Tucson DUI & Criminal Defense Blog

“Finding Certainty in Cert based on a Statistical Analysis Over 14 Years,” authored by a University of Southern California law scholar, and political science student, confirmed that a notably small handful of elite attorneys hold outsized sway with the United States Supreme Court.

Most criminal defense attorneys familiar with the landscape of federal criminal law have long been painfully aware that the term “crime of violence” crops up as a dark feature, repeatedly, unpleasantly, and often ominously throughout the Code and Guidelines. But now, with the recent advent of Johnson v. United States, and interpretive circuit opinions, the federal criminal defense landscape may be suddenly brightening, at least a little bit.

On December 9, 2015 United States District Judge David Godbey denied a request for a second temporary restraining order to halt the settlement of Syrian refugees in Texas.

On December 23, 2015 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals authored a decision in United States v. Xochitl Cisneros-Rodriguez holding that if an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent erroneously advises an uncounseled alien in an administrative removal proceeding that an attorney will “not be able to help you,” any waiver of the right to counsel based on that advice is invalid.

The Secretary of Health and Human Services has asked the Pentagon to add 5,000 more beds for young people. During last year’s surge of undocumented persons, the military opened emergency shelters to house the migrants at bases in Oxnard, San Antonio and Ft. Sill, Oklahoma.

Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., introduced legislation on Tuesday that would require federal officials to scrutinize social media websites and other public data as part of the new standard procedure for reviewing applications by foreign nationals seeking visas within the United States.

This year alone, the government will pay GEO $56 million to manage ankle monitors for 10,000 immigrants, and to run telephone check-ins for 20,000 immigrants.

Recently, the Department of Justice settled in a lawsuit brought against the agency last year by Immigration Judge Ashley Tabaddor. Of Iranian descent, Judge Tabaddor said her superiors at the DOJ ordered her not to hear any cases that involved Iranian nationals.

In a surprising unpublished decision the Board of Immigration Appeals, which handles administrative appeals from deportation orders, held that transportation of cocaine under California law is not an aggravated felony.

On Tuesday, November 17, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, in her first oversight hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, fended off hours of tough questions from Republicans who voiced skepticism that the U.S. can effectively screen prospective refugees seeking to enter the country from Syria.