The federal government regularly auctions airwaves and drilling leases. Should it also auction humans? This is the startling question posed recently at a May 15, 2012 Hamilton Project conference in a paper, a slide presentation and the transcript of remarks offered by Giovanni Peri, an economics professor at the University of California (Davis).
Legal Representation
Guest Post: What Fried Okra, F.A.O. Schwartz, Staplers, and Immigration Have in Common
[Blogger’s Note: Nici Kersey, my colleague at Seyfarth Shaw who directs its Immigration Compliance Center, offers another distinctive and entertaining guest post. (Her earlier posts can be found here and here.)
Today, Nici (on the right in the photo [the infant on the left is from a Hollywood casting agency]) shares the…
When Possible, Treat Immigrants As Criminal Defendants, Not As Criminals
An essay in today’s New York Times, “Unexceptionalism: A Primer,” by the novelist, E. L. Doctorow, describes in four “phases” how America can take steps to become unexceptional, that is, “indistinguishable from the impoverished, traditionally undemocratic, brutal or catatonic countries in the world.”
Phase one begins with Bush v. Gore…
Immigration Options for DREAMers under EXISTING Law
Last week marked the end of the second annual National Coming out of the Shadows Week, a rite of passage for undocumented youth — Americans in all but the eyes of the law — who support enactment of the DREAM Act.
Publicly proclaiming one’s unauthorized immigration status is clearly a courageous act. As the…
“I Hate [Bleep]ing Immigration Law” — Whenever I Get an Unjust Request for Evidence
Ever since I first sat in a Los Angeles movie theatre watching Grand Canyon, Lawrence Kasdan’s 1991 film, the only movie, to my knowledge, whose protagonist is an immigration lawyer, I knew I would mouth to myself, repeatedly over the ensuing years, one of its memorable lines. The main character, Mac (played by Kevin Kline)…
Powdered Wig Immigration with the Lawyer as Potted Plant
Many thoughts rushed through my mind as I read the heartening headline to a press release issued January 19 by the American Immigration Council (“U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Takes Steps to Improve Noncitizens’ Access to Legal Counsel“).
What did USCIS do to improve access to lawyers? Did it instruct the agency’s Fraud…