Musings on Immigration

In 2005, after extensive investigation into the attacks on September 11, 2001, Congress passed the REAL ID Act. This act had a provision regarding drivers’ licenses that would make it more difficult for an individual or apply for a state driver’s license without proof of their real identity. The goal of this law was to prevent immigrants who are terrorists, like the 9/11 terrorists, from obtaining driver’s licenses. This would leave them with only a passport and no driver’s license, making them easier for law enforcement to detect. What effect did this law have in reality? A singling out of Hispanic and Asian immigrants who have no criminal history and who are not terrorists. Yet TSA might stop letting individuals travel with just a driver’s license from these states and will instead require a secondary form of ID to travel. A disproportionate number of Hispanic and Asian immigrants cannot obtain visas to enter the U.S. legally or have extremely long waits for visas because the U....

Most people think that you can only have a “conviction” on your record if you plea guilty to a crime or are found guilty at trial. And even then, you might hear that if you “pay everything” or have no problems on probation that your record will be clean. Right? WRONG! You do not have to plead guilty to a crime, or even be charged with one, to have a conviction under the immigration laws. What immigration considers a "conviction" Under ​INA 101(a​)(​48)(A)​, immigration defines conviction as: “a formal judgment of guilt of the alien entered by a court or, if adjudication of guilt has been withheld , where - (i) a judge or jury has found the alien guilty or the alien has entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere or has admitted sufficient facts to warrant a finding of guilt , and (ii) the judge has ordered some form of punishment, penalty, or restraint on the alien's liberty to be imposed. Wait – a conviction even “if adjudication of guilty has been withh...

Hi Mr. Charles, I am writing to you today less as your company’s client but more as an immigrant to USA conversing his concerns to the president of AILA. As our nation has taken a U-turn in the overall direction on the topics of major national agenda and foreign policy unfortunately one single area where we have not seen any activity is broken immigration system in USA. Especially in the state of Georgia where legislations such as 287 g one of the most strict nationwide immigration laws passed during the Bush administration period don’t make it any easier for immigrants to live peacefully in this state. I am legal immigrant to USA from the day I laid first step on this soil and still I feel threatened by such legislations who single out immigrants using local police authorities. Police force is given by law an tremendous authority to protect the people of America, allowing immigration enforcement in the hands of local state wide law enforcement authorities with minimal training provid...