Martin Lawrence Martin Lawrence was born in Germany, but is a U.S. citizen by derivation. He apparently was convicted after he was caught in the Burbank Airport while attempting to board an airplane with a 9 mm. Beretta in his carry-on. He got two years probation for this according to media reports. Firearms offenses are deportable offenses. INA § 237(a)(2)(C). News reports note a long criminal record yet no other convictions are noted in the media despite allegations of domestic…

In changes to the immigration laws in 1996, called The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA),  a new concept was introduced in immigration law called “unlawful presence.” The concept came into force on April 1, 1997, when the reforms came into effect – or so we thought. We thought unlawful presence before April 1, 1997, would not have immigration consequences. For the immigration agencies to figure out what it meant – Congress did not define it…

I have it heard it said that the way to induce schizophrenia in people is to tell them things and assert them as true that are objectively and obviously not true. The USCIS website  is posting the following information about how long it takes to fulfill a Freedom of Information Act request which allows a person to see their government file: Current Average FOIA Request Processing Times (All times in business days) USCIS uses a three-track system to process FOIA…

Hurray! Another memo from ICE on Prosecutorial Discretion. Another Morton Memo by John Morton, the Director of ICE! The first big change in the memo – Mr. Morton identifies himself as ICE Director instead of an assistant secretary in the Department of Homeland Security. As they would say on the Island, Mazal Tov on your new stationery. A million journalists are filing stories going through the details of the new memo, the big news of which is that ICE may empower…