Loose Ends

This will be my last post or comment for several months. I thought of trying to restrict it to once a week, but since I proved last week that I'll only yammer on in comments if I do that....I had my immigration law clinic training yesterday. Starting this Wednesday, I will have a lot of responsibility (though a lot of supervision) in preparing asylum seekers' cases for 20 hours each week--and I realized that that, along with family, friends, and schoolwork, is going to have to take complete precedence over blogging.

Other things I learned from the training:
1. An asylum seeker who has legal representation is 400x more likely to be granted asylum than one who does not. That doesn't quite compare apples to apples, because many of the people without representation are the ones found without papers. Their claims are seen as less credible, and they are usually detained before their hearings, which makes it almost impossible to prepare any sort of evidence. But even so....

The federal government not only does not provide counsel in any cases; it also takes away all federal funds for any legal organization that provides counsel. Greater Boston Legal Services had to give up federal money for its employment, housing, public benefits, domestic violence, etc. to continue its immigration program. That choice wasn't financially possible for most legal services organizations.

2. Not surprisingly, things have gotten worse since 9/11. To some degree this would have happened no matter who was president. One of the lawyers described talking with an INS supervisor in Newark, who described how as the hijackers were identified they all rushed to their computers to see if it were any of their cases. The nightmare scenario for an asylum officer suddenly seemed very plausible. (In fact, it's not so plausible--to be granted asylum you have to not only identify yourself, but to expose your life to government scrutiny in a way that any potential terrorist with half a brain would avoid. But it's one thing to know that intellectually, and another to believe it--the possibility is very slim, but it is real.) The INS' disbanding and reorganization has only made it more dysfunctional in the short run--it's divided up between DOJ and homeland security and it's sometimes not clear whose in charge. A lot of the budget has been shifted to enforcement, so naturalization and other services--already lousy and extremely slow--are becoming much worse. In Boston, which is not the worst branch, people are lining up at 5 a.m. in the morning to file any paperwork--the line is routinely 4 hours long and the the office is only open to the public for 4 hours a day.

3. On the other hand, if the post 9/11 limits on civil liberties are sometimes exaggerated when it comes to U.S. citizens*--for non-citizens they have been all too real. "Extraordinary rendition." Rounding up non-citizens on the basis of nationality, imprisoning them for long periods with no evidence, in bad and occasionally violent conditions--then deporting them on the flimsiest of immigration violations (the most common might have been failure to register a change of address with the I.N.S. within 10 days.)

Things are not likely to improve unless we elect a new President, and if there's another terrorist attack they will almost certainly get worse. Patriot Act II apparently authorizes treating naturalized citizens differently from U.S. born citizens, which would be a first in our history. (I don't know the details on that, unfortunately; it was a pretty jam packed day and I didn't get a chance to ask.) They're considering requiring asylum seekers to use interpreters provided by the I.N.S., who would not meet the asylum seeker before their hearing and who would be present only by phone. If you don't see why that's a horrible idea, remember how much it was harder it was to understand audio cassettes than your teacher in your high school language class--and ask yourself if you'd want your and your family's life to depend on a disembodied voice on a phone, of a person who'd probably be overworked, overpaid, who worked for the people who wanted to deport you, who had never met you before.

*maybe not so exaggerated at all, if this story is true.

And some other loose ends:
1. On the Maher Arar case, this article is a good summary of the mandate of the minister in charge of the Arar inquiry. He has broad subpoena powers in Canada, but no power to call U.S. or Syrian citizens as witnesses. He can hear classified information, and decide whether it should remain classified or if it can be safely disclosed to the public. He is also asked to recommend some form of civilian oversight of the RCMP.

2. On the matter of penguin-on-penguin action, an important update from the New York Times: Manhattan penguins are even gayer than Brooklyn penguins, with no fewer than three pairs of homosexual activist penguins in the Central Park Zoo. This probably means that the New York Wildlife Association is going to join the NEA as a right-wing whipping boy. On the other hand, maybe that will convince Bush to increase its budget....

3. On the matter of bloggers I should have linked to long ago: The Decembrist has the best post I've seen on the budget (via Kieran Healy, and Counterpoint, an American soldier in Iraq, has the best post I've seen in a very long time on Iraq (via Tacitus).

4. I pre-emptively endorse the Democratic nominee for President. (Duh.) I reserve the right to rethink this if it's Sharpton or Dennis the Menace--8% in Washington? WTF?--but I figure if that happens, the rift in the space time continuum will make everyone forget this endorsement anyway. I also endorse Return of the King for Best Picture, though I won't be so broken up if Mystic River wins Best Picture and Peter Jackson wins Best Director.

5. This is the biggest danger* to our country, my family, my hometown, etc. We can fix it without the death of a single soldier or innocent civilian, and at a fraction of the cost of the Iraq war (and/or the cost of a missile defense system that may never work and wouldn't protect us from the most likely source of attack anyway, and/or the tax cuts for people who really don't need them, etc.) It's about damn time the press realized this, and long past time for our President to realize it.

*You could make a case for North Korea or Pakistan too--they're all part of the same problem; this is the easiest part to fix.

6. Thank you to everyone who read, commented, linked, etc. This has been a lot of fun. Thanks especially to Moe and von (and hopefully a lefty pinch hitter to be named later, but that's not my decision). See you in a few months.

best,
Katherine

Comments

[Anarch]

Best of luck, Katherine.

[bob mcmanus]

I'll miss you being around

Thank you and good kuck

[Mark]

Thank YOU, Katherine.

[marky]

Good luck. I predict blog hits will go sharply down now. Frankly, I don't even understand the rationale of this grouping. Katherine is the only sensible person who posts here. I won't be back now that she's taking a break.

[Nick]

Good bye, thank you and good luck! Hope to see you here or wherever in a few months time, but if not I'll presume the attractions of the real world have won out over blogging.

[sidereal]

Wow. Going to be interacting with INS on a daily basis? Voluntarily? Ours is but to do and die. .

I fear without your stabilizing presence the blog is going to skew rightward. . and craziword.

"Dennis the Menace--8% in Washington? WTF?"

Not from around here, are you? :)

[Moe Lane]

Good luck this semester and we'll be happy to have you back whenever you feel like showing up, Katherine.

Moe

[von]

Good luck, Katherine. You'll be missed.

von

[Michael N.]

Good luck, Katherine!

Does the timing of this decision secretly have anything to do with pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training in a little over a week? Who's going to do "Baseball Blogging" here, for cryin' out loud?

Aaaaaarrrrrggghhhhhhh.....

[Stentor]

"Patriot Act II apparently authorizes treating naturalized citizens differently from U.S. born citizens, which would be a first in our history."
It's not technically unprecedented -- they've been barred from being President since day one.

Good luck with your non-blog exploits.

[Nell Lancaster]

I'll miss reading your posts, and wish you success and satisfaction in the work you do. Kudos to Moe and Von for having the good sense to host you... hope you'll be back before too long!

[carpeicthus]

Best of luck; I've gotten to enjoy your posts, and the Arar series really pushed the envelope of what unique strengths political blogs can provide.

[fafnir]

Oh... bye Katherine... I'll miss you...!

[Edward]

Best of luck and hurry back Katherine. ObWings won't be the same without you...

[Jesurgislac]

Good luck, Katherine. You'll be missed.

[Randy Paul]

Absolutely terrific work, especially on Maher Arar. I salute you and hope you'll return.