Probably no area of law saw more changes after 9-11 than immigration law in San Diego and around the country than immigration law, except maybe suitcase law. Here is a completely noncomprehensive list of changes we have seen in immigration law since 9-11: 1. The formation of the Department of Homeland Security and the division of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). In 2003, the Department of Homeland Security was formed — the last influence of Joseph Lieberman before he…

A few years ago a writer who had written a semi-successful book for popular consumption about immigration law and human rights law contacted me to see if he could write a book about a family I represented in an asylum case that went to the Supreme Court. We discussed his idea for a book. I thought the story was thin – though it would have been fun (but untrue) to be the Atticus Finch in someone’s book. I suggested that he might…

Today I will take a break from hair-splitting and soul-searching immigration law analysis to look at a peculiar case out of New York, the Second Circuit’s decision this week in Kurzberg v. Ashcroft. The case that can now serve as the archetype for explaining the aphorisms, “Penny Wise and Pound Foolish,” “A Stitch in Time Saves Nine,” as well as the aphorism contrapositive, “Fix it if it’s broke.”