Angelo A. Paparelli

Recent changes to immigration rules at the state and local levels have kept Paparelli busy since the Trump administration began to implement its Buy American and Hire American executive order.

AB 450, a state law passed earlier this year that requires employers to request judicial warrants from immigration agents before they inspect workplaces, has raised questions for Paparelli’s company clients.

The law is one of three that is the subject of a lawsuit by the federal government against the state, and Paparelli said that some employers requesting a warrant have been told they would have employee visas denied for noncooperation. California v. Sessions, 18-CV-00490-JAM-KJN (E.D. Cal., filed March 6, 2018).

“I’ve advised employers to try to take the issue up the organizational hierarchy so as to create an effort at cooperation,” Paparelli said, noting that he has questioned the government about their authority to deny the visas.

He also said he hoped the judge in the case would rule soon on the enforceability of AB 450 and that California Attorney General Xavier Becerra would offer more guidance on how to comply with federal immigration agents as well as the law.

Paparelli said he also works with company clients to handle the fallout from the executive order which has resulted in policies such as the administration forbidding third-party work site training or placement of those on work visas except in certain circumstances.

“Not only do they change the rules they change the rules in a way that logically doesn’t make sense,” Paparelli said. “They say that’s not the kind of training we had in mind and they report it in a middle-of-the-night website change.”

The policy is difficult to advise clients on because there have been no new regulations or law surrounding it and is the result of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services policy, he added.

Paparelli has also represented family members of an employee at a refugee-relief nonprofit organization in their application for asylum as well as mentored non-immigration attorneys working on asylum cases.

— Chase DiFeliciantonio