A strident ruling out of the federal district court for the central district of California is resulting in major changes to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policy concerning the detention of women and children. On August 21, 2015, Federal Judge Dolly Gee ruled that the ICE/DHS policy of housing detained women and children, spread between 3 national … Continue reading Berks Immigration Detention Center for Women and Children to Close?
Author: Lance Malcolm, Esq.
Shorter Waiting Time for Divorce Based on Separation…Legislation Pending
Our colleagues at the Pennsylvania Bar News have recently covered some important developments in the realm of family law - pending legislation that, if passed, will significantly reduce the time it takes estranged spouses to legally divorce. House Bill 380 is the legislation at issue and aims to cut in half the statutory waiting period from 2 … Continue reading Shorter Waiting Time for Divorce Based on Separation…Legislation Pending
Birthright Citizenship in a Lone Star State of Mind
I have previously blogged about a contentious remark from the last Republican Presidential Debate. The catalyst of that conversation about Birthright Citizenship was what I deemed to be a certain candidate's peculiar (and misleading) over-simplification of what he views to be current U.S. Law's abhorrently liberal stance on Birthright Citizenship. Specifically, I underlined in the course of that blog-entry … Continue reading Birthright Citizenship in a Lone Star State of Mind
DAPA and the fog of (political) war
As some of the readers of this Blog may have noticed, I have been interested in chronicling (or at least, following) the much-embattled executive Action known as DACA ("Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals"). See my previous post---> Happy Birthday, DACA! I did make mention in that post of the current legal quagmire that DACA's companion executive Action, DAPA ("Deferred … Continue reading DAPA and the fog of (political) war
Birthright Citizenship – A Closer Look
Watching the recent Republican Presidential debate, I felt that one particularly interesting topic discussed among the contenders was U.S. policy concerning birthright citizenship. At least one candidate has vowed that upon becoming President of the United States he will sharply curtail our nation's "liberal" construal of birthright citizenship - specifically stripping such right from children born within the United … Continue reading Birthright Citizenship – A Closer Look
Child Custody and Jurisdiction
"It is procedure that marks much of the difference between rule by law and rule by fiat." Wisconsin v. Constantineau, 400 U.S. 433, 436 (1971) "The history of procedure is a series of attempts to solve the problems created by the..preceding generation's procedural reforms." Judith Resnick, Precluding Appeals, 70 Cornell L.R. 603, 624 (1985) … Continue reading Child Custody and Jurisdiction
Happy Birthday, DACA!
The Obama administration's ambitious and brave Immigration program - 'Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals' ("DACA"), turned 3 years old this summer (announcement of the program was made on June 15, 2012 and the Department of Homeland Security ("DHS") began accepting applications from respondents on August 15 of the same year). In fact, the first cycle … Continue reading Happy Birthday, DACA!
Agree When You Disagree: Custody, Opposing Partes, and Getting Along as Best Possible
I am devoting this blog entry in the interests of counseling against bad manners and brutishness. Inherently, disputes arising out of dissolved marriages or other relationships involving children in common to the disputants, are ugly. Litigation is nary a cordial concern, and when broken personal relationships and children get involved - the gloves tend to come off. This … Continue reading Agree When You Disagree: Custody, Opposing Partes, and Getting Along as Best Possible
Words Hurt Too/Two
It has been a tumultuous past couple of weeks for SCOTUS watchers. Rarely has the Court issued a series of opinions of such sweep and contention. The reader may recall my earlier coverage of the oral arguments of a particular case from this 2014 session, Kingsley v. Hendrickson. Forgetting is understandable in light of a … Continue reading Words Hurt Too/Two
Immigration Limbo – Some Problems with Immigration Courts and Immigration Policy
Dictionary.com defines the word “limbo” as - a place or state of oblivion to which persons or things are regarded as being relegated when cast aside, forgotten, past, or out of date. I move to have l-i-m-b-o stricken from the English language and replaced by i-m-m-i-g-r-a-t-i-o-n c-o-u-r-t. Notwithstanding personal, politicized opinions about Immigration in the … Continue reading Immigration Limbo – Some Problems with Immigration Courts and Immigration Policy