LONE STAR COLLEGE NORTH HARRIS

PARALEGAL STUDIES PROGRAM FALL 2011 SEMESTER COURSE SYLLABUS for LGLA 1359*1001 IMMIGRATION LAW COURSE INSTRUCTOR: Joseph G. Soliz INSTRUCTOR CONTACT INFO: e-mail: Joseph.G.Soliz@lonestar.edu alternative e-mail: JSoliz@aol.com office phone: (713) 228-8922 cell phone: (281) 433-0743 fax: (713) 228-8959 The instructor will have weekly Live Office Hour Sessions online, as posted in the Courses online Home page. You can contact the instructor any other time by phone or email if you have a question. Also, if you need/want to meet with the instructor in person, please contact the instructor directly to make an appointment. COURSE CREDIT: 3 College Credits REQUIRED TEXT: Text: Maria Isabel Casablanca and Gloria Roa Bodin; Immigration Law for Paralegals, 3 Edition; Carolina Academic Press, Durham, North Carolina; Copyright Year: 2010; ISBN: 978-159460-817-9. All reading assignment references in the Course Outline to the Required Text are to this text. COURSE OVERVIEW: This course presents fundamental concepts of immigration law with emphasis on the paralegal's role. Topics include substantive and procedural law related to visa applications, deportation, naturalization, and citizenship. INSTRUCTIONAL METHOD: This is an online class. You are to access the Course site at LSC Online in the Angel learning system. COURSE OBJECTIVES: Upon completion of the Course, each student should: (i) know the definition and proper use of common immigration law terminology, (ii) be able to locate, describe and analyze sources of immigration law, (iii) know the role and ethical obligations of the paralegal in the immigration law field, and (iv) be able to prepare documents commonly used in the immigration legal practice.
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CLASS DISCUSSION ASSIGNMENTS: While you wont be physically attending class, you ARE required to keep up with assigned readings and participate in regular Class Discussions via the Class Discussion Assignments posted through the ANGEL learning environment (20% of final grade). Class Discussion Assignments will correspond with chapter assignments, and all discussion posting due dates are listed in the syllabus and on your ANGEL course calendar. After reading the posted Class Discussion Assignment topic, you will need to post at least 3 responses to each topic by the assigned deadlines in order to receive credit. No late postings will be accepted! One posting must directly address the Discussion question(s) presented, while the remaining 2 required postings must be a response to other student postings. Each posting should be substantively responsive and approximately one to two paragraphs in length. I think you will enjoy (as well as learn from) these class discussions! MEANS OF ASSESSMENT: There will be at least 4 Quizzes (accounting for 10% of your final grade), at least 4 written work Drafting Assignments (accounting for 20% of your final grade), 14 weekly online Class Discussions (accounting for 20% of your final grade), a Midterm Examination (accounting for 25% of your final grade) and a Final Examination (accounting for 25% of your final grade) during the semester. There will be no extensions or make-ups of any missed assignment or assessment, unless prior arrangements have been made and approved by instructor. All assessments will be administered online through the Angel course learning environment. Grades will be assigned on the following scale: A = 90 - 100 B = 80 - 89 C = 70 - 79 D = 65 - 69 F = Below 65 EVALUATION POLICIES AND PROCEDURES: All assignments must be timely submitted to pass the course. PLEASE NOTE THAT EXTENSIONS WILL NOT BE GRANTED FOR THIS ONLINE COURSE WITHOUT GOOD CAUSE. Late assignments WITHOUT PRIOR APPROVAL of the instructor will not be accepted and will receive a zero. STUDENTS ARE EXPECTED TO SPEND AT LEAST 3 HOURS PER WEEK READING ASSIGMENTS AND PARTICIPATING ONLINE IN CLASS INTERACTON WITH THE INSTRUCTOR AND OTHER STUDENTS. A schedule of required Course Assignments, Assessments, written work Drafting Assignments, and Class Discussion Assignments will be listed online in the Course site on Angel. ACADEMIC INTEGRITY STATEMENT: Lone Star College is committed to a high standard of academic integrity in the academic community. In becoming a part of the academic community, students are responsible for honesty and independent effort. Failure to uphold these standards includes, but is not limited to, the following: plagiarizing written work or projects, cheating on exams or assignments, collusion on an exam or project, and misrepresentation of credentials or prerequisites when registering for a course. Cheating includes looking at or copying from another student's exam, orally communicating or receiving answers during an exam, having another person take an exam or complete a project or assignment, using unauthorized notes, texts, or other materials for an exam, and obtaining or distributing an unauthorized copy of an exam or any part of an exam.

Plagiarism means passing off as his/her own the ideas or writings of another (that is, without giving proper credit by documenting sources). Plagiarism includes submitting a paper, report or project that someone else has prepared, in whole or in part. Collusion is inappropriately collaborating on assignments designed to be completed independently. These definitions are not exhaustive. When there is clear evidence of cheating, plagiarism, collusion or misrepresentation, disciplinary action may include but is not limited to: requiring you to retake or resubmit an exam or assignment, assigning a grade of zero or "F" for an exam or assignment; or assigning a grade of "F" for the course. Additional sanctions including being withdrawn from the course, program or expelled from school may be imposed on a students who violate the standards of academic integrity. SOFTWARE PIRACY: Applicable Law strictly prohibits unauthorized copying of software purchased by the Lone Star College System for use in laboratories. Administration will take appropriate disciplinary action against anyone violating copyright laws. COMPUTER VIRUS PROTECTION: Computer viruses are a fact of life. Using the secondary storage on more than one computer creates the possibility of infecting computers and diskettes with a computer virus. This exposes the computers of the college, your personal computer, and any others you may be using to potentially damaging viruses. The college has aggressive anti-virus procedures in place to protect its computers, but cannot guarantee that a virus might not temporarily infect one of its machines. Since new viruses arise continually, your anti-virus software must be kept current. Since no anti-virus software will find every virus, keeping copies of data (backups) is extremely important. ADA STATEMENT: The Lone Star College System provides reasonable accommodations, in compliance with Section 54 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Please inform the instructor of any special accommodations which you may need as a result of disability. Students with disabilities who believe that they need accommodations in this course are encouraged to contact the Disability Services Office as soon as possible to better ensure that such accommodations are implemented in a timely fashion. It is the students responsibility to request these accommodations. EQUAL OPPORTUNITY STATEMENT: It is the policy of Lone Star College to provide equal employment, admission and educational opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, or disability. The college fosters and appreciates ethnic and cultural diversity among its faculty, students, and administrative staff. Lone Star College strives to provide an excellent learning environment free from harassment or intimidation directed at any persons race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, or disability. Any form of harassment will not be tolerated. DROPS/EXCESSIVE ABSENCES: Under Section 51.907 of the Texas Education Code, "an institution of higher education may not permit a student to drop more than SIX courses, including any course a transfer student has dropped at another Texas public institution of higher education." This statute was enacted by the State of Texas in Spring 2007 and applies to students who enroll in a public institution of higher education as first-time freshmen in the Fall 2007 semester or later. Students enrolled prior

to Fall 2007 are not affected. Any course that a student drops is counted toward the six-course limit unless the student is completely withdrawing from the institution or meets one of the eligible criteria for a waiver. A "drop" in this instance is considered when a student is dropped or withdrawn from a course after official day resulting in a grade of "W." Please refer to the catalog for any additional information regarding the eligible criteria for a waiver. LSCS STUDENT GUIDE: To the extent applicable, the relevant portions of the following 2010-2011 Lone Star College Systems Student Guide, relevant to classroom instruction, are incorporated herein by this reference.

LoneStar.edu/departments/advising/LSCS_Student_Guide_Web.pdf
Please review this guide to make yourself familiar with its provisions.

COURSE OUTLINE

Week 1: Week 2: Week 3:

Introduction and Course Overview Meeting with the Client (Reading Assignment: Text Chapter 1). Visitors for Business (B-1 Visa) and Pleasure (B-2 Visa) (Reading Assignment: Text Chapter 2). Temporary Visas for Working (Reading Assignment: Text Chapter 3). Temporary Visas for Studying (Reading Assignment: Text Chapter 4). Temporary Visas for Particular Occupations O, P, Q and R Visas (Reading Assignment: Text Chapter 5). Temporary and Permanent Visas for Victims T and U Visas (Reading Assignment: Text Chapter 6). MID-TERM EXAM Family-Based Residency and Visas (Reading Assignment: Text Chapter 7).

Week 4: Week 5: Week 6:

Week 7:

Week 8: Week 9:

Week 10: Employment-Based and Investor Immigrant Preferences (Reading Assignment: Text Chapter 8). Week 11: Claiming Asylum or Protection in the United States (Reading Assignment: Text Chapter 9).

Week 12: Seeking Relief Before the Courts (IJ, BIA and Federal Courts) (Reading Assignment: Text Chapter 10). Week 13: Citizenship in the United States (Reading Assignment: Text Chapter 11). Week 14: Representation before Department of Homeland Security Agencies (Reading Assignment: Text Chapter 12). Week 15: Current Developments. Week 16: FINAL EXAM

This outline is subject to change during the course of the semester. Please check the Course Announcements in LSC-Online for any changes to this course outline which may occur.