Immigration Law

Supreme Court Enters ‘Curious Corner of Immigration Law’

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide the constitutionality of an immigration law that makes it more difficult for the children of immigrants to become U.S. citizens based on the citizenship of their fathers, rather than their mothers. The case concerns “a curious corner of U.S. immigration law that…

Mar 24, 2010 11:00 AM CDT

Immigration Courts Can’t Keep Up with Enforcement, Face Record Backlogs

U.S. immigration courts nationally have a backlog of 228,400 cases, and an immigrant’s average wait to have his or her case heard is 439 days. According to a study by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a high number of judicial vacancies is to blame. Around 17 percent of its…

Mar 12, 2010 7:35 PM CST

Immigration System ‘Broken’

A sweeping report by the ABA Commission on Immigration proposes creation of an independent structure for hearing cases involving immigrants facing removal from the United States to replace the Justice Department’s current system.

Mar 1, 2010 7:50 AM CST

Phoenix-Area Sheriff to Defy ICE’s Rollback on His Immigration Enforcement Power

In yet another bold move, controversial Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff Joe Arpaio has said he intends to defy Washington’s efforts to curb his aggressive enforcement of federal immigration law. Last year, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement stripped Arpaio of authority to use 100 deputies to enforce federal immigration in…

Feb 11, 2010 3:22 PM CST

ABA Urges Congress to Fix ‘Broken’ Immigration System

The ABA’s policy-making House of Delegates this afternoon voted to urge Congress to substantially remake the adjudication of immigration cases. The measures included recommendations that, if adopted by Congress, would: • Amend the Immigration and Nationality Act’s definition of “aggravated felony” to require that any such conviction must be of…

Feb 8, 2010 9:00 PM CST

Lawyers Travel to Haiti to Help After Quake; ABA Launches Disaster Relief Portal

As lawyers, bar organizations and law firms gear up to support the relief effort in Haiti, some are donating not only money but their personal efforts, on the ground, to help out. And it isn’t easy. An obviously drained Dale Thuillez spent three days last week flying medical supplies and…

Jan 28, 2010 3:36 AM CST

ABA Prez Calls for Haiti Donations After ‘Heartbreaking’ Quake; BigLaw Gives Big Money

After a disastrous earthquake in Haiti earlier this week that is conservatively estimated to have killed 50,000 and devastated much of the country, American Bar Association President Carolyn B. Lamm is calling for members to support humanitarian relief efforts to help residents recover and rebuild. “On behalf of the American…

Jan 14, 2010 8:23 PM CST

US Deportations to Haiti Halted After Devastating Earthquake

Following an earthquake in Haiti that may have killed tens of thousands, deportations to the country have been halted, United States officials announced today. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said deportations had stopped “for the time being,” reports the New York Times. Some 30,000 Haitians in the U.S.…

Jan 14, 2010 2:26 AM CST

Immigrants Have Privacy Right in Tax Files, Colo. High Court Says

Prosecutors improperly searched tax records for evidence that undocumented immigrants had used others’ Social Security numbers, the Colorado Supreme Court has ruled. The prosecutors served a search warrant last year on a tax preparer’s office in Greeley, Colo., looking through 5,000 files to charge more than 70 people with identity…

Dec 15, 2009 4:38 PM CST

Practice Pitfalls

When it comes to potential ethics or malpractice hazards, watch where you’re going, or look out below

Dec 2, 2009 5:39 AM CST

Coming to America

So much for the Honeymoon. Rati Sud had barely stepped off the plane after a 17-hour flight from India when her new husband allegedly punched her and pushed her off the bed for refusing his demands for sex. It was all downhill from there.

Dec 2, 2009 3:59 AM CST

Notoriety for Notarios

ABA project targets consultants who steer noncitizens afoul of U.S. immigration laws

Dec 2, 2009 1:49 AM CST

Misconduct By 3 Sekhon Firm Lawyers Puts Up to 700 Clients in Peril

Sekhon & Sekhon claimed a 95 percent success rate concerning more than 1,000 immigrants that the law firm helped to win political asylum in the United States. But now up to 700 could be deported because they lied to immigration judges and asylum officers after the law firm and interpreters…

Nov 16, 2009 6:10 PM CST

US Recommends Asylum in ‘Iconic’ Domestic Violence Case

The United States has recommended asylum in the closely watched case of a Guatemalan woman fleeing domestic abuse. Rody Alvarado Peña will likely win asylum because of the U.S. stance, her lawyer, Karen Musalo, told the New York Times. This “has been the iconic case of domestic abuse as a…

Oct 30, 2009 12:04 PM CDT

Runaway and Abandoned Teens on a Rough Legal Road

As the economy nosedived and a number of struggling states sharply cut their social services budgets, the number of juveniles running away from troubled homes has soared. The number of juveniles living on their own rose by 40 percent last year, reports the New York Times in a magazine-length article.…

Oct 26, 2009 7:39 PM CDT