I was born in 1982 in Mobile, Alabama. I have always been proud to be from Mobile. The city is not only my hometown, but also the hometown of my maternal family going back several generations. Since leaving Mobile as a teenager, I have returned to spend time in the Azalea City each year and look forward to continuing to do so with my children for many years to come. Mobile has a sterling reputation as a center of Southern hospitality and has long been a center of diversity along the Gulf Coast and throughout the Southeast. Even so, I would not describe Mobile, or the state of Alabama, as the most welcoming of cities. In fact, living outside of Alabama, I can attest to the fact that the state's national and international reputations took major hits with the ill conceived immigration bill, HB 56 in 2011. This is unfortunate, because Mobile has been a city of immigrants with a diverse population going back to it's earliest roots. In fact, Mobile was founded as a form of
Here's a quick look at the headlines mid-day: Immigration change gives legal status to undocumented relatives of U.S. military A sane immigration policy? Why Republicans should embrace immigration reform in one chart Is the right-left immigration alliance fraying ? Is consensus on immigration reform possible? Immigration detainees continue hunger strike
Jena, Louisiana On Friday, September 28, 2018, the Executive Office for Immigration Review ("EOIR" - pronounced "Eeyore" like the Winnie the Pooh character) announced the hiring and assignment of 46 new immigration judges ("IJ"). Of those 46, four were assigned to the LaSalle Immigration Court in Jena, Louisiana, the middle-of-nowhere location of the GEO run (for profit) ICE detention center where so many immigrants arrested in Arkansas are separated from their families and detained. The LaSalle court has been operating for well over a year, with EOIR often flying IJs to Jena to manage the docket a few days to a few weeks at a time to begin and then transferring management of the court to the Miami Immigration Court. The Miami court's IJs would appear via televideo alongside ICE trial attorneys and other court staff, including interpreters. Miami's management ended mere weeks ago and now we have what we presume to be full-time IJ
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