Vet Your Lawyer

Mr. Paterson does not need legislative approval to undertake the new policy. Federal immigration laws enacted in 1996 greatly expanded the categories of legal immigrants subject to mandatory deportation as “aggravated felons,” including people who had pleaded guilty to misdemeanor drug possession.

For years after the laws’ passage, immigration authorities had neither the resources nor the political will to track down or detain legal permanent residents with relatively minor convictions. Because of that, many people years ago pleaded guilty to criminal charges in exchange for probation or no jail time, without having been advised by their lawyers that the plea made them subject to deportation.

Now, however, stepped-up enforcement, huge new criminal databases and expanded use of detention are resulting in deportation proceedings against more people with old convictions, while immigration judges have no discretion to consider their individual cases.

Only a governor’s pardon can prevent deportation in such cases, even when the legal immigrant is married to a United States citizen and has citizen children.

via Paterson Move May Help Immigrants Facing Deportation – NYTimes.com.

This Time, Legal Advice for Immigrants Is Real – City Room Blog – NYTimes.com.

Here is a news story that proves average people need to vet their lawyers just like big companies do.

Victor M. Espinal

According to the NYT, this guy had been “practicing” for nearly two decades before he was caught. He was apparently quite prominent; a local bar association was offering scholarships in his name. This is what happens when people rely only on word of mouth, which is inherently out of date and unreliable. Espinal’s practice, like Marc Dreier before him, was all a house of cards. One victim was quite forgiving, however, underscoring the most poignant part of this tragedy:

With no right to a court-appointed lawyer, low-income immigrants facing detention and deportation often end up with cut-rate lawyers whose genuine law licenses do not mean competence.

This is why we make every effort to make our services affordable. Everyone, from the Fortune 500 to the newest immigrant, ought to have an objective basis for confidence in their lawyer.