A generation of pleading tactics may be down the drain.

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

Immigration lawyers involved in advising aliens who have been arrested and their criminal defense attorneys have honed skills in trying to mitigate the effects of a criminal conviction on immigration status. In other words, attorneys try to find ways for an alien to plead guilty so he or she will not be deportable, or if he or she cannot avoid deportation, he or she will at least be able to ask for relief (forgiveness) so as not to be deported….

Jail screening programs waste resources.

Friday, November 13th, 2009

News reports indicate that under a policy started under the George W. Bush administration and expanded greatly under the current Obama administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers interview aliens in jails. If they are deportable based on their criminal records or if they are undcoumented, ICE takes them into their own custody for deportation. So far, according to a November 13, 2009, New York Times story, 110,000 such aliens have been identified. The program is lauded as a low-cost way…