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 this posting I would like to discuss an arcane issue – 212(c) and Cancellation of Removal relief. Cancellation of Removal came about on April 1, 1997, after the passage of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Alien Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA). Because IIRIRA came into effect such a long time ago, by this time most people facing deportation are in post-IIRIRA removal proceedings rather than pre-IIRIRA exclusion or deportation proceedings . In exclusion and deportation proceedings, aliens could seek 212(c)…

An interesting phenomenon in appellate decisions is that a court decision, often a higher court, establishes a certain principle of law of general application and then the lower courts are “stuck” applying this principle despite the apparent illogic of absurdity of its application. Because lower courts must adhere to the rulings of the higher court, unless the lower court can cleverly distinguish its situation from the decision of the higher court, the lower court is compelled to issue a decision…