Overlawyered » immigration law http://overlawyered.com Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:22:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 January 11 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/january-11-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/january-11-roundup-2/#comments Wed, 11 Jan 2012 05:14:38 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25794
  • California’s Prop 65 and the numbness of overwarning [Tung Yin via Bainbridge]
  • Time to kill off medical-method patents [Alex Tabarrok, Medical Progress Today]
  • Spite decoration: “Gretna fence squabble continues in bitter fashion” [NOLA.com, Louisiana]
  • “The Problem With Immigration Lawyers and How to Fix It” [Dzubow/Asylumist via Legal Ethics Forum]
  • “Are NYC transit bus drivers prevented from calling police?” [Turkewitz]
  • “Circumvention tourism” is travel intended to sidestep medical regulation [Glenn Cohen, Prawfs]
  • Abolition of wasteful, arrogant California redevelopment agencies has Tim Cavanaugh ready to kiss a nurse in Times Square [Reason, similarly Gideon Kanner and Steven Greenhut]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/january-11-roundup-2/feed/ 0     “I don’t feel good about it — lying to people” http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/i-dont-feel-good-about-it-lying-to-people/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/i-dont-feel-good-about-it-lying-to-people/#comments Mon, 03 Oct 2011 14:35:46 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24916 A New Yorker writer sympathetically if uneasily profiles one of the many who choose to pursue legal immigrant status (with lawyers’ help) by petitioning for asylum on the basis of made-up atrocity stories. “‘I have never been raped,’ she admitted, giggling with embarrassment… ‘Telling that story makes me sad, because I know it’s true for someone.’” But not necessarily true for most of those in her position: “There’s one [a story] for each country,” explains a lawyer. “There’s the Colombian rape story — they all say they were raped by the FARC. There’s the Rwandan rape story, the Tibetan refugee story. The details for each are the same.” [Suketu Mehta, "The Asylum Seeker: For a chance at a better life, it helps to make your bad story worse," New Yorker](& Legal Ethics Forum)

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/i-dont-feel-good-about-it-lying-to-people/feed/ 2     “Courts Put the Brakes on Agenda of G.O.P.” http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/courts-put-the-brakes-on-agenda-of-g-o-p/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/courts-put-the-brakes-on-agenda-of-g-o-p/#comments Tue, 06 Sep 2011 10:10:38 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24443 A. G. Sulzberger quotes me in yesterday’s New York Times on the wave of court challenges that has met legislation in state capitals on immigration, abortion, financing for Planned Parenthood, and other hot topics. Federal judges have recently issued injunctions blocking part or all of controversial state enactments on all these topics.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/courts-put-the-brakes-on-agenda-of-g-o-p/feed/ 13     An asylum-fraud “industry” http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/an-asylum-fraud-industry/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/an-asylum-fraud-industry/#comments Fri, 15 Jul 2011 05:06:14 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23849 A front-page story in the New York Times details how some immigration middlemen engage in systematic coaching of false persecution stories. “West Africans claim genital mutilation or harm from the latest political violence. Albanians and immigrants from other Balkan countries claim they fear ethnic cleansing. Chinese invoke the one-child policy or persecution of Christians, Venezuelans cite their opposition to the ruling party, and Russians describe attacks against gay people. Iraqis and Afghans can cite fear of retaliation by Islamic extremists.”

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/an-asylum-fraud-industry/feed/ 2     July 10 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/july-10-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/july-10-roundup/#comments Sun, 10 Jul 2011 05:53:52 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23767
  • Jury rejects Jamie Leigh Jones rape claim against Halliburton/KBR. Next, a round of apologies from naive commentators and some who used the case to advance anti-arbitration talking points? [WSJ; Ted Frank/PoL and more; WSJ Law Blog (plaintiff's lawyers sought shoot-the-moon damages)]
  • Time magazine vs. James Madison on constitutional law (spoiler: Madison wins) [Foster Friess via Ira Stoll]
  • Andrew Trask reviews new Curtis Wilkie book on the Dickie Scruggs scandal;
  • “Right to family life” evolution in human rights law deters UK authorities from deporting various bad actors [Telegraph]
  • Paging Benjamin Barton: How discovery rules enrich the legal profession at the expense of the social good [PoL]
  • USDA heeds politics, not science, on genetic crops [Henry Miller/Gregory Conko, PDF, Cato Institute Regulation]
  • “Legal Questions Raised by Success of Monkey Photographer” [Lowering the Bar]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/july-10-roundup/feed/ 7     For Maryland’s guest teachers, an expensive lesson in labor rights http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/for-marylands-guest-teachers-an-expensive-lesson-in-labor-rights/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/for-marylands-guest-teachers-an-expensive-lesson-in-labor-rights/#comments Thu, 19 May 2011 05:32:11 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23036 The U.S. Department of Labor ruled in April that Prince George’s County, Maryland, in suburban Washington, had violated federal labor law by failing to reimburse immigrant teachers for visa application fees. It fined the schools $1.7 million and also ordered them to pay $4.2 million in back pay to 1,044 teachers, most of whom come from the Philippines. “If that finding stands, the system will be unable to renew any three-year visas for its foreign employees.” Many teachers are distraught about the prospect of losing their jobs and green cards, which could happen as early as next month; Charisse Cabrera “said she would rather keep her job than recoup the back pay, about $4,000 per teacher.” [Washington Post, PhilStar.com]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/for-marylands-guest-teachers-an-expensive-lesson-in-labor-rights/feed/ 7     May 12 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/may-12-roundup-4/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/may-12-roundup-4/#comments Thu, 12 May 2011 12:18:14 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=22956
  • Alabama state senate bans knowingly giving illegal immigrant ride in your car [Katherine Mangu-Ward]
  • Cato U., dynamite summer seminar from my institute, being held this year in Annapolis Jul. 24-29;
  • Calif.: “64% of Prop 65 settlements go to attorneys’ fees” [CJAC, earlier]
  • Mississippi jury votes $322 million to individual asbestos claimant [Fair Warning, Mass Tort Prof]
  • “Emails: Attorney nixed S.C. train injury fund” [AP/The State]
  • Trump files $100 million counterclaim against customer who sued his “Trump University” [Atlantic Wire, earlier] More: Lowering the Bar.
  • Two, three, a trend? Another trial-lawyer movie, this time starring Mark Lanier [WSJ Law Blog]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/may-12-roundup-4/feed/ 1     Sued if you do dept., immigrant workforce division http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/sued-if-you-do-dept-immigrant-workforce-division/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/sued-if-you-do-dept-immigrant-workforce-division/#comments Tue, 22 Mar 2011 05:18:17 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=22132 After Chipotle restaurants in Washington, D.C. sacked about 40 workers for lack of immigration papers, some of the workers approached the D.C. city council in search of remedies for grievances that include “unjust dismissal” and inadequate notice. [NBC Washington]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/sued-if-you-do-dept-immigrant-workforce-division/feed/ 0     December 13 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2010/12/december-13-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/12/december-13-roundup/#comments Mon, 13 Dec 2010 05:18:38 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=20592
  • Minneapolis police arrest author-blogger-gun rights activist Joel Rosenberg [Popehat, Mark Bennett, Scott Greenfield]
  • In Wal-Mart v. Dukes, Justice Ginsburg’s instincts as a proceduralist might come in tension with her instincts as a feminist [Alexandra Lahav, Mass Tort Lit]
  • “Cease this shouting!” cried Grinch, “From all Yule din desist!” But he’d Moved To The Nuisance and so, case dismissed [Art Carden, Forbes]
  • “San Francisco Sues to Close Down Immigration Law Firm, Claims ‘Exorbitant’ Fees” [ABA Journal]
  • New ATRA report blasts overly cozy state attorneys general cooperation with plaintiff’s bar ["Beyond Reproach? Fostering Integrity and Public Trust in the Offices of State Attorneys General," PDF]
  • Nathan Myrhvold’s patent aggregator Intellectual Ventures, which said it was disinclined to sue, begins suing [The Recorder, Salmon]
  • Privacy = when I choose to conceal my life data, secrecy = when you conceal yours [Kelly Young via Dave Boaz, Cato at Liberty]
  • One doc’s memoir: litigation crisis as morality crisis [seven years ago on Overlawyered]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/12/december-13-roundup/feed/ 1     New York chief judge rallies “Civil Gideon” campaign http://overlawyered.com/2010/10/new-york-chief-judge-rallies-civil-gideon-campaign/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/10/new-york-chief-judge-rallies-civil-gideon-campaign/#comments Thu, 21 Oct 2010 05:10:03 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=19784 But Ted Frank explains why creating a new entitlement to taxpayer-paid civil lawyers is a bad idea [New York Daily News, PoL]:

    As any economist would tell you, if you lower the price of something, you get more demand for it. If it becomes completely costless to bring suit, we will see many more meritless suits.

    That’s no small problem in New York, where courts are already overloaded.

    If a dispute over shelter entitles a cantankerous tenant to a free attorney on the government’s dime, it will be much easier for people to fight evictions when they violate a lease in ways that threaten other tenants or intentionally refuse to pay rent. Landlords, in turn, will have to hire their own attorneys and raise rents and costs for their honest tenants.

    Not unrelated: U.S. is granting asylum requests far more often than formerly. Why might that be? [Ted's answer]

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