I’ve always loved to travel, especially to foreign lands. In law school, I devoured all the courses that dealt with international law — public international law (involving relations between countries and international organizations), private international law (dealing with transnational contracts between individuals or businesses), conflicts of laws, and a seminar on international business transactions. Those
July 2009
Anti-Immigration Crazies Are No Laughing Matter
By Angelo A. Paparelli on
Posted in General
Chris Matthews of the mainstream media and Jon Stewart, the faux newscaster on Comedy Central, have been all abuzz this week over the resilience of a pernicious and persistent claim by conspiracy theorists and immigration opponents. They claim that Barack Obama is an illegal immigrant (born not in Hawaii but in Kenya) who never…
Another Trash-Talking Inspector-General Report on Immigration
By Angelo A. Paparelli on
Posted in General
Federal Inspectors General (IGs) are critically-important public servants — except when they are entranced by the siren song of individual Members of Congress who commission reports that lead to phony, pre-ordained and self-serving outcomes. When performing their responsibilities as Congress intended, the IGs work like truffle-sniffing canines, faithfully rooting out crimes, waste, fraud and…
Federal Contractor E-Verify: Officious Intermeddling and the Immigration Nanny-State
By Angelo A. Paparelli on
Posted in General
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced yesterday, in so many words, that she intends to shake, rattle and roil the still-swooning economy by endorsing a Bush Administration initiative that would make the online employment-eligibility-confirmation system known as E-Verify mandatory for federal contractors and subcontractors.
Despite the Secretary’s announcement, a counter-intuitive alliance of business and pro-worker…
Trying Not to Sip the Immigration Kool-Aid
By Angelo A. Paparelli on
Posted in General
The Office of Ombudsman (Ombudsman) to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has just released an outstanding 2009 Annual Report to Congress. The culmination of an especially ambitious and successful year of several spot-on recommendations, the Report focuses a laser beam on the many shortfalls in USCIS’s performance.
Among the Report’s many worthy insights, the…