A Parting Blow to Immigrants' Rights
On Wednesday, Attorney General Michael Mukasey issued a decision that strips immigrants of the constitutional right to reopen cases they've lost because of their lawyer's mistakes. As a result, many immigrants are at risk of being deported due to attorney error. Lee Gelernt, Deputy Director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project, said in our release:
This order will have a tremendous negative impact on countless people who will be deported simply because they had the bad luck to be represented by the wrong immigration attorney. This is a dangerous move away from the U.S. tradition of fairness and due process. Losing your case because your lawyer missed a deadline or made some other egregious error can never be considered a fair process.We're hopeful that President-elect Obama will acknowledge the unfairness of this rule and reverse it. Immigrants are a vulnerable group that should be protected, not singled-out in the final salvo by an administration that's never respected due process.
Jan 9th, 2009 at 2:40pm
I sympathize for these people, but nobody has ever given other minorities in this country the slightest break.
Jan 9th, 2009 at 2:42pm
I sympathize with these illegal immigrants, but no other minority in this country gets any breaks, so why should they?
Jan 10th, 2009 at 8:25pm
I have an aquaintance who is currently being held in the Kent Count Jail(in Grand Rapids, Michigan) on an INS hold. This person is not an immigrant. He was born in Puerto Rico and came to the US mainland as a child. He was picked up for a minor infraction and released on 01/08/2009, but was not physically released from jail due to the INS hold. He is a US citizen so the INS hold is a mystery, but no one from the INS has even spoken to him. When friends inquired how he could be an INS hold when he was born in Puerto Rico, they were told:"just because he was born in Puerto Rico does not make him an American citizen." He lives in Michigan and has little money (Michigan has an almost 12 % unemployment rate). Currently, he is being held in his city of residence, but the "jail official" states he will soon be moved 50 miles away, and then moved across the state to Detroit, from whence he will be "deported"-god knows to where, because Puerto Rico is part of America as far as I know. I would hardly describe this as "due process", but I have no idea who to contact, and this recently implemented "law" makes the situation even more scary.
Jan 12th, 2009 at 12:00am
What about the Rights of Black&Hispanic teenagers aswell who rights have been violated thru deception an duplicity. While immigrants get hired on jobs then discriminate against citizens.Once in the USA these immigrants do Rape Women and molest children.Check CT newspaper archives signed Taxpayer.
Jan 12th, 2009 at 10:30pm
Hey Anonymous, people who commit violent crimes should be processed through the criminal justice system. (Immigrants are actually less likely to commit crimes than native born Americans.) But, let's focus, for the moment, on the problem of stripping away due process rights from a segment of society. It's flat wrong. Yet, the courts maintain the fiction that it is not punitive to deport and detain (read imprison) immigrants, and the AG now contends that immigrants therefore lack the Constitutional right to counsel. This decision overturns 20 years of precedent to the contrary. If folks sit silently by while the government chips away at the right to counsel for immigrants, what happens when the government then turns to the next victim? We have to stand up to protect this Constitutional right for all people.
Jan 22nd, 2009 at 10:59am
As a non-American not living in the USA, I do not understand as it seems very straight-forward ... that is illegal immigrants are illegal!?
Jan 25th, 2009 at 9:49pm
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I was not a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
(note: now we've made the immigrants our scapegoats, just as Hitler did the Jews).
Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group.
Jan 30th, 2009 at 2:15pm
People do not realize the numerous mistakes that lawyers make while handling these cases and the amount of money they charge for immigration cases. You really can't have EMPATHY for cases like these unless you know someone who tried doing the "right thing," by disclosing all information to our great government, but the hired attorney forgot to mail an application or mailed a form to the wrong place (while the attorney is saying, hey don't worry about it because he doesn't want to be sued). I think it would be wiser for our country to charge a fee/penalty of about $15,000 to $25,000 instead of relying on many incompetent attorneys who are not specialized or trained in the area of immigration.
Feb 26th, 2009 at 1:07pm
My husband and I have been married for 21 years we have 7 children that are US citizens his parents brought him here from Mexico when he was an infant, he has resided in the US since then never went to visit anyone in Mexico or have any other family members there. He is currently fighting a deportation and has been incarcerated for 2 years now waiting for a hearing in the 9th circut court. He had a full time job with health benefits for myself and children before he was incarcerated. Im recieving aid now and im stuggeling to make ends meet you would think that the government or who ever would want my husband out here to take care of his family financially and they wounder why we have no money. So i feel for everyone that is going through what I am without your spouse, or brother, friend. Just be there when they call or write and always tell them "dont give up it will all end soon you will see" thats what I tell my husband all the time.
Nov 17th, 2009 at 11:49pm
Be reasonable: Quote "(Immigrants are actually less likely to commit crimes than native born Americans.) Strictly opinion. Please remove from record, LOL!
The only people that have great lawyers are the rich. Everyone else has to higher the subpar lawyers and we all know they don’t give a damn about who they are representing. Maybe illegals should be entitled to the highest paid lawyers.
US citizen married to an immigrant:
I am sorry for your husband, but although he has been here 21 years, he unfortunately is still an illegal immigrant. In all the 21 years, did he ever request US citizenship?
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