A month ago I last wrote about  U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service’s customer service system, called in true-blue government fashion a long name and a string of letters – this time the National Customer Service Center or NCSC, or as people actually say, the USCIS “800 Number.” I was very optimistic that a change to take place on August 16, 2013, involving the NCSC would mean better service to attorneys using the system. The change would result in attorneys not…

On August 14, 2013, the Ninth Circuit issued a decision in Villa-Anguiano v. Holder. What at first blush may seem like a victory for immigrant rights is actually a rather disappointing case and of extremely limited positive benefit. By way of background, in most cases, when a person (who is not being removed at the border where he or she applied for admission) is being removed, he or she has the right to an immigration court hearing, an appeal to…

Today I write again on a technical matter, discussing the case, Matter of Silva-Trevino, again. As you may recall from writings  here and here  and here, in this case, the then-attorney general, Michael Mukasey, issued a decision deviating from the prevailing law regarding what an immigration judge may consider in determining whether someone committed a crime of moral turpitude. This is important because depending on the number of such crimes, when they were committed, and the severity of the sentence,…