Posted on 01/09/2009 4:47:12 PM PST by SmithL
SAN FRANCISCO — In its waning days, the Bush administration is ushering in last-minute immigration policy changes that could have a major effect on Bay Area courtrooms, workplaces and immigrant communities.
U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey ruled this week that foreign nationals have no automatic right to a lawyer in deportation cases, overturning a common claim through which immigrants represented by incompetent lawyers could get another hearing before being deported.
"This has been entrenched in the law for such a very long time that people have grown to rely on it," said San Francisco immigration lawyer Karl Krooth. "That's perhaps the real tragedy here. I think there's been something very big taken away from the immigrant population."
The Department of Justice defended the move, saying it was rooted in Mukasey's interpretation of the Bill of Rights and was meant to standardize legal practices across the country.
"There is no right provided to aliens, illegal aliens, who are going before immigration judges for counsel," said department spokesman Charles Miller. "They can, of course, provide their own counsel."
Nadine Wettstein of the American Immigration Law Foundation called the move "a real power grab by the administration" that will have devastating effects on people who are already easy to victimize.
"It's very significant for a lot of people, especially for people in California, who had a problem with their prior lawyers," Wettstein said. "If the lawyer didn't do what the lawyer was supposed to do, this says they don't have any constitutional or legal right to complain."
Krooth said desperate immigrants who hire the most affordable, but sometimes inexperienced lawyers to help with immigration documents often do not find out until years later that they were poorly represented.
Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, told The Associated Press that immigrants need to take responsibility in choosing an attorney. He also said the government has been trying to prevent lawyers from dragging out cases unnecessarily.
"The broad concept is completely valid. Deportation cases are not criminal proceedings, therefore nobody has a right to any kind of attorney — let alone a good one," said Krikorian, whose center seeks more restrictions on immigration.
Another federal immigration policy change, which takes effect two days before President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration, was meant to streamline the hiring and housing of foreign guest workers for seasonal industries.
Growers and worker advocates in California's vast farm belt were unimpressed.
"It sets up a false pretense that the problem has been solved," said San Joaquin Valley farm industry advocate Manuel Cunha, president of the Nisei Farmers League. "The Bush administration is trying to get this thing out so that they did something."
Cunha said a minority of employers are pleased with the changes to the H-2 temporary worker visa program, but most of them are in places such as New England, Kentucky and Florida, which have no local workers to tap.
In contrast, California has an agricultural workforce of 400,000 people, the majority of whom are immigrants with questionable legal status, Cunha said. Rather than more cumbersome guest worker programs, Cunha said the country needs a way to recognize the critical immigrant workforce it already has by allowing a path to legal residency for undocumented farmworkers.
Just like the lawyers representing these invaders. Ol' Karl's just realizing that the days of scamming money from the govt. representing illegals might be at an end.
Of course, I wonder how quickly Obama's AG will overturn this?
Hopefully Bush is laying a few landmines for Obama.
About 24 hours, probably.
What the “f” took him so long? He’s messed up.
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