Lawyer says concern for safety of his clients motivated his leak of confidential documents

A New York lawyer says he made an error in judgment when he leaked confidential documents in a suit contesting U.S. policies concerning the family detention of immigrants who enter the country unlawfully. But the lawyer, Bryan Johnson, says he was motivated by “fear for his clients’ safety and compassion…

Aug 11, 2015 10:30 AM CDT

US immigration detention policies are ‘incompatible with basic principles of justice,’ says law prof

At an ABA Annual Meeting panel on Friday, speakers had strong criticisms of the federal government’s detention policies for immigrant mothers with children. “The government’s family detention policies of widespread detention of families and secure lockdown facilities are just incompatible with basic principles of justice and liberty,” said Denise Gilman,…

Aug 1, 2015 11:30 AM CDT

ABA cites health and well-being of asylum-seeking mothers and children

Aug 1, 2015 12:35 AM CDT

‘Disgrace to the entire legal profession’ gets time in 2 federal fraud cases

A California attorney was sentenced to a total of nearly three years in prison last week in unrelated fraud cases. On July 20, Gino Paul Pietro got two years in a sentencing hearing at the federal courthouse in Santa Ana, for helping a client in a loan scheme, Courthouse News…

Jul 27, 2015 10:15 AM CDT

Live-in nannies in au pair program are paid about $4 an hour because of collusion, suit alleges

A suit filed by a Colorado nonprofit claims that government-selected au pair organizations are colluding to keep wages at $4.35 an hour for young people who come to the United States to serve as nannies in the program. The suit was filed in Colorado federal court in November by lawyers…

Jul 24, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

Former employee stole 2 lawyers’ identities to defraud immigrants, says indictment

A former employee of two Texas attorneys has been federally indicted for allegedly stealing their identities in a scheme to defraud undocumented immigrants and their families. Jessica Rivas Alva, 35, is accused of faxing forged letters purporting to be from the two San Antonio lawyers to detention centers in Louisiana.…

Jul 9, 2015 9:55 AM CDT

Federal judge threatens to hold immigration lawyer in contempt for leaking confidential document

A New York lawyer has been ordered by a federal judge in California to show cause why he should not be held in contempt for leaking to the news media a proposed settlement (PDF) concerning mothers detained by the U.S. in an immigration case. Bryan Johnson must appear in court…

Jul 8, 2015 3:10 PM CDT

Is San Francisco’s sanctuary policy to blame for release of immigrant who became a murder suspect?

San Francisco authorities’ release of a repeat offender who had been deported five times led to public condemnation after the man became a murder suspect. The suspect, Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, was charged Monday in last week’s fatal shooting of 31-year-old Kathryn Steinle as she was walking with her father along…

Jul 7, 2015 10:06 AM CDT

Woman claiming due-process right to live with Afghan spouse loses in SCOTUS; a gay marriage hint?

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against an American citizen who challenged the denial of a visa to her husband, a citizen of Afghanistan who was a former civil servant in the Taliban regime. The court ruled 5-4 (PDF) on Monday against Fauzia Din, who had claimed the government violated…

Jun 15, 2015 11:26 AM CDT

Obama won’t seek SCOTUS intervention on blocked immigration plans after adverse 5th Circuit ruling

The Obama administration won’t ask the U.S. Supreme Court to allow him immediately to implement an immigration program that would defer deportation for millions of immigrants living illegally in the United States, the U.S. Justice Department announced Wednesday. Instead, the administration will defend its planned executive actions on the merits…

May 28, 2015 1:22 PM CDT

Immigration attorney arrested in federal sting, accused of trying to help client flee US

A California immigration lawyer was arrested Friday and charged with attempted witness tampering after being targeted in a federal sting operation related to a “maternity tourism” case. The government says in court filings that attorney Ken Zhiyi Liang, 38, agreed to accept $6,000 from one of his clients, who is…

May 19, 2015 11:45 AM CDT

Gay couple got Colorado marriage license in 1975 but lost deportation case; Kennedy wrote opinion

A documentary set to air on PBS tracks the legal troubles of a gay couple who obtained a marriage license in Boulder, Colorado, long before Massachusetts became the first state to recognize same-sex marriage as a result of a 2003 court decision. Anthony Corbett Sullivan and Richard Frank Adams received…

Apr 20, 2015 10:43 AM CDT

Municipal judge who resigned after bounced bar-dues checks is now accused of client extortion

A municipal judge in Trenton, New Jersey, who resigned after she tried to pay bar dues with bounced checks is now accused of extorting fake fines from immigration clients. Renee Lamarre-Sumners is accused of getting three clients to pay more than $17,000 in phony fines and keeping the money for…

Apr 15, 2015 8:58 AM CDT

Federal judge questions trust in Obama, threatens Justice Department sanctions on immigration action

A federal judge who blocked executive action on immigration last month threatened to sanction the Justice Department on Thursday as he questioned whether the government misled him by expanding deportation deferrals. U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen of Brownsville, Texas, said that, “like an idiot,” he believed Justice Department lawyer Kathleen…

Mar 20, 2015 7:26 AM CDT

Posner blasts ‘excessive judicial passivity’ and ‘lackluster’ lawyering in cabbie’s immigration case

Update: Judge Richard Posner supported a Chicago cab driver’s bid to remain in the United States in a dissent last week that left few in the immigration process unscathed. Posner, of the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, blasted the Department of Homeland Security for its eagerness to challenge…

Mar 9, 2015 6:15 AM CDT