The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision today,  Toj-Culpatan v. Holder. The case deals with whether an alien filed a timely asylum application. In its legal analysis, the Court writes: First, Petitioner fails to explain how his inability to speak English is extraordinary for an alien nor how it prevented him from timely filing an asylum application in English, especially given that the government makes translators available to immigrants who do not speak or read English. I wonder where…

It may seem like I have been concentrating a lot on USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) these days. With all the bad things that happen to people – like prolonged detentions, abuse at the border, laws that separate families forever – the problems with USCIS may pale in comparison. However, immigration customers most often deal with USCIS which is probably the largest component of the DHS (Department of Homeland Security) immigration triumvirate (C.P., ICE, USCIS) which grants all immigration…

Eric H. Holder Jr., a man who I recently have sued three times, accusing him of wrongly locking up people (two are now free), announced this week that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad (KSM*) and four other terrorism suspects will be tried in the Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York for their offenses. Up until now these men have had no trial. They have been wallowing in detention at Guantanamo – KSM since 2003. A system of justice…

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…