According to INA § 212(a)(6)(C)(ii)(I), “[a]ny alien” who makes a false claim to United States citizenship “for any purpose or benefit under this [Immigration and Nationality] Act or any Federal or State law is inadmissible.  There is no waiver to this ground of inadmissibility, thus making it a permanent bar to admission to the United States. According to INA § 212(a)(9)(C)(i)(I), “[a]ny alien”  person who has accrued more than a year of unlawful presence, departs, and then comes back, or…

On January 26, 2012, the Ninth Circuit filed a decision, Oshodi v. Holder, which seems to have reversed another Ninth Circuit case, Ren v. Holder, filed on August 19, 2011.    The issue in the case was corroboration of testimony in an asylum, withholding, and Convention Against Torture case. These are cases where people ask to stay in the United States because they are afraid to go home – either because they fear persecution on account of their race, religion, political…

Etta James Blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, soul, gospel and jazz singer, Etta James, who died on January 20, 2012, had she been a foreigner, would not have not been welcome on American shores and would have faced removal. Reports are that she suffered throughout her life with heroin addiction. She was in the Tarzana Rehabilitation Center in Los Angeles in the early 1970’s and the Betty Ford Center in Palm Springs in the late 1980’s, this time…

In the jargon-rich world of immigration law, an important new phrase came out of amendments to the immigration law in 1996, the 3 and 10 year bars. What these bars say is that if a person accrues more than180 days of unlawful presence in the United States and departs he or she cannot return to the United States for 3 years. If the person accrues a year or more of unlawful presence, this person cannot return for 10 years. A…