Dreamer immigrant children find it difficult to document residency for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
Today is the first day that those who came to the United States as children from foreign countries (usually brought here by their parents) can apply for relief from deportation. In June, the Department of Homeland Security announced that the Obama Administration would exercise prosecutorial discretion to defer action on children who meet certain qualifications similar to those proposed in various forms of legislation over the years under the name "DREAM Act." The problem is that the quality of evidence the Department will require to prove these qualifications will be onerous for many children if only because they are children.
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Ways an Immigration Attorney Can Help Do-It-Yourself Clients.
There is a do-it-yourself (DIY) revolution sweeping the nation and the globe. This revolution is broad: from home coffee roasing to making your own cloth, from building your own furniture to drafting your own legal documents. The DIY revolution now impacts my immigration law practice in a profound way.
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Applications for Dreamer Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals are Available
Banach Ragland LLP's Lifted Lamp blog reported on July 19th that at her testimony before the House of Representatives' Department of Homeland Security Oversight Committee, DHS head Janet Napolitano made a major announcement about the Administration's deferred action initiative. That initiative has been on hold pending further details, like how to apply.
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The Affordable Care Act And Illegal Immigrants
It was politically unfeasible at the time the Affordable Care Act (ACA) passed to have expected Congress to include all immigrants in the Act's provisions, but politics are changing--rapidly. Many people recognize that the ACA was merely a first step. Now that the Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of all but one part of the ACA, pundits are urging politicians to take the next steps, even big steps, like moving to a single payer system, and providing health care to all immigrants.
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Fairness is Sought in Immigration Policies Regarding Deportation and Immigration
We want to think of the United States as an example of a fair legal system. People have many rights and countless venues of exercising them. When any of our rights are even so much as threatened, we sue and are financially rewarded for whatever perceived or actual wrongdoing has occurred. In criminal cases, even the most notorious criminals are given the chance of a fair trial. Even people with a violent criminal past are given many times the chance to live free in the society, earn a living or many times be supported by the state.
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David T. Cox Admitted to Practice Law Before the US Supreme Court.
Months ago a good friend of mine recommended I become admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court. She recommended this because she knew of another attorney who was so admitted and she was mightily impressed with that particular credential. I had visited the Supreme Court before and observed first hand how a group of attorneys had been sworn in to the bar of the court. After that experience, I decided I wanted to be admitted some day as well. So it was with some relish that I recently reviewed an email from the American Bar Association inviting me to join the Senior Lawyer's Division on their Supreme Court trip, where participants would not only be sworn in as members of the bar of the Court, but would also have a special reception at the Court and meet one of the Justices and get photographed with the Justice. I signed up immediately.
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St Louis Attorney Uses Technology to Increase Availability to Clients
At a recent local bar association meeting, a partner at goBRANDgo!, Brandon Dempsey, urged our gathering of solo and small firm lawyers to brand themselves using principles he developed for his own business. He shared some of those principles with us, and showed us how they helped make his venture and those of his clients a huge success. One principle he shared with us is the elevator pitch approach to crafting a brand. Succinctly stated, the elevator pitch is what would you tell someone about your business, even as a lawyer, that would make you to stand out in their minds--something that would make you and your business both memorable and distinctive. But I was skeptical about applying entrepreneurial solutions to professional services like law and medicine. I argued with Brandon that when you are a lawyer, particularly one with a specific practice focus, like immigration law, that's all you need to convey to effectively market yourself. Brandon scoffed at that notion and suggested it is possible for every lawyer to stand out the same way successful entrepreneurs do.
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Immigrant Families Caught Up In US Immigration Entanglements
Recent coverage about marriage rights got me to thinking today. I was on a two-hour trip to visit one of my immigration clients who has been detained without bond, far from home, for two months. He is a green card holder who came to this country as a child after his family won the diversity visa lottery. He eventually landed with the wrong crowd and got into some trouble. Nothing serious--no one was ever hurt, but he ended up with two convictions on his record. He never served any jail time as punishment. He was sentenced to probation only. This was all years ago.
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Immigration Attorney Questions Why Some US Citizens Feel Cut Off From The Political Process
I received a call this week from a potential client who started off by asking me if I handle emigration, not immigration. I told him honestly that the issue had never come up for me, but that I'd be happy to discuss the subject with him over the phone. He then proceeded to tell me he wanted to leave the United States and abandon his citizenship, but he didn't want to lose his property. He had been informed that his property would escheat to the federal government if he did so leave.
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