Rafael Urena
@rafaesq
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17,768
Following
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Media
113
Statuses
1,190
Immigration Lawyer @UrenaAssociates
New York City
Joined July 2019
Don't wanna be here?
Send us removal request.
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Morgan Miles, the director of the
@StateDept
's Kentucky Consular Center, needs to be terminated from his position immediately. His handling of
#DV2021
amounts to an intentional failure to process applications. 50k people are going to lose their chance at the American dream!
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In Young v. Trump, the Government states that the Biden Administration is actively reviewing PP 10014 and makes it very, very clear that PP 10014 is a Trump-era policy. I think we have the
@WhiteHouse
's attention.
#500kseparatedfamilies
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If the
@StateDept
can adjudicate thousands of student visas in India, a place many consider the epicenter of the pandemic, why is it not able to issue the 50k diversity visas spread out over 100 consular posts. The numbers ain't adding up,
@JoeBiden
.
Since June 14, thousands of students have secured visa appointments for July & August. Thousands of appointments remain available & we will open thousands more in coming weeks. We appreciate your patience as we diligently work to resolve the technical issues you have encountered.
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Hey
@tyler_t_moran
! Does
@POTUS
know that the mission critical designations were a cover for Trump to end family preference and diversity immigration to the US? Why adhere to it?
@TravelGov
How is Covid-19 pandemic correlated to DV-2021 applicants but not other categories of applicants?
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I am profoundly disappointed that
@POTUS
is not acting with the requisite urgency to fix family based immigration.
#500kfamilies
are separated because of PP 10014. We need to get to work now!
#noban
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The
@StateDept
has filed the most recent
#dv2021
statistics in
#GoodluckvBiden
. For all of the FY2021,
@TravelGov
has scheduled only 6,018 cases. Normally, KCC schedules more than 8,000 cases in a single month! Pathetic and unlawful. See you in court,
@JoeBiden
.
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"[A]nother amendment ... allows unused diversity lottery visas, employment visas and family-based visas from FY 2020 and 2021 to remain available in FY 2022 and remain until they are used."
#projectvoyager
#dv2021
#dv2020
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Apparently
@KamalaHarris
and
@JoeBiden
message to diversity visa immigrants is do not come. How can
@JamalSimmons
spin this one?
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Why does
@TravelGov
and Neal Vermillion continue to spread misinformation about
#dv2020
? The answer is that there is pending litigation regarding whether
#dv2020
selectees will be able to receive visas. It is anti-immigrant not to acknowledge this. Are you anti-immigrant Neal?
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Why does it feel like the Biden Administration is fighting immigrants more vigorously than Trump?
#JacobvBiden
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Today, the Biden Administration fulfilled its campaign promise to remove xenophobic immigration bans and to recognize the contributions immigrants make to our economy. Thank you,
@JoeBiden
.
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“We lead the world because, unique among nations, we draw our people -- our strength -- from every country and every corner of the world … If we ever closed the door to new Americans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost.” - President Ronald Regan, 1989
#saveDV2021
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Curtis and I have offered
@POTUS
a common sense solution for holders of expiring DV-2020 visas.
#dv2020
#NoBan
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Watch
@JoeBiden
@TravelGov
and
@TheJusticeDept
argue that 23,303 selectees should permanently lose their legal pathway to the US residency despite the illegal actions of
@StephenM
and Trump!
With friends like these, you hardly have time to miss the “bad guys”
#GoodluckvBiden
#DV2021
Update: Audio for the 9/27 hearing will be live-streamed on YouTube!
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I asked my father how long the process took to petition my Brazilian mother in 1985. He said three weeks. There was a time when we cherished immigrant families.
#500kseparatedfamilies
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@JoeBiden
"is speaking with two tongues," an attorney for the lottery winners, Rafael Urena told
@Law360
. "The spin is nauseating." Check out the article by
@HannahAlbarazi
.
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There is a backlog of over 380,000 documentarily qualified immigrant visa applications at the National Visa Center. Tens of thousands more are awaiting interviews at embassies. If you think
@JoeBiden
is going to solve this quickly, I think you’re going to be disappointed.
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If you think the Senate parliamentarian has is anti-immigrant, wait until you hear about Biden's attorneys at the
@TheJusticeDept
.
More hopeful
#DV2021
selectees outside
@usingeo
today.
When asked today by federal judge how many DV immigrants should get to continue their immigration journey,
@TheJusticeDept
attorney Cara E. Alsterberg guessed zero.
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Biden is on track to accept the fewest diversity visa applicants since the introduction of the program, including Trump.
#DV2021
Biden is on track to accept fewest refugees of any modern president, including Trump.
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And if you try to come here legally, your visa application will never be processed and you will lose your opportunity to come.
#saveDV2021
If you come to the United States illegally, you will be removed.
Please do not attempt the perilous journey.
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Pictures like this keep me and my team going despite all the anxiety and sleepless nights. It shouldn’t be this hard.
#youngvbiden
#500kseparatedfamilies
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Project Voyager Update: Tomorrow, the Senate parliamentarian will hear arguments about using the reconciliation process to pass diversity visa recapture laws.
#DV2021
#DV2020
NEW:
@SenatorDurbin
tells reporters Plan C immigration pitch to parliamentarian happening tomorrow.
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DV-2020 order is out. Judge Mehta has ordered the
@StateDept
and
@TravelGov
"to commence processing the 9,905 DV-2020 visas as soon as is feasible and to conclude such processing no later than the end of the 2022 Fiscal Year, or September 30, 2022."
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Watch the Biden Administration’s defense of keeping immigrant families separated and
#DV2021
selectees out.
@POTUS
is this the immigration optic you were going for?
what: in
#JacobvBiden
,
@potus
attorney Kimberly A. Robinson defends Trump's most xenophobic immigration-ending policies.
when: April 15, 2021, 1:30PM PST
video access:
audio access:
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In America, you can pack 100 maskless people into a small nightclub for a Bow Wow Concert but you cannot bring your foreign national parents to live with you. Its not adding up, Joe.
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🎊🇺🇸 Welcome to the USA🇺🇸🎊
@curtisatlaw
@rafaesq
@BritSimonSays
finally from LAX we couldn't do it without you
#dv2020visaholders
a million thanks are not enough.
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.
@USEmbassyTurkey
has a backlog of 2737 immigrant visa.
@StateDept
believes it will take 5 years for the work through. This is a fraction of the backlog around the world. The state of US immigration is in crisis and
@JoeBiden
and
@KamalaHarris
appear too incompetent to handle it.
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The proposed legislation seeks to help an estimated 21,000 diversity visa immigrants from seven countries previously banned by the Trump administration.
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The diversity visa program is so important to so many immigrant communities across the US. It’s important that we make these wrongs right.
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In
#JacobvBiden
, the State Department admitted to a backlog of 473,000 documentarily qualified family-based immigrant visa applications. The system is on the verge of breaking. We must address this now!
#500kseparatedfamilies
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@JoeBiden
: We can take another 2 million immigrants in a heartbeat.
Court: You need to issue 9,095
#dv2020
visas.
@TheJusticeDept
: Our country is at capacity.
Broken Promises,
@tyler_t_moran
.
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Alhamdulillah! Welcome to the United States of America
@y_sannoh
. May all your dreams and expectations come to fruition.
Allahudulliah (Thank God) we finally arrived in the USA, thanks to our team of lawyer
@curtisatlaw
@rafaesq
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“And then the Biden administration, previously Trump, decided ‘no, we’re just not going to go through with it..." said
@curtisatlaw
.
Thousands of people who thought they had won legal permanent residence in the U.S. now may lose their chance for green cards because of a pandemic-fueled backlog.
1K
718
1K
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In most cases, this gives you another 6 months to enter.
BUT, if you have an opportunity to lawfully enter the US before the expiration of your
#dv2020
visa, YOU SHOULD DO SO PROMPTLY. Do not rely on this Order as a way to extend the period you can enter the US.
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If one more nativist bureaucrat tells me that family reunification visas for immigrant families is the
@StateDept
@TravelGov
@SecBlinken
's lowest priority, I am going to lose it. Over 500k families remain separated. The lack of urgency to reunify these families is disappointing.
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Project Voyager News: Check out the
@nytimes
story by
@KannoYoung
about the current Congressional efforts to recapture unused diversity visas.
#DV2021
#DV2020
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#DV2021
Update: In Rai v. Blinken, Judge Chutkan has ordered
@SecBlinken
and
@TravelGov
to begin processing 966 DV-21 selectees effected by Regional COVID-19 Travel Bans as soon as it is reasonably feasible to do so, but before October 1, 2022. Court wants a report due Nov. 15
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The Secretary of State has granted a national interest exception for Diversity Visa (DV) applicants for the 2020 fiscal year (DV-2020) who hold a valid immigrant visa and are subject to the geographic COVID-19 Presidential Proclamations.
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It is not enough that
@JoeBiden
and
@KamalaHarris
want to END a legal pathway to immigrating to the US for approximately 17,000 people, they want to do it as expeditiously as possible. SHAME!
#DV2021
#DV2020
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If you have a visa issued after 9/4, your visa will be treated as though it was issued on (1) the date of a final decision from Mehta if he finds the Proclamation unlawful; (2) the date Biden rescinds the Order; or (3) the date of the expiration of PP 10014.
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Today, I filed a motion to vacate the stay of the final orders for
#DV2020
with J. Mehta. More than two years have passed since the court stayed his final decision. and plaintiffs have suffered terribly since the
@StateDept
illegally suspended the processing of their visa
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On the advice of our medical team, the Administration does not intend to lift these restrictions on 1/26. In fact, we plan to strengthen public health measures around international travel in order to further mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
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20K
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In a declaration submitted in Rai v. Biden,
@StateDept
and
@TravelGov
claim that reserved visas for
#dv2020
and
#dv2021
could begin in April of 2022. State claims that this is dependent on whether or not visa system updates go as forecasted.
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Big day for
#dv2020
. Today’s hearing will decide the life trajectory of over 35,000 diversity visa winners yearning to redeem their chance at life in the United States of America. The papers are submitted, the lawyers are prepared, and the hearing is set. Let justice prevail!
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The
@TheJusticeDept
's obsession with
@curtisatlaw
's twitter page highlights just how badly immigration officials want to silence dissidents.
It's not that they do not like see immigrants being treated badly, they just do not want YOU to see it.
note:
@TheJusticeDept
mission to silence immigration attorney free speech, Trial Attorney William C. Bateman III is only a lieutenant. The captain is Colin Kisor, formerly of legal team fighting so that 2020 census respondents would have to declare whether they were citizens.1/2
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Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers fighting for the chance to bring their children to the United States in hope of a better life.
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Key takeaway after today's Young v. Biden hearing, is that the tone of the
@StateDept
and the
@TheJusticeDept
has changed. Hopefully that change translates to quickly issued visas. Immigrants and their families have suffered long enough.
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Lets play a game of who said it! Biden's DOJ or Trump's DOJ? Family separation is not irreparable harm.
#500kseparatedfamilies
#NoBan
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I love to see it! There is such strength in our diversity visa selectees. 💥 🇺🇸 💥
DONE. Thank you
@curtisatlaw
@rafaesq
@ckuck
@BritSimonSays
@DvObserver
Now it's time to realize our American dream with
@AngelaDeCri
#dv2020visaholders
#DV2020
#dv2020
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What did we learn in today's from the
@StateDept
filing? Issuances for spouses and children of citizens are UP 20% this week when compared to pre-COVID adjudications. Family preference categories are down 43% and DVs are down 75%. Stephen Miller is very happy.
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Admissions pursuant to the court orders in Goodluck, Gomez, Rai, and Goh appear now appear as their own visa category on government websites.
#wartrophies
#dv2020
#dv2021
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Excited that I get to work alongside great attorneys
@AbadirBarre
@rafaesq
@KristinaGhazar1
@PhilipDuclos
@thealakhras
and
@JonAftalion
in representing our
#GoodluckvBiden
#DV2021
plaintiffs!
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Can Documented Dreamers agree to drop the “I came here legally so I am deserving of compassion” shtick? I support your effort 100%, but this line reeks of classism.
More immigrants are deserving of pathways to legal residence because our country will be better. Period.
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If you are a
#dv2020
visa holder and having issues boarding flights, the airline can call CBP to get clearance for you to board your flight.
For Asia, Pacific Rim call 808-237-4632
For Latin America, Caribbean call 305-874-5444
For Europe, Africa, Mid-East call 718-553-1783
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.
@joebiden
was presented with an opportunity to reverse the damage to the diversity program caused by President Trump, his attorneys at
@USAO_DC
instead argued to kill DV21 program and preserve zero of the soon to expire visas. What's going on at the
@WhiteHouse
@tyler_t_moran
?
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Today, I filed a reply in support of a motion to vacate the court's stay of its final order and asked Judge Mehta to begin processing DV-2020 cases. Let's see what happens next.
#dv2020
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From Liberia to Iowa. Check out this diversity visa selectee’s newest restaurant in Cedar Rapids.
#SaveDiversityVisa
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#DV2020
#DV2021
UPDATE: In today's Rai Status Report,
@StateDept
tells the court that they expect to finish "system modifications" necessary for visa issuances on April 18, 22. KCC and embassies plan to resume processing thereafter. Doubtful interviews scheduled before that date.
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I know some of you are different types of learners so here is a visual representation of
@JoeBiden
actually increasing Trump’s immigration restrictions.
Check out this comparison of
#DV2022
and
#DV2023
instructions.
Selection also doesn’t guarantee a pony🐴, but that doesn’t excuse
@StateDept
arbitrary decisions.
Their lawyers are finally figuring out that
@rafaesq
, me, and our legal team, aren’t going to stop.
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.
@curtisatlaw
and I represent hundreds of Ukrainian diversity visa winners who were unlawfully denied visas.
@JoeBiden
could issue them visas tomorrow, instead he sends his attorneys to fight us in court. TWO TONGUES!
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Greencard backlogs and processing delays are two different things. I do not think advocates and journalists are doing a good job articulating the difference.
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So excited about our new suit challenging the suspension of processing for
#dv2021
selectees effected by Regional COVID Bans. As J. Mehta brilliantly held "the Quarantine Requirement [for the adjudication of DVs] is premised on a faulty legal position, and it is irrational, too."
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Check out this great story about a diversity visa beneficiary leading the US Air Force's Diversity and Inclusion program. Yet another example of why we should cherish the DV program.
#DV2021
#savedv2021
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Another takeaway from the
@StateDept
's June visa statistics is the decline in Family Preference categories. Down to 9,464 from 14,562 Pre-COVID. For a year these visas were banned altogether. Some LPRs have been separated from their spouses and children for 3 years. So sad.
#F2A
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In
#JacobvBiden
, where
@curtisatlaw
and I represent almost 2,200 visa applicants and their families we learned that almost 290,000 family preference visas applicants are awaiting interviews. The State Department scheduled 262 last month.
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#JacobvBiden
Update: Judge Chen has ordered the
@StateDept
to turn over key details concerning the ever growing immigrant visa backlogs. We are about to find out just how bad it is and just how feeble the response has been so far.
#500kseparatedfamilies
#DV2021
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This is great news! What we need to know now is how will the State Department implement this Order. I imagine that the
@StateDept
and the immigration restrictionist in its ranks are not happy about this.
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By way of the instant motion, Plaintiffs seek a worldwide injunction enjoining Defendants, their agents, servants, employees, and all others in active concert of participation with them from enforcing or otherwise carrying out the extension of PP 10014.
#NoBan2021Lawsuit
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We cannot forget that behind the visa backlog are hundreds of thousands of separated families.
@POTUS
must do more to clean up the mess and reunite these families.
Behind the immigrant visas are American families. Some have been separated for years. They have missed the entire infancy of their children, golden years of their parents, and the opportunity to start something special with their spouse. We must end this family separation.
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Look at that. That’s the American Dream.
Thank you
@ckuck
@curtisatlaw
@gsiskind
@jeffjoseph
@rafaesq
@immlawACHall
@BritSimonSays
for all your help to get us here.
#dv2020
#newestpermanentresidents
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Why is the
@JoeBiden
Administration trying to hide the family based visa backlog?
@FLOTUS
my people are separated from their children too. Let's not sweep this Trump caused atrocity under the rug. Let's get to work and fix the mess.
In case anyone was worried that AUSA Kimberly Robinson took a break from twitter, worry no more. From this draft of a joint statement, she's following
@calebmhampton
pretty closely now, too.
#JacobvBiden
1/2
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Check out
@schamisso
’s piece on the current state of affair for DV-2020 visa holders.
#DV2020
#DV2021
#noban
"We have the visa in our passport and we can't travel. It's crazy."
Biden set to announce more immigration EOs tmrw. But unclear if he'll end Trump's visa ban.
Thousands of DV lottery winners pray that he will - so they can use golden & soon-to-expire opportunity to immigrate.
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Hey
@AmericanAir
Why are you refusing to let
#dv2020
visa holders board flights? Can you let your representatives in Cancun know that their is no longer any restrictions to their entry to the US.
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“We are happy that the process is going to come to a conclusion and many of the visa applicants will be able to obtain a visa and immigrate to the United States” said Rafael Ureña.
#dv2020
Story by
@mikelasusa
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There was a really powerful moment at the
#JacobvBiden
hearing where
@AbadirBarre
told Judge Chen that 0
#dv2021
visas had been issued. Very interested in the numbers
@StateDept
has to provide the court by next week.
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