In Saldivar v. Sessions, filed on November 7, 2017, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that for purposes of eligibility for Cancellation of Removal for Certain Permanent Residents, INA § 240A(a), the requirement at INA § 240A(a)(2), that the alien had resided in the United States continuously for seven years after having been admitted in any status includes persons waived into the United States. In Saldivar, an alien was convicted of possessing methamphetamine six years after he adjusted status…

This weekend I had the pleasure of attending the California Conference of the American Immigration Association, held in Hollywood, California. There were sessions for three days, commencing on Thursday evening. I attended two; try driving from San Diego to Hollywood without budgeting yourself most of a day and you will be sitting on the 101 and not in a hotel meeting room on a Thursday evening. There were so many bright, dedicated, and passionate people presenting on their subjects that…

Of all the things one would think a large, rich, heterogeneous, morals-based society would not go to war against, it would be asylum seekers. Yet this is what our country is doing. For a country that has as one of its identifying symbols a statue of liberty, it is dispiriting that this is happening. The war is not against the powerful, educated, and entitled immigrants literally coming to take our jobs, but with the weakest, most powerless, and most oppressed….

In dealing with the government, there are two principal ways of dealing with it. One is dealing with whatever agency you are dealing with according to its rules and its systems. The other is through litigation. We all deal with the government the first way all the time. We file are taxes with the IRS using its forms, following its rules, and mailing or emailing or otherwise filing the way they say. We renew our drivers licenses or register our…