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THE UNBEARABLE STUPIDITY OF IGNORANCE AND INACTION: Where the Heck are our Chinese Tourists? Recently came back from a trip to Europe (France, Belgium and the UK) and I was stricken by the indifference to all things American, bordering on invisibility. In fact, there seemed to be a new way of thinking in which America was just an insignificant component of the whole and not the sine qua non. The dollar was refused everywhere; none of those countries even acknowledged its existence and seemed to want it dead. Upon hearing me speaking American English, many a taxi driver jokingly cautioned me that if I expected them to accept my dollars, then they would just as soon stop the ride then and there because the dollar was “no good here.” I understand the inverse relationship between a weak dollar and exports, but there seemed to be something more going on there. Europeans seemed infatuated with themselves . . . and the Chinese. The Chinese are the new rage with Europeans and the latter seem too eager to oblige. Chinese tourism is at all time highs in Europe and Chinese is spoken all over the touristy streets . . .may be it’s just me but I even heard it at the Musee du Louvres in Paris and was drowned in it near the Manekenpis in Brussels. London seemed reluctant but not entirely. Yes, a weak dollar brings in more exports, and tourism, and investments, and everything else that foreign concerns could want from here, which in turn translates into US jobs. But where the bloody heck is our tourism? Where are our Chinese visitors? Where is our incoming foreign investment? Nothing seems to work the way that textbook Economics teaches. When things are this out-of-balance, there’s got to be some other force at work. Policymakers are asleep and nothing is getting done in DC. Whatever our thing is . . .or was, all I know is that “our thing ain’t thingin’ no more.” Why just the other day I heard David Muir report on ABC News that very long lines form everyday at the American Consulate in Beijing, China just to get a visa to visit the US. Get this, Muir also reported that on average every Chinese visitor drops about $6,100 per visit to this country when they can get a visa. So, I ask again: where the heck are our Chinese Tourists??? It seems we lost our mojo and as a consequence, our long time partners are dancing with others. I don’t know how long this courtship between Asia and Europe will last before a marriage occurs, but somebody in DC needs to wake up and start leading again. Those cavalier and provincial anti-immigration political actors who can’t see past their own noses better take notice that the world is leaving us behind because they refuse to engage in it. We cannot be afraid. Human systems abhor a void. They tend to want to fill it. And when leaders refuse to lead, they tend to be replaced. Aime M. Katambwe, Esq. 10/31/2011 INHUMANE ANTI-IMMIGRANT MEASURES WILL NOT SOLVE AMERICA’S PROBLEMS Immigration is the new blood that fuels economic renewal and vibrancy. It ensures that change, which is inevitable, will be met with the necessary interest and gusto that keeps a civilization evolving. Life is but a constant change and a pest in man’s quest for security in what is already known, acquired and taken for granted. And so it seems the political life of most Americans is taken over by a “Do Nothing Congress” and overzealous State Legislatures enacting a flurry of never ending anti-immigrant laws; all of it overshadowed by the longest phoniest recession seen in perhaps a generation. At a time when more is needed, less is done. Trade unions are busted and made to look like it is the will of the people. It is not. Immigrant families, mostly people of color, are broken-up without mercy under what seems to be the law. It is not. American citizens are literally threatened with the unconstitutional denial of citizenship, while “show me your papers laws” proliferate. Everyone knows and abhors it and yet no one speaks up as if it is someone else’s responsibility and not ours. More inhumane anti-immigrant measures are dreamt up for implementation as if ridding America of all immigrants will do anything to solve its current problems . . . ah! But ignorance is bliss; is it? Hindsight is always 20/20 as Martin Nimoller found out in the last century when he declared:
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out -- Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out -- Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me -- and there was no one left to speak for me. immigrants . . . for we are all immigrants. Aime M. Katambwe, Esq. 7/20/2011 DIDN'T I TELL YOU? THE STATES ARE COMING Just the other day, the US Supreme Court upheld part of the Arizona SB 1070 law that was opposed by the Obama Administration. This tells me that states are slowly invading the province of the Federal Government of the United States when it comes to Immigration Law and perhaps more. There is a reason why there is a "United" before States of America in our country's name. Federal law is uniform law. At least that is the way that it should be but isn't in Immigration Law. Since President Obama was elected to the Presidency, it seem some states have multiplied their efforts and lawsuits to escape the power of the Federal Government and the republican majority Congress has decided not to help the current administration rack-up any success in whatever endeavor it undertakes for the country. In Texas, we heard talks of secession. Sheer stupidity without more! The 5-4 partisan decisions in the US Supreme Court only portend a similar outcome . . . as was the case in Bush v. Gore. But more on point, every state it seems, is enacting immigration laws of its own, forcing the Feds to oppose the often insensitive and ill-guided unconstitutional pronouncements of vacuous legislatures. To what end? The cacophony of enactments only serves to show the degree to which our Immigration Laws are lacking in legality, common sense, logic and true precedential value; not to mention how no one agrees with their current state. Maybe the states have a plan behind their worthless exercise in this area, or is it that the President is hoping to swoop in at some point (soon I hope) and save us by bringing clarity to this field of federal law. Time will tell. I just hope that 25 years from now, the words "United States" still mean something. If they are to mean something, then the sister States will be wise to remember that there is no "I" in "Team." Aime M. Katambwe, Esq. 7/1/2011 THANK YOU ANGELO Posted on 4/25/2011 as a comment to Angelo Paparelli's "Demystifying Immigration Myths." (http://www.nationofimmigrators.com/general-immigration/demystifying-immigration-myths/#comments) Thank you Angelo for saying (for some time now) what an affront to common sense and our constitution this BrandX/Chevron deference has inflicted upon them. The progeny of regulations that have the force of statutory law has made Congress powerless to address the issue of immigration without having the Judiciary and Executive organs overruling its enactments every which way from sun up to sundown. BrandX/Chevron have made Article 3 judges obsolete in all matters immigration to the point where we now see what is becoming a proliferation of retractions of precedential decision from those once respectable courts to make way for the asinine and ever so changing interpretation of the various agencies having jurisdiction over immigration laws. These agencies enact new immigration laws by the mere power of their interpretations of the Congressional intent behind otherwise straightforward statutes. These interpretations afforded by Brandx/Chevron change often and are not necessarily uniform in all jurisdictions. You would think that Congress' edicts apply equally to all jurisdictions, but leave it to these agencies to dispel this common knowledge. We have now come to the point in immigration law (as in criminal law during the Rodney King days, not to dig up old skeletons) where what you see is not actually what you see. The damage to our system of laws, stare decisis (et non quieta movere) in particular is unknowable but certainly great in proportion since settled matters are constantly being unsettled by new interpretations. Often these new takes are offered by nonlawyers practicing law under the "federal banner" making it so difficult for those of us trained in laws to reconcile the principles of stare decisis with whatever new verbiage that doubles as new law being handed down by the almighty federal agencies. When lawyers can no longer rely on stare decisis to guide their clients or when a co-equal branch of government abdicates a power granted it by the constitution to another branch not so privileged, I say nothing good can come from a system that permits this imbalance to occur. After all, no one branch is permitted to unilaterally change the constitution last time I looked. It seems elementary to me that Article 1 "judges" should not be telling Article 3 judges how to interpret statutes enacted by Congress. Call me a stickler . . . but that's just me. Aime M. Katambwe, Esq 7/1/2011 ASK NOT FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS: EXECUTIVE ACTION NEEDED Last week some Senate democrats sent a timid letter to the White House asking President Obama to use his executive powers to ease-up on the removal of those unauthorized immigrants of good moral character who would have qualified for the Dream Act. Earlier this last month, the President declared that Executive action was not an option in Immigration Reform. This is a mistake in my view. Keep in mind that these “Dreamers” were brought to the US at a very young age and have known no other place that they can call home other than the US. Some of them have families of their own with USC children and still they face removal at every turn. A simple review of the qualifications for an I-601 Waiver of Conditions of Inadmissibility would solve half the issue outright. The simplistic way that this would work will be that under an Executive Order, a Dreamer would file an AOS with an I-360 coupled with an I-601 waiver as a juvenile, thus suspending their age to the age they were when they were first brought to the US. The Secretary of Homeland Security would then use her already existing discretionary powers to identify, under an Executive Order, any reason upon which discretion could be exercised in order to cure any condition of inadmissibility and parole the Dreamer who will then go on to adjust their status. This is fair and will hold up under scrutiny. Elections being a matter of who gets what, when, where, how much and how often, I believe that the time of reckoning is near for the President and the choices are simple: executive action now or ask not for whom the bell is tolling. After all, republicans can do no worse on immigration. Aime M. Katambwe, Esq. 4/19/2011 THE ADVANCE PAROLE THAT DOES NOT PAROLE A couple of months ago, USCIS began to issue a combined Advance Parole and Work Permit Card that can be used both for I-9 List A employment verification card and an I-512 Advance Parole card. This will allow Adjustment applicants to travel in and out of the US during the pendency of their applications. The card will have to be presented when entering the US as an application for parole. Many otherwise eligible Individuals applying for adjustment may have been unlawfully present in the U.S. before applying for adjustment. As to those individuals, it may be better to never use the parole option on the new card during the pendency of their application as they may be refused parole and lose their opportunity to adjust their status had they stayed put. In other words, nothing has changed, which begs the question: why issue Advance Parole at all if there is no guaranty of re-entry? It seems to me that re-entry should be guaranteed to all and if an applicant is found inadmissible or ineligible for adjustment, then they ought to be denied at the end of the process and after re-entry. Advance Parole ought to mean what it says. Aime M. Katambwe, Esq. 04/05/2011 STATES TAKE THE LEAD ON IMMIGRATION LAW It seems the federal government is being impliedly preempted by the sister States on the issue of immigration reform. From the looks of the many immigration laws being enacted by States' legislatures, contrasted by the inaction of their federal counterpart, immigration is slowly becoming a domain shared between the feds and States with the balance of powers going to the States. This is a field that the feds would have us believe they intend to completely dominate, however the total abandonment of all things immigration by the feds, leaving the States to fend for themselves will likely hand over dominion of the issue to the States. With a US Supreme Court largely favorable to States' rights, it is likely that one of the many lawsuits being brought forward by States like Arizona and others will eventually prevail over the feds. The Supreme Court being the only organ of the federal government still fully functioning will have to decide the issue eventually since those currently charged with that task refuse to act. It is no secret that the republican majority in the House is in no hurry to settle the issue of immigration beyond the "Secure Borders" first position they have taken. Just yesterday, President Obama shattered any hope that Immigration practitioners held that he might use the power of Executive Orders to level the playing field saying that it was not an option. In the meantime, ICE keeps breaking up families through indiscriminate removal; States keep churning new immigration laws and federal agencies left to their own devices keep enacting new laws by feat through regulations. There will be hell to pay in 2012. Aime M. Katambwe, Esq. 3/30/2011 USCIS WILL ENFORCE DOMA EVEN IF THE FEDS WON’T As we all know by now, on February 23, 2011, the United States Department of Justice (USDOJ) made the decision to stop defending Section 3 of DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act), raising hopes for same-sex married couples who have applied for green cards. On that day, USCIS began to hold same-sex green card applications in abeyance while it sought guidance as to the meaning of the USDOJ’s announcement. The official word came in last night, March 29, 2011, that the USCIS will continue to deny same-sex bi- national couples, merely based on the enforcement of DOMA. There will be no change, since, according to USCIS press secretary Christopher Bentley, the policy in place is there to “enforce the law.” So, USCIS will resume its discriminatory practices of old. What this will mean for future advocates who decide to sue over this matter, only time will tell. But it seems as though the USCIS is begging for a lawsuit on the issue of DOMA . . . or is it that it will take a similar announcement by USDHS Secretary Napolitano as well. Is the DOMA still enforceable if the USDOJ will not put up a defense against it? Stay tuned. Aime Katambwe, Esq. 3/30/2011 |
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