[author: Westford Lang]
On Tuesday, July 11, 2017, the Department of Homeland Security published notice in the Federal Register delaying the implementation of the International Entrepreneur Rule. After last month’s prediction that the Trump administration would delay the rule from going into effect on July 17th, the DHS notice officially delays the effective date of the regulation until March 14, 2018, except for an amendment to an Aliens and Nationality Immigration Regulation relating to seizure and forfeiture of conveyance, which will still go into effect on July 17, 2017.
The DHS states that the reason for the temporary delay is to “provide DHS with an opportunity to obtain comments from the public regarding a proposal to rescind the rule pursuant to Executive Order 13767, ‘Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements.’”
On January 25, 2017, President Trump issued Executive Order 13767, Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements, prescribing improvements to border security and immigration enforcement, requiring the DHS Secretary to “take appropriate action to ensure that parole authority under section 212(d)(5) of the INA (8 U.S.C. 1182(d)(5)) is exercised only on a case-by-case basis in accordance with the plain language of the statute, and in all circumstances only when an individual demonstrates urgent humanitarian reasons or a significant public benefit derived from such parole.”
DHS will issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking public comments on the proposal to rescind the International Entrepreneur Final Rule. The delayed effective date will provide an opportunity for the notice and comment rulemaking to take place.
The comment period is open for 30 days, until August 10, 2017.
