California Immigration Attorney Blog

David Feherty, a 51 year old professional golf journalist, finally became a United States citizen last Tuesday, in a ceremony in Irving, Texas' offices of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Feherty had been a green card holder for 13 years -- it took him four years longer than average to achieve naturalization. His restraint was at the behest of his wife, who told the press: "I married an Irishman, and I kind of wanted to keep it that way." So what changed for Feherty?

In short, he joined an organization called the Troops First Foundation. With this group, he traveled to Baghdad, Iraq, and met US troops holding order there. He was touched by the troops' discipline and sense of service, which contrasted with his memories of occupying troops in his childhood hometown of Belfast, Northern Ireland. The Dallas-based analyst "wanted to be able to call them my soldiers, my pilots, my sailors," according to a news report. In addition to analyzing professional golf for TV, Feherty is a prolific author. He writes a regular column for Golf magazine, and he has published five books.

Continue reading "Golf Journalist Finally Becomes U.S. Citizen: Celebrates along with 30 Other New Citizens " »

Federal investigators detained a 58-year-old Filipino man on Tuesday, following a bomb scare at the U.S. Social Security Administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Hemet, California.

According to news reports, the unidentified man had been seen on Monday arguing with office employees at the Customs Enforcement building. He returned Tuesday, deposited a briefcase in the office, and then left. Deputies discovered the suitcase and called in the Riverside County Hazardous Device team to handle what they believed to be a bomb. After using a remote control robot to destroy the suitcase, the hazardous device team found that it contained only clothes and a stereo--no explosives or detonators.

Meanwhile, officials caught up with the suspect at a nearby bus stop. He had a suicide note taped to his chest and wires coming out of his clothes. The suspect was detained on a mental health hold. Authorities have not yet issued criminal charges in the case.

The bomb threat comes on the heels of an actual act of individual terrorism against a government facility. Last week, an amateur pilot who became enraged at the IRS flew his plane into a federal building in Texas, killing himself and one federal employee. News reports now suggest that the widow of the employee has sued the widow of the man who crashed his plane into the building. (That case will no doubt garner serious media attention in the upcoming weeks!)

All of this pent-up hostility towards federal institutions seems to be an emerging meme in the population. People appear to be frustrated by the economic situation the country faces, and they are unfortunately taking out this aggression in scary and dangerous ways. Hopefully, these incidents don't portend a trend in this direction.

Continue reading "Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Workers Subject to Bomb Scare" »

The high profile immigration case of Snoop Dogg versus the UK's Asylum and Immigration Tribunal is heating up once again. Here is the background:

In 2006, rapper Snoop Dogg got into a kafuffle in Heathrow Airport, after officials refused to allow Snoop to bring his 30+ person entourage into the First Class airport lounge with him. Snoop reacted badly, to say the least. He got into a screaming (and swearing) match with British authorities. He was subsequently detained and then forbidden from returning to the UK.

In the nearly five years since, Snoop has tried to get an immigration visa to return to the UK. But he has been denied again and again. UK border officials cite the fact that Snoop has been busted previously on weapons charges and (lots of) drug convictions. Still, non-celebrity immigration disputes along the lines of Snoop's usually get resolved within a few months -- a year or two at most. That Snoop's case has dragged on for over four years has sparked outrage among his handlers. An agency representative for William Morris Endeavor (quote courtesy perezhilton.com) had this to say: "Snoop has missed out on several arena tour opportunities, many TV and festival opportunities, as well as a few proposed charity events...and now the UK taxpayer is financing the court appeals."

Goes to show that no matter who you are -- even if you are a high profile celebrity -- you can still run afoul of immigration legal troubles.

Continue reading "Even Snoop Dogg has Immigration Troubles!" »

The Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee (ALIPAC), a group dedicated to opposing amnesty for undocumented immigrants, has officially endorsed J.D. Hayworth, Republican John McCain's primary challenger for his Arizona senatorial seat.

ALIPAC is furious at John McCain for doing (an alleged) 180 on the issue of immigration enforcement. ALIPAC alleges that McCain's support for the late Senator Teddy Kennedy's amnesty program for undocumented foreign nationals--and his subsequent reversal and counter reversal on the program--was done merely to service his election bids.

The President of ALIPAC, William Gheen, has argued that a vote for Hayworth is critical to their cause. According to Gheen, "If McCain wins this primary, it will be like throwing water on the uprising that's going on in this country...the immigration enforcement movement...is really going to take a hit if John McCain wins."

Senator McCain and other moderate Republicans will face stiff challenges from conservative candidates this November. Groups like ALIPAC that oppose immigration reforms and amnesty have been emboldened by the emergence of the Tea Party movement, in particular.

Senator McCain's back and forth on the issue of immigration has been lampooned widely in the media. From all appearances, he clearly has shifted his position based on the political winds. That said, advocacy groups tend to paint with a broad brush. The reality is that any kind of immigration reform or amnesty program would be complicated and nuanced.

Continue reading "Anti-Immigration Group ALIPAC Throws Its Weight behind McCain Challenger" »

Nabil Sadoun, a former resident of Dallas and member of CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations) skipped his deportation hearing this week, and forcing Judge Anthony Rogers of the Executive Office for Immigration Review to order him deported.

According to Sadoun's lawyer, the native Jordanian had returned to his home country after running into problems with his green card.

The government claimed that Sadoun had been involved with both the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, which the State Department has classified as terrorist organizations. Sadoun also allegedly gave money to the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, which was at one time the biggest Islamic charity group in the U.S. until officials discovered that the charity had been siphoning money to groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. (The government alleged that Sadoun lied when he denied connections to Hamas on his 1993 visa application.)

Judge Rogers acknowledged that Sadoun had made strongly anti-Israel comments, but he noted that the comments were protected by the First Amendment and thus had no bearing on the deportation.

In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, immigrants from Arab and Islamic nations endured increased difficulties securing visas to the United States. Especially in the first few years following the 9/11 attacks, strict protocols put in place significantly deterred many in the Arab and Islamic world from visiting or becoming permanent residents.

Continue reading "High-Profile Dallas Islamic Leader Deported Due to Ties To Terrorist Organizations " »

A ruling out of Boston Federal Immigration Court regarding the immigration status of President Obama's aunt, Zeituni Onyango, could set off political shockwaves. Ms. Onyango, the President's father's half-sister, faces deportation from the U.S. pursuant to a 2004 court order. Her battles with U.S. immigration briefly became fodder for national news in the days running up to the 2008 presidential election.

Judge Leonard Shapiro is scheduled to rule on her status shortly. Will she be deported to her native Kenya? Or will she be allowed to stay in the United States due to medical issues or other grounds?

The White House has so far been loathe to get involved in the politics of Ms. Onyango's immigration battle. President Obama does not want to be seen as conferring any favors on his relatives, as that could be politically toxic. Nevertheless, some Democratic political insiders have fretted that, no matter what happens, Ms. Onyango's immigration plight will revive talk of the President's "exotic" background and could steal yet more focus from his already shaken national agenda.

A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice's Executive Office for Immigration Review indicated that Judge Shapiro might rule on the case from the bench, "but there's no guarantee." This will be Ms. Onyango's second bid for asylum in the U.S. She suffers from Guillain-Barre syndrome, an autoimmune disease that has left her partially paralyzed and made her wheelchair-bound.

Regardless of the verdict, this immigration law decision will no doubt lead to not insignificant political reverberations for the President and his party.

On Tuesday, a special American Bar Association Commission on Immigration released a report slamming agency policies and indicting the US immigration system as a whole as being riddled with "pervasive and widespread" problems.

The ABA Commission singled out six arenas in desperate need of policy reform:

• Department Of Homeland Security (DHS)
• Board of Immigration Appeals
• Circuit Court Judicial Review
• Immigration Courts
• Legal Representation for Immigrants
• Immigration System as a whole

The chairwoman of the Commission was quoted as saying that the courts are "reaching crisis populations." 12 million illegal aliens live in the United States; yet to deal with all deportation and asylum hearings, the government has dedicated only 57 immigration courts and assigned 231 judges. Considering the "exploding caseload" -- which threatens to overwhelm the immigration system, according to the ABA commission report -- those are paltry numbers, indeed.

The report chastened the Department of Homeland Security for its draconian deportation tactics, including:

• using minor infractions as pretense to deport people


• ignoring permanent resident eligibility when making deportation decisions


• detaining aliens improperly and far from their homes

Over 50% of illegal immigrants do not have legal representation, according to be ABA report. On this point, the president of the American Bar Association, Caroline Lamm, had harsh words for Department of Homeland security: "DHS's policies have failed to ensure due process for noncitizens... there is a serious lack of adequate representation."

Will the scathing ABA report do anything to change policies or force DHS to examine its courses of action? Speculation abounds. The American Bar Association plans to respond to the report next week. The Commission has suggested 60 key reforms, among which, some of the key ones appear to be:

• Extending filing deadlines


• Hiring more immigration judges


• Remaking fundamental aspects of the immigration law system