are confident that this one can—and will be—as well."