Immigration Law

Immigration Overhaul Will End Family Detentions at Controversial Center

The Obama administration plans to overhaul the much-criticized detention system for immigration violators so that detainees will be housed in more suitable facilities. Critics say detainees have been mistreated and given substandard medical care in the detention centers. One Texas facility that housed children behind barbed wire, the T. Don…

Aug 6, 2009 11:33 AM CDT

Fired By Ashcroft, Hired By Holder: Guendelsberger Again Tapped for BIA

In a symbolic move, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has made his first appointment to the nation’s highest immigration appeals panel. His selection: John Guendelsberger, a former immigration law professor and eight-year veteran of the Board of Immigration Appeals who lost his seat in 2003 when then-Attorney General John Ashcroft…

Aug 3, 2009 8:58 PM CDT

Zack Understands Legal Concerns, Language of Hispanic Community #ABAChicago

It was just one moment in a hallway outside another hotel meeting room, but it offered a telling glimpse into the impact Stephen N. Zack is likely to have when he takes his turn as ABA president. He was giving an interview to a television crew on Friday morning during…

Aug 3, 2009 5:29 PM CDT

Suspicious Lawyer Reported Law Firm; One Counsel Arrested During Bar Exam

The investigation of a Salt Lake City law firm charged with visa fraud may have begun when a suspicious lawyer tipped off the U.S. attorney. Lance Starr says he spotted a problem when two employees of the Alcala Law Firm asked him to review their applications to legalize their residency…

Jul 30, 2009 3:23 PM CDT

Immigration Law Firm Charged with Visa Fraud

An immigration law firm in Salt Lake City has been accused of helping arrange for thousands of fraudulent visas for foreign workers. A federal indictment names the Alcala Law Firm, lawyer James Alcala, two of his partners and five employees, the Associated Press reports. They are charged with visa fraud,…

Jul 29, 2009 1:04 PM CDT

Chartering Plane to Take Patient Home Could Cost Hospital Big Bucks

During the three years he lived at a Florida hospital after suffering a severe brain injury in an automobile accident, Luis Jimenez racked up a $1.5 million medical bill. But now the uninsured illegal immigrant could potentially cost Martin Memorial Medical Center a lot more. In closing arguments today in…

Jul 23, 2009 6:06 PM CDT

Schumer Details Fingerprint Plan to Verify US Workers’ Identity

As part of broader legislation he plans to introduce later this year that would provide a pathway to legal status for some 10 to 12 million immigrants, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is proposing a plan to require that the identity of United States workers be verified through fingerprints or digital…

Jul 21, 2009 11:53 PM CDT

Meet Kris Kobach, Law Prof Fighting for Local Role in Immigration Enforcement

University of Missouri-Kansas City law professor Kris Kobach is supporting tougher measures to fight illegal immigration in several court cases throughout the country. Kobach “is on a dogged campaign to fight illegal immigration at the local level, riding an insurgency by cities and states fed up with what they see…

Jul 21, 2009 3:16 PM CDT

Obama Administration Supports Asylum in Some Domestic Abuse Cases

The Department of Homeland Security has submitted a legal brief supporting asylum in some domestic abuse cases, reversing the position taken by the Bush administration. The brief (PDF posted by the New York Times) says abused women would be eligible for asylum if they can show their abusers treat them…

Jul 16, 2009 6:30 PM CDT

Survey Finds Immigration Judges Test High for Psychological Stress

A study has found immigration judges face the same degree of psychological strain as hospital physicians and prison wardens. Judges told researchers that they were stressed by a huge volume of cases, a shortage of law clerks and interpreters, failing computers and faulty reporting equipment, the New York Times reports.…

Jul 13, 2009 2:04 PM CDT

Feds Wary of Boston Lawyer’s Work, Creating Problems for Legitimate Clients

Attorney John Dvorak has represented hundreds of clients in immigration matters over the past eight years. But recently the feds have begun rejecting some of his cases, contending that it has found fraudulent documents in a significant number of them, reports the Boston Globe. This has apparently put some legitimate…

Jun 29, 2009 6:35 PM CDT

3 Lawyers Guilty in ‘Assembly-Line Fraud Factory’ Calif. Asylum Scam

Although they were acquitted on some counts, three California lawyers were convicted yesterday after a three-month federal trial in Sacramento, Calif., in what prosecutors describe as an audacious asylum scam. Partners and brothers Jagprit Singh Sekhon, 39, and Jagdip Singh Sekhon, 42, with the help of two interpreters and a…

Jun 26, 2009 5:39 PM CDT

Supreme Court Rules Against Fraud Defendant Fighting Deportation

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against an alien fighting his deportation on the ground that his bank fraud conviction wasn’t based on a statute requiring proof of losses above $10,000. Immigration law provides that an alien may be deported for an aggravated felony, including crimes in which fraud exceeds…

Jun 15, 2009 2:48 PM CDT

High Court Allows Court-Martial Challenge for Claim of Drunken Lawyer

The U.S. Supreme Court is giving a chance to a former serviceman seeking to set aside his guilty plea in a court martial based on allegations his lawyer was drunk during the proceedings. The serviceman, Jacob Denedo, was given a bad conduct discharge from the Navy in 2000 after he…

Jun 8, 2009 5:18 PM CDT

Immigrants Can Reopen Deportation Cases If Effective Counsel is Denied, AG Holder Rules

Updated: Only days before President Barack Obama took office, then-Attorney General Michael Mukasey issued an opinion finding that noncitizens have no right to counsel in deportation proceedings and hence can’t reopen their cases if private lawyers have inadequately represented them. But on Wednesday Attorney General Eric Holder reversed that order…

Jun 3, 2009 8:56 PM CDT