tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36369126308453899692009-07-11T05:43:37.306-07:00Research and commentary on state efforts to restrict the movement of people across borders, and on the alternatives.jacqueline stevenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02266634042946816555noreply@blogger.comBlogger123125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3636912630845389969.post-27145014613784240332009-06-24T12:52:00.000-07:002009-06-26T11:42:52.946-07:00

Today I met Oscar in Reynosa, Mexico at a shelter for migrants, “Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe.” Oscar speaks fabulous English, which isn't surprising. He has been living in the United States since he was 16. His wife is a United States citizen and so are his three young children, Isabella (4), Ethan (3), and Matthew (1). He was just deported yesterday from the Stewart Detention Center even

jacqueline stevenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02266634042946816555noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3636912630845389969.post-75144503884044832562009-06-22T20:49:00.000-07:002009-06-23T08:24:52.014-07:00

Today Mark Lyttle, 31, a U.S. citizen who was kidnapped and rendered stateless by numerous government agencies as part of his illegal deportation to Mexico, obtained a copy of his file from the Atlanta Immigration Court. (See Atlanta Immigration Court for background.)Mark's file includes many of the documents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that resulted in his deportation.

jacqueline stevenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02266634042946816555noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3636912630845389969.post-42421812984955850652009-06-10T13:33:00.000-07:002009-06-16T13:12:55.977-07:00

On December 9, 2008 Immigration Judge-For-Now William Cassidy signed an order deporting Mark Lyttle to Mexico. Mark is a U.S. citizen who was born in the United States, in Salisbury, North Carolina, and who twice informed the judge of this fact. Mark does not speak a word of Spanish. There are four actions Cassidy has undertaken that go far beyond a moment's poor judgment and that I believe

jacqueline stevenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02266634042946816555noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3636912630845389969.post-7546246083126908252009-05-12T10:57:00.000-07:002009-05-19T09:48:36.908-07:00

On December 9, 2008, Immigration Judge William Cassidy wrongfully deported a man born in North Carolina. He ignored Mark Lyttle's signed and sworn statement that he was a U.S. citizen and his name was Mark Daniel Lyttle. Instead, Judge Cassidy believed an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent's baseless allegation that the man before him was really Jose Thomas, a name that I believe

jacqueline stevenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02266634042946816555noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3636912630845389969.post-84628447805385893472009-05-08T05:51:00.000-07:002009-05-13T13:16:06.504-07:00

[5/13/09: Cerna's relatives just located her parents' marriage certificate at a town hall in Nuevo Laredo, MX; this helps prove her U.S. citizenship. Meanwhile, Cerna is threatened with detention at any moment.] The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) owes another apology to a probable U.S. citizen, Julia Cerna, 42, whose due process rights and physical security ICE Assistant Chief

jacqueline stevenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02266634042946816555noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3636912630845389969.post-73467558812337356452009-05-06T13:51:00.001-07:002009-05-08T08:19:27.548-07:00

Here are descriptions of two previously unpublished accounts of U.S.-born Mexican-American teenagers who had their birth certificates ripped up by Customs and Border Patrol agents. I have information on other similar cases, but only time to write up the details of these two, along with summaries and links to two other recent cases published elsewhere.Just to be clear, a national identity card

jacqueline stevenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02266634042946816555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3636912630845389969.post-84370934417393107932009-05-01T07:06:00.000-07:002009-05-01T07:15:43.837-07:00

From PRI "The World": "Federal regulations on transparency say that US immigration courts must be open to the public. But a California university professor found that's not always the case. Reporter Claudine LoMonaco has the story from Tuscson, Arizona."Listen here, on PRI "The World," first broadcast on April 29, 2009.Claudine LoMonaco put together a very impressive piece of radio journalism in

jacqueline stevenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02266634042946816555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3636912630845389969.post-79771500202731239292009-04-29T06:18:00.000-07:002009-04-30T10:02:48.983-07:00

In addition to the myriad of ICE abuses of power during the first 100 days of the Obama administration, the further insult is that the main number for the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility, the office charged with internal investigations to punish ICE agents, is literally "Not in Service," or so the recorded voice says for the number listed for the Office of the Director. I tried calling

jacqueline stevenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02266634042946816555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3636912630845389969.post-48820377754093392882009-04-27T17:45:00.000-07:002009-05-16T04:34:50.015-07:00

On Thursday, April 23, Neil Rambana informed me that another client of his, Mark Lyttle, was a U.S. citizen wrongfully identified as a noncitizen by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent. (You can read about the first client, David, HERE, and Mark Lyttle HERE and you can read all the posts on Mark by clicking on Mark Lyttle.) I spoke with Mark and his mother on Friday, April 24 and

jacqueline stevenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02266634042946816555noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3636912630845389969.post-79912548801267352122009-04-24T20:35:00.000-07:002009-04-28T10:35:03.461-07:00

Mark Lyttle, 31, born in Salisbury, North Carolina, was exhausted and traumatized, but he insisted on talking tonight. He's also very angry. He'd just been released this morning from the Fulton Jail in Atlanta after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) violated his dignity and liberty one last time and arrested him Wednesday at the Atlanta Airport on the charge of illegal re-entry, a

jacqueline stevenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02266634042946816555noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3636912630845389969.post-44531223588245100892009-04-23T12:33:00.000-07:002009-04-28T19:54:02.395-07:00

(For an updated account, after speaking with Mark and his mother, Jeannie, please go here.)Neil Rambana, an attorney in Florida who'd reported an earlier case of a client of his that ICE had misclassified as a noncitizen, is helping another US citizen, Mark, in the middle of a surreal and excruciating experience with the DHS. [Added 4/24/09 Immigration Judge William Cassidy in Atlanta wrongfully

jacqueline stevenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02266634042946816555noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3636912630845389969.post-7117937992591517522009-04-18T20:33:00.001-07:002009-04-19T15:49:38.825-07:00

The pseudo-scientists have done it again: successfully pitched an inane argument dressed up as "new research" to a middle-brow audience of journalists and editors always happy to unveil a "controversial" fake discovery legitimating racial and ethnic genetic inequality. One of the co-authors has made equally absurd claims before, arguing, the LA Times writes, that "some unidentified pathogen

jacqueline stevenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02266634042946816555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3636912630845389969.post-45512077639720737272009-04-15T12:33:00.001-07:002009-04-17T20:21:46.540-07:00

A 1982 DOJ regulation requires immigration courts be open to the public, except in a limited number of circumstances determined by immigration judges. It turns out that the government is systematically violating this regulation, something I learned when I was recently turned away from immigration courts in Arizona detention centers. I later wrote about the excuses for this given by the

jacqueline stevenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02266634042946816555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3636912630845389969.post-11742844316389389902009-04-09T09:07:00.000-07:002009-04-09T13:13:37.079-07:00

The following summarizes key findings from my recent research on U.S. citizens who have been detained, deported, or convicted of immigration crimes predicated on alienage. I am compiling this in the context of other narratives from government officials, immigration attorneys, criminal public defense attorneys, and US citizens for submission to a peer-reviewed journal but thought this information

jacqueline stevenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02266634042946816555noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3636912630845389969.post-4951811522530325522009-04-02T04:39:00.000-07:002009-04-02T07:18:32.453-07:00

WHO DUNNIT?Last week I wrote about being turned away from immigration courts in Eloy and Florence, Arizona, even though federal law requires immigration courts be open to the public.At first it seemed this might be a mistake on the part of overzealous guards. But it's not. According to Elaine Komis, Public Affairs Officer and Congressional Liason at the Executive Office for Immigration Review

jacqueline stevenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02266634042946816555noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3636912630845389969.post-22743214958404939972009-03-26T10:49:00.000-07:002009-03-26T12:16:30.773-07:00

Greetings from Florence, Arizona. This morning I was unlawfully denied access to the immigration courts at the Eloy Detention Center run by the privately-owned CCA and the Florence Detention Center, run by DHS.Last year when I attempted to gain access to the proceedings for a US citizen ICE was trying to deport (Rene Saldivar) at the Eloy Detention Center (about 30 minutes southwest of here), I

jacqueline stevenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02266634042946816555noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3636912630845389969.post-38519092349728612162009-03-15T13:05:00.000-07:002009-03-15T14:27:22.356-07:00

For the last week of the "Law and Politics" course I teach, students attended a screening of "Weather Underground," a 2002 documentary by Sam Green that Obama's presidential campaign made relevant again for its interviews with Bill Ayers. (Ayers, a former key player in the Weather Underground and now a professor at Northwestern University Law School, was the guy whose acquaintanceship with Obama

jacqueline stevenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02266634042946816555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3636912630845389969.post-70192595508635877172009-02-21T09:50:00.000-08:002009-02-21T14:48:00.982-08:00

On February 20, 2009, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Texas reversed a district court decision (No. 07-40416). (If Monica Castro, a U.S. citizen, can show that the Border Patrol Agents who deported her daughter, also a U.S. citizen, in violation of the Constitution and the law authorizing immigration enforcement duties, then Castro and her daughter should be compensated as

jacqueline stevenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02266634042946816555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3636912630845389969.post-58475742621609618102009-02-14T09:15:00.001-08:002009-02-14T09:40:06.766-08:00

Homeland Security has managed to procure $1 billion in the stimulus package for devices that could detect bombs in checked luggage.Considering that absent this technology airplanes are not dropping out of the skies due to bombs in checked luggage, and knowing that spending $1 billion is not a guarantee the technology and people using it will work in the future, isn't this a colossal waste of

jacqueline stevenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02266634042946816555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3636912630845389969.post-21867859530567242662009-02-09T02:17:00.000-08:002009-02-09T03:03:24.690-08:00

Tonight I ended up watching the 30 minutes of "Ask the Prime Minister" session recorded last Wednesday. Prime Minister Gordon Brown was being asked to renounce not only capitalism, by one Labour Party Member of Parliament, alert to the ideology's recent difficulties, but also, by another, to insist that Israel allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.Before making this request, the MP, I don't recall his

jacqueline stevenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02266634042946816555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3636912630845389969.post-32333521043301330592009-02-04T08:29:00.000-08:002009-02-04T09:10:05.934-08:00

CASA de Maryland, an immigrant rights group, on January 28, 2009, released video footage taken by 7-11 cameras showing ICE agents literally rounding up patrons in and outside the store based solely on their appearance as Latino. The link to the video, taken in Baltimore in 2007, is here and you might want to start around 2:45, which is where the events in question are most visible and, at 3:10,

jacqueline stevenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02266634042946816555noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3636912630845389969.post-55314294655296454152009-02-02T10:17:00.000-08:002009-02-04T08:29:48.905-08:00

On February 13, 2008 Zoe Lofgren (CA-D) chaired a very important hearing before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law. The hearing brought forward several U.S. citizens and public interest attorneys, including Kara Hartzler, Rachel Rosenbloom, and James Brosnahan, who testified about ICE violations of the rights of US

jacqueline stevenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02266634042946816555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3636912630845389969.post-22815565834745000722009-01-04T15:58:00.000-08:002009-01-04T17:02:18.158-08:00

The Los Angeles Times ran a great story today about the 35,000 truckloads of dirt used to fill in a gulch in California, to change the landscape enough to make the earth a barrier instead of a corridor. And then the US government is adding layers and layers of fence, with the result that people will lose their homes, jobs, families, and communities.It is true that unlike the Palestinians, the

jacqueline stevenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02266634042946816555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3636912630845389969.post-86970427570741684392009-01-01T11:48:00.000-08:002009-01-01T12:17:03.156-08:00

Daily Journal reporter Sandra Hernandez details another familiar-sounding case of ICE agents and immigration judges ignoring the rule of law. Jose Ledesma showed immigration agents a copy of his Fresno birth certificate, also on file with Madera County. Numerous agents and immigration judges ignored their burden of proof and asserted he was lying. On various occasions Ledesma was detained,

jacqueline stevenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02266634042946816555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3636912630845389969.post-23705084301649370342008-12-23T16:24:00.000-08:002009-01-07T12:09:31.328-08:00

This is a story about how one man, David Lopez (names are fictional unless otherwise indicated), a US citizen, came to endure the racism, lawlessness, and stupidity of US immigration agents, leading to his incarceration by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) and a removal order to Mexico, even though ICE has no jurisdiction over US citizens.As opposed to previous accounts on

jacqueline stevenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02266634042946816555noreply@blogger.com4