Immigration Law

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

Breyer Mulls Cheese Sandwiches in Ruling for Immigrant in ID Theft Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that an immigrant who made up a Social Security number to obtain work is not guilty of ID theft if he had no knowledge the identity belonged to a real person. The 9-0 decision found for immigrant Ignacio Carlos Flores-Figueroa, who was sentenced to…

May 4, 2009 2:49 PM CDT

Jenner Associate Wins Supreme Court Pro Bono Victory in Immigration Case

Updated: A court of appeals retains its traditional authority to grant stays in deportation cases, despite a 1996 statute that limited the circumstances in which courts may block the removal of aliens, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a 7-2 opinion. The decision is a victory for Jenner &…

Apr 22, 2009 3:29 PM CDT

Some Citizens Wrongly Caught Up in Deportation Proceedings

Some U.S. citizens are wrongly being deported because of an immigration legal system that stacks the odds against them. The Associated Press has documented more than 55 cases since 2000 in which citizens were caught up in deportation proceedings. “U.S. citizens arrested as illegal immigrants or deportable residents cannot count…

Apr 14, 2009 2:13 PM CDT

Obama’s Aunt Gets 10 More Months to Prepare Deportation Fight

Zeituni Onyango praised God as she left a closed hearing Wednesday in Boston during which an immigration judge gave her until Feb. 4, 2010, to prepare yet another argument against deportation. Onyango, whose immigration case is drawing international interest because she is Barack Obama’s aunt, has twice been ordered to…

Apr 2, 2009 11:08 AM CDT

Tongue Ties

National origin discrimination suits are making waves—and law

Apr 2, 2009 1:30 AM CDT

Obama’s Aunt Fights Deportation

The Kenyan aunt of President Barack Obama is expected to present new evidence in federal court today seeking to reverse a nearly five-year-old deportation order. Lawyers for Zeituni Onyango haven’t discussed their strategy, which could focus on the woman’s numerous health problems, political unrest in Kenya, or something else, the…

Apr 1, 2009 11:46 AM CDT

Immigration Courts Swamped With Cases Taking 2-10 Years to Reach Disposition

The backlog of immigration cases is so dense that it took at least two years for 90,000 people accused of being in the U.S. illegally to get a judge to decide whether they needed to leave. In a review of immigration cases since 2003, USA Today found 14,000 cases that…

Mar 30, 2009 3:48 PM CDT

Senator Requests Asylum for Gay Man in Same-Sex Marriage

Sen. John Kerry has asked Attorney General Eric Holder to grant asylum to a gay man married in Massachusetts who was deported despite his rape in Brazil. Oliveira had sought asylum because he was raped as a teenager and feared additional attacks if he returned to the country, the Associated…

Mar 20, 2009 6:13 PM CDT

Backers Say Lawyer’s Immigration Work Cost Him Civil Rights Post

Supporters are charging that a Los Angeles lawyer’s controversial litigation work on immigration issues cost him a job as chief of the Justice Department’s civil rights division. President Obama chose Maryland labor secretary Thomas Perez for the post, disappointing supporters of Thomas Saenz, counsel to the mayor of Los Angeles.…

Mar 19, 2009 12:11 PM CDT