Blackford Law LLC

07/23/2026

Please help award Blackford Law LLC First Place in the Immigration Law Firm category for 5 years in a row in the annual Best of Omaha contest! We are forever grateful for your continued support and trust in us to provide quality representation to keep families together. Voting is open until August 10 and a quick link/QR code to vote for us is below!

https://www.omahamagazine.com/vote/?v=351&n=Blackford%20Law%20LLC

07/04/2026

What does patriotism mean to me? From our nation’s founding, we have continuously striven to make “a more perfect Union.” From the slaughter of Native Americans and the Trail of Tears, to slavery and Jim Crow, to the treatment of numerous groups of immigrants and refugees arriving at our ports and borders from the past to the present, we have often failed at that mission with devastating and even deadly results. But that hasn’t and shouldn’t stop us from trying.

Our founders were immigrants - and yes often slaveholders with intense hatred towards Native Americans as well (we should not overlook this part of the Declaration of Independence but learn from it). But they yearned for something better than what they had at the moment. This dichotomy often represents what it means to be an American. We aspire, we fail, but we don’t give up trying to make this country better. That is patriotism.

Nearly every day I meet with immigrants and refugees who want nothing more than to live permanently in the U.S. - despite our historical failures and the current anti-immigrant policies. They are willing to come from all over the world and risk everything to take a chance on us. They have that American Dream and they never stop trying to achieve it. They see the Trump Administration and its (anti-American and unpatriotic) policies as just another obstacle they have to overcome but they have come this far and still have the love for America and the determination to succeed and benefit this great nation. They see the promise of America and try to help us fulfill it. That is patriotism. That is what truly makes America great. Immigrants and refugees to the U.S. often possess the patriotism that those of us born here often take for granted. We all need to possess that spirit and work together to achieve that ever-evolving, “more” perfect Union.

That is patriotism and what our flag represents to me. Happy Independence Day everyone! 🇺🇸

06/10/2026

A year ago today, ICE, with a film crew, raided Glenn Valley Foods in Omaha and arrested 75 workers. Only one was ever charged and convicted of a crime. The rest were either deported or put into deportation proceedings by ICE where they are attempting to convince an immigration judge to allow them to remain in the United States.

Below is a CNN story on our client and her children in the aftermath. The trauma remains but the fight continues - for Rina, her family, and the others affected that day and every day since.

Rita Salado, la hija de una mujer arrestada por ICE, compartió con ...

06/05/2026

“The time is always right to do what is right."
- Martin Luther King Jr.

05/22/2026

In another - and extremely drastic - attempt to end LEGAL immigration, the Trump Administration today announced that they were effectively eliminating the process of adjustment of status for those who lawfully came to the U.S. with visas or were paroled into the U.S. by border patrol and are, for example, married to U.S. citizens or have adult U.S. citizen children who are petitioning for them. Instead, the Trump Administration wants every immigrant to leave the U.S. and apply for permanent residency at a U.S. embassy or consulate in their home country even though this is not always possible and it has already banned all such immigrants from 75 countries from doing so.

While our hope is that litigation will stop this new policy that is contrary to many prior legal decisions and laws and has never been USCIS policy in the past, it is important to weigh the risks of applying for adjustment of status at this time because, if denied, you could be placed in removal proceedings and face possible deportation.

However, adjustment of status may still be granted by USCIS in “extraordinary” circumstances. While every case is different and there is no clear definition of what makes a case “extraordinary,” if you still wish to apply for adjustment of status in addition to the already required documentation, you should also submit a significant amount of evidence of positive discretionary factors such as letters of recommendation and good moral character and any evidence of hardship to the petitioner or other U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident immediate family members. Additionally, as of now this policy does not apply to those in removal or deportation proceedings who should still be able to apply for adjustment of status before an immigration judge.

Blackford Law is here to assist and will not be deterred or intimidated by any ill-conceived policies that violate our immigration laws and decades of legal precedent.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today announced a new policy memo reiterating the fact that, consistent with long-standing immigration law and immigration court decisions, aliens seeking adjustment of status must do so through consular processing via the Department of State outside of the....

01/31/2026

"This case has its genesis in the ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children.
..

Civics lesson to the government: Administrative warrants issued by the executive branch to itself do not pass probable cause muster. This is called the fox guarding the henhouse. The Constitution requires an independent judicial officer."

- Judge Fred Biery

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/01/in-scathing-ruling-federal-judge-orders-release-of-liam-ramos-from-detention/?fbclid=IwY2xjawPrZrZleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEePrETpaetv26SIVD32vE2QU5A-H1He5GsCPrTRthRk4bjwEvxJHoy5ugnyL4_aem_xzaVBhqCkwu1w1_-tFoPhg

Judge Fred Biery said federal agents were “traumatizing children.”

01/25/2026

ENOUGH. We must come together NOW to defeat this evil or the murders and violations of our constitutional (the 1st, 2nd, and 4th Amendments are now being ignored by DHS in its ICE and CBP operations) and civil rights BY OUR OWN GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS will only continue and get worse given the ICE directives and budget.

Some great thoughts/plans from Rep. Ro Khanna on what we can push our congresspersons to do:

“Congress is not powerless. Democrats must unify around an actual agenda.

1. Vote no on DHS funding bill.

2. Repeal the multi-year $75 billion funding for ICE.

3. End qualified immunity for ICE agents.

4. Investigate and prosecute every single ICE agent who broke the law.

5. Impeach Noem and Bondi.

6. End the Kavanaugh stops with racial profiling and end the militarization of ICE.

7. Codify a use of force standard so courts can enforce the law against rogue ICE agents.

8. Tear down and replace ICE with an agency that has oversight.

Trump is engaged in the SYSTEMATIC destruction of the rule of law.

Only if Congress fights with every legal tool at our disposal including lawsuits in the courts, like we are doing with the Epstein files, can we stop this madness.

We owe that to nurse Pretti and the hundreds of thousands on the streets risking their lives to stand up for our freedoms.”

01/19/2026

“A time like this demands great leaders.” As relevant as ever this :

“We have got to have more dedicated, consecrated, intelligent and sincere leadership. This is a tense period through which we are passing, this period of transition and there is a need all over the nation for leaders to carry on. Leaders who can somehow sympathize with and calm us and at the same time have a positive quality. We have got to have leaders of this sort who will stand by courageously and yet not run off with emotion. We need leaders not in love with money but in love with justice. Not in love with publicity but in love with humanity. Leaders who can subject their particular egos to the pressing urgencies of the great cause of freedom. God give us leaders. A time like this demands great leaders. Leaders whom the fog of life cannot chill, men whom the lust of office cannot buy. Leaders who have honor, leaders who will not lie. Leaders who will stand before a pagan god and damn his treacherous flattery.”

- Martin Luther King Jr., “The Birth of a New Age," address delivered on August 11, 1956

01/15/2026

The Trump Administration is further restricting LEGAL immigration in its anti-immigrant crusade.

Beginning January 21, 2026, the Department of State is "pausing" issuing immigrant visas (permanent residency for those that must apply at U.S. embassies/consulates outside of the U.S.) for citizens of the following countries:

Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, The Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyz Republic, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Republic of the Congo, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, and Yemen.

This is because the Trump Administration considers citizens of these countries to be "financial burden[s] to Americans" and thus at a "high-risk" of using public (government) benefits and being a "public charge" instead of being "financially self-sufficient." No evidence or statistics were provided for such accusations.

Citizens of these countries can and should still submit their immigrant visa applications and will be scheduled for their immigrant visa interviews, but their actual immigrant visas will not be issued until this "pause" concludes. Current immigrant visas already approved will not be revoked and this "pause" does not affect issuance of non-immigrant visas such as fiancé (K-1) or tourist (B-1/B-2) visas.

Suspension of Visa Issuance to Foreign Nationals to Protect the United States from Foreign Terrorists and other National Security and Public Safety Threats

01/08/2026

Our hearts go out to Minneapolis and those everywhere giving everything for immigrant rights. We stand with you in solidarity now and forever. ✊🏼

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
― George Orwell, 1984