If you were to ask me what was one of the worst “reforms” of the immigration laws in 1996, I would say high on the list is a portion of the “reform” statute passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton that made a non-citizen making a false claim to U.S. citizenship both inadmissible to, INA § 212(a)(6)(C)(ii), and deportable from, INA § 237(a)(3)(D), the United States. What is the scope of this removability ground? Does it…

British actor, comic, author, singer, et al., Russell Brand, who is also the husband of Katy Perry, has suffered eleven arrests according to media reports, I can find no information about the final disposition of these arrests, i.e., what he was actually convicted of. Media reports include two arrests for shoplifting and several marijuana arrests, including one for cultivating marijuana. Interviews of him also contain admissions to his having been a drug addict. Assuming some of the reported arrests led to…

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…