The Board of Immigration Appeals and the many other immigration-involved agencies in the federal government sometimes remind me of the movie, the Bridge on the River Kwai. A recent decision, Singh v. Holder,  highlighted this. If you recall, in the Bridge on the River Kwai Alec Guinness engages in a battle of wills with the evil Colonel Saito about who is in charge of building a bride over the River Kwai. Colonel Nicholson, Guinness, forgets that his role in the…

Sometimes I am kind of naive. Having just returned from a conference of immigration lawyers, I expected lots of discussion and commentary on some recent 9th Circuit cases. Instead, I heard nothing. I will address them here. Today, Corro-Barragan v. Holder,  decided on June 10, 2013. The case concerns voluntary departure. Voluntary departure is a common relief in removal proceedings. If one is granted voluntary departure, the person is allowed to leave the United States in lieu of being removed….

Lawyers, like children, complain when things are unfair. Children complain to their parents. Lawyers complain to appellate judges. Parents respond, “Life’s unfair,” which acknowledges the inherent unfairness in life, but does not repair the unfairness. Complaints in the legal world substitute the word “due process” for “fair.” Courts, when dealing with these due process claims, do not acknowledge unfairness and often respond, “What you are complaining about did not violate due process.” Same result. Practitioners before any adjudicative body know…

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,…