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…

An irony in representing aliens before the immigration bureaus, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), is that the bureau that is the least hard-nosed and enforcement oriented, USCIS, at least in San Diego, is also the one hardest for an attorney practicing immigration law to make meaningful contact with. Even the Department of  State, which handles overseas visa issuance and has in the past been the hardest to have meaningful…

I have posted twice about a friend and client, Abdulrahim Kewan, who is stuck in Egypt despite having an approved petition to come to the United States. The background of the case was laid out in a posting on October 17, 2010. To summarize very briefly, Mr. Kewan was applying for permanent residence in the San Diego Immigration Court based on an approved visa petition as a battered spouse. In October 2002, he stopped at a gate at the U.S….

I present a dramatization of a dialogue I call Some skepticism about the New Immigration Policy regarding the new prosecutorial discretion policy announced by the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano,  and the White House. The new policy is designed to implement a policy memorandum of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director, John Morton, dated June 17, 2011, and concerns concentrating resources on removing criminal aliens and aliens who pose national security threats while treating run of the mill undocumented aliens more…