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…

USCIS has a difficult job. It adjudicates immigration benefits. What makes the job difficult? First, the volume and scope of work. America is a large country and there are a lot of foreigners seeking lots of things – temporary visas, permanent residence visas, citizenship, work permits, travel permits, humanitarian entry into the United States, asylum, protections against deportation based on harsh conditions abroad, and on and on. The variety of different laws pertaining to each of these different types of…