Immigration Law

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

2nd Cir. Bans Lawyer for ‘Indifference’ to Client Rights & Professional Obligations

A New York immigration lawyer has been barred from appearing again before the New York City-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals due to missed deadlines that resulted in the dismissal of at least 12 cases and and substandard briefs. “We want to make it clear that the deficiencies of…

Oct 20, 2009 7:59 PM CDT

Feds Follow Accused Lawyer’s Money Trail to California Cemetery

A California lawyer and two of his business associates have been arrested in a scheme to obtain fraudulent visas and launder the money in burial plots. The lawyer is Kelly Einstein Darwin Giles, who ran a West Covina law practice once known as the East West Law Group, according to…

Oct 19, 2009 3:12 PM CDT

Court to Decide Extent of Liability for Immigrant’s Delayed Cancer Treatment

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up the case of Francisco Castaneda, a Salvadoran immigrant who died in custody after the U.S. government delayed treatment for what turned out to be penile cancer. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case on Wednesday, the Associated Press reports.…

Oct 1, 2009 3:17 PM CDT

UK AG Is Fined for Hiring Maid Who Was an Illegal Immigrant

British Attorney General Patricia Scotland has been fined 5,000 pounds for hiring a housekeeper who was illegally in the country. The revelation brought calls for Scotland’s resignation, according to Reuters and the Associated Press. Scotland said she checked the documents of her housekeeper, but did not keep them, a violation…

Sep 22, 2009 11:35 AM CDT

Zack Understands Legal Concerns of Hispanic Community

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.

Sep 2, 2009 1:10 AM CDT

DOJ Nazi Hunters Shift Focus to Perpetrators of New Atrocities

Nazis responsible for Holocaust atrocities are dying out, but the Justice Department unit responsible for extraditing them from U.S. soil continues to operate, albeit with a new focus. The Office of Special Investigations, created in 1979, has won deportation orders against 107 immigrants suspected of lying about their pasts on…

Aug 20, 2009 2:42 PM CDT

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