The War Against the Attorney-Client Privilege

This morning I appeared, as required by subpoena, to testify in front of a federal grand jury about a client of mine.  I was also commanded in the subpoena to bring either my client’s original or copied version of his passport and turn it over to the assistant US Attorney.  

But my professional code of responsibility requires me to keep my client’s details confidential.  This includes keeping my client’s file and property confidential as well.  In short, if I violate the attorney/client privilege, I could lose my license to practice law.  This is a privilege which the average person on the street understands from watching television.

Which begs the question:  since the average person knows about the attorney-client privilege, why am I being asked to violate this privilege by the Assistant US Attorney?  Certainly an attorney knows I can’t talk about my client or provide my client’s property without my client’s consent. 

I have obtained legal representation to assist me this morning since I needed a lawyer to help me fulfill my ethical duties as a lawyer to my client.    

When I walked into the grand jury room, I faced about twenty or so grand jurors who were looking at me with some curiousity but mostly bordom.  I recalled the famous expression attributed to the former New York Judge Sol Wachtler that federal prosecutors have so much influence that a “Grand Jury could indict a ham sandwich.”  I faced them as I was sworn in and was read my rights to counsel under the 6th amendment, my right to remain silent under the 5th amendment if I thought my answer would incriminate me.  Then I was warned of the penalties for committing perjury and the classic “anything you say can and will be used against you.”

Yikes.

After a few minutes of explaining that I would not testify about my client or provide property, I was excused.  Which again begs the question:  why was I brought in at all?  Was I merely being set up for an order by a federal court judge to turn over my client’s property? 

This is all very awkward for me. 

My attorney turned to me when we were leaving and said, “Welcome to the war against the Attorney/client privilege.  Attorneys have been battling this war for years.”  

I trust I will find out soon enough what is going on.

 Peace,

Elizabeth

   

Why Do We Love to Imprison People in the United States?

I have written a few times lately about the immigration detention of children.  Today I learned more about the detention issue which I feel obligated to discuss because of its disturbing nature.

As with the detention of criminal detainees, ICE has detention standards for the treatment of immigration detainees who are being detained for certain immigration violations.  However, unlike the detention standards for criminal detainees,  ICE’s 38 or so detention standards are not codified into law — which makes them unenforceable.  Which explains in large part why ICE continues to violates these standards on a regular basis around the country.    Two of the more egregious violations concerns the systematic lack of access to phones, counsel and basic legal materials and the lack of access to medical care.  

How bad is it?  Approximately 66 immigrants have died in detention in the past 3-4 years, according to Nina Bernstein of the New York Times who reported in her article on June 26, 2007 ”New Scrutiny as Immigrants Die in Custody” about several deaths in detention from the lack of medical attention.  Is the immigrant such a low-class resident of the US that she doesn’t even get medical attention in jail?   

But it gets worse.  Not only are there no enforceable detention standards for the immigration detention of immigrants, there are no standards at all for the detention of immigrant children.  There have been lawsuits which resulted in settlements and agreements but again, no enforceable written set of rules for the detention of children.  Meanwhile, detention facilities which have agreed to house children are popping up around the country.  Some of the children recently released from the Hutto facility in Texas were held for two years with only one hour of school a day, among other alarming factors. 

Rather than seriously address these issues, however, the government is pushing for more detentions of immigrants. 

Julie Myers, the  Assistant Secretary of DHS for ICE, has reportedly taken the position that all immigrants who have committed a crime should be detained by immigration.  Currently Immigration & Customs Enforcement has authorization to fill over 27,000 bed spaces for detention purposes which at least one senator is proposing to have increased to over 40,000 bed spaces.  At approximately $95.00 per day per detainee on average.  That is more than 2.5 million dollars a day if all 27,000 bed spaces are filled; more than 3.8 million dollars a day if 40,000 spaces are filled.

The criminal justice system has developed sophisticated alternatives to detention which are effective and substantially less expensive.    I heard today that it would cost the US taxpayers about 20% of the cost of actually detaining immigants if these alternatives were regularly used by ICE.  Currently they are used to a small degree in select locations around the country.  These alternatives include ankle bracelets, phone monitoring, home visits, etc.

We need reform of our immigration laws.   Before more people die for lack of medical care in the richest country in the world.  Contact Senator Lieberman to express your support for his efforts to reform immigration detention. 

Peace,

Elizabeth

      

The Unveiling of the New Naturalization Exam

Before I begin, I have one caveat:  I have always liked taking tests.  So please pardon my bias. 

Last week on September 27, 2007 the CIS published the newly-designed civics, geography, US history and government exam.  It goes into effect about a year from now.   

I like it.  You can take the exam at this site.  http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=d1fc9f9934741110VgnVCM1000000ecd190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=d1fc9f9934741110VgnVCM1000000ecd190aRCRD

The exam begs the question:  What does it mean to be an American?  To me, much of it means that we are steeped like a tea bag in the philosophy and beauty of our constitution.  Let’s face it; there is not much homogenous about us in the country other than the fact we adhere to the principles in our constitution.   We don’t all agree on the war, on marriage, on religion, on the environment  . . .  but we agree on this document.  It is sacred. 

An Australian client of mine once told me ”You will never hear an Australian saying, ’It’s against the Constitution! ‘ “

Foreign nationals should have to learn and understand these American principles before they naturalize as US citizens.     I don’t actually care if someone speaks English or not but I do care that naturalized citizens understand at a rudimentary level the main organizational structure of our country.  Not in the name of spreading democracy but in the name of continuing this American experiment we started over two hundred years ago. 

I like a couple of additions to the test:  first, the couple of questions about the Native Americans, slavery and women’s rights.   I encourage more questions in the future about the groups of people who have been historically and are currently disenfranchised from the privileges and rights outlined in the constitution. 

 I also like the questions about the geography of the continental USA.   This land we live on is vast, diverse, rich and gorgeous.    But more than that, our land defines us.  Oh, you are from West Texas?  A New Yorker?  A farm boy from Nebraska?  As a native Minnesotan, I certainly know about being defined by where I live.   While most of our suburbs are the same, the states and cities are not the same across the country, adding to our rich diversity as Americans.

I didn’t know I was so sappy about this country. 

This sappiness probably explains why I get so upset to see the Constitution trampled on by our very own.

Peace,

Elizabeth

How to Destroy a Family

I am finally coming up for a breath after being completed submersed in a case for the last couple of months. 

I have been representing a family with four young children, all of whom have been detained by immigration for over two months.   Yes, this family broke our immigration laws by trying to sneak across the border into the United States.  This is bad.  But how should we treat this family once they are here?

This is a situation where humanitarian factors collide directly into the punitive aspects of the law.       

As I mentioned in a earlier post, the immigration system locked up the entire family, even the youngest child.  Most of them were locked up at the Hutto Detention Center in Texas, which has been sued by the ACLU in the past few months for its treatment and detention of children.   The father and oldest child were locked up in another jail over one thousand miles away.  The family was only allowed to speak to each other on the phone perhaps five times in the 2 1/2 months of detention. 

Last week the immigration system finally released the kids.  Two of them have fallen into a clinical depression and were no longer able to sleep, suffering from panic attacks and other forms of anxiety.  Fortunately (or unfortunately perhaps) the physicians of the detention centers placed both of them on medication. 

Hutto settled the ACLU lawsuit on August 27, 2007.  http://www.aclu.org/immigrants/detention/31469prs20070827.html  under the settlement, Hutto agreed to make signficant changes in the treatment of the detained children.    For instance, children would be provided five hours of school instead of only one hour per day.  Children would have privacy curtains around their toilets.  Children no longer have to wear prison uniforms.  Guards are no longer allowed to discipline children by threatening to separate them from their parents.   I highly suggest you review the link attached to learn more about this groundbreaking lawsuit. 

I have witnessed this entire family be traumatized as a result of their detention.  Certainly there is a better way to punish the law breakers than by traumatizing their children in this manner.  

Encourage Congress to ban the family detention center. 

Peace,

Elizabeth

    

Immigrants Affected in Bridge Collapse

As I listen to the news reports the past couple of days on the devastating bridge collapse in Minneapolis on August 1, 2007, I hear the interviews of people with our regional traditional ethnic names and Minnesooota accents which were highlighted in the Coen brother’s file ”Fargo.” 

But I also see that this distinct makeup of Minneapolis is changing because of recent immigration.

As of this morning, five people have been confirmed dead as a result of the bridge collapse and eight people are still missing.  Little is known about these people so far.

One of the five decedants was Artemio Trinidad-Mena, who left behind his wife and their three young children, including a two-month old daughter, Lorena.  Mexican.  http://www.startribune.com/10001/gallery/683254.html

Two of the missing people have been identified as young mother Saida Adan and toddler, Hana Mohamed.  Somali.  http://www.startribune.com/10204/story/1341901-a1341535-t3.html

One of the local heroes from the incident is a Jeremy Hernandez, a 20-year-old gym coordinator for a group of students from a summer youth camp that was on a school bus on the bridge.   When the bus came to a tittering stop on the edge of the bridge, he managed to open the back door of the bus, kicked out some coolers and began helping children off, despite continued shaking of the bridge.   Mexican American? 

We all bleed the same.  We all have the same hearts. 

Peace,

Elizabeth

 http://www.startribune.com/

Ah, Such is Life

On Sunday morning I received a phone message from a former neighbor of mine during law school.  I hadn’t talked to him in about thirteen years. 

 He called to inform me that his sister Gabriela, my dear friend, had passed away suddenly at the age of 48.  Her heart failed her while she was sleeping. 

Gabriela was a woman of incredible spirit and I am very saddened to lose her in my life.    She embodied the true immigrant spirit which makes this country great.

Gabriela grew up in Romania into a family of dark glossy hair and brown intelligent eyes.   She lived her twenties and early thirties during the twenty-four year regime of Nicolae Ceausescu, along with his wife, was shot for crimes against the state of Romania in 1989.    One of the crimes was genocide.  

I never once heard Gabriela complain or whine.  Oh, she would tell stories of her struggles but she would always end such stories with the phrase “Ah, such is life.”   And then her sunny laughter would follow. 

Gabriela was a hard worker.  For one of her first jobs in the United States, she worked twenty four hours  day, seven days a week taking care of disabled people in a private home.  She worked on a factory floor, she worked in hotels and she worked in food service in a hospital.  All demanding positions. 

Gabriela was family oriented.  She tenderly cared for her mother for the past thirteen years, filling out applications, shopping, bringing to the doctor, etc.  

Gabriela was an entrepreneur.  In addition to her regular full time job, she imported and sold wine from Romania.  Without legal assistance, she obtained the necessary licensing for the importation, sale, labeling, storage, etc of her wine.  Being a solo wine seller takes a great amount of capital and key relationships which she doggedly pursued far beyond the point I would have as a lazy American.    I was proud to sit down and share a glass of her wine with her. 

Gabriela was tender, funny, persistent, warm, intelligent, ironic . . . and so many other good qualities. 

And she is gone.  Ah, such is life. 

Peace,

Elizabeth 

Family Detention Centers

Did you know that the immigration service detains young children? 

I attended a liaison meeting with ICE personnel in DC last March and one of them proudly informed us that no longer would having family in the United States be an effective strategy against detention because ICE could now detain the whole family.    When he said this, the whole room of immigration lawyers — who are hardened already – felt a collective weight fall on their shoulders.   I could only hear a heavy silence from the crowd — and it wasn’t golden.  

Over three months later I have my first family in detention and it isn’t pretty.  I haven’t been able to sleep well at night since they were detained, and I have never even met these kiddos. 

This traditional nuclear family has been separated into two detention facilities over 1000 miles from each other.  They have not been provided phone access to each other in over two weeks.  The young children have all caught fungus infections which are spreading from their feet up their bodies.    And that is all I know.   

I spoke to an ICE officer today about this and he was  . . . ashamed and frustrated at his lack of control over this matter.

There are two family detention centers in the US, one in New York and the other in Texas.  The ACLU has filed a lawsuit against the Hutto detention facility in Texas for its prison-like conditions imposed upon children.    http://www.aclu.org/immigrants/detention/hutto.html   I have heard that the barbed wire around the facility may have been removed since the lawsuit was filed but this may only be a rumour. 

Peace.

Elizabeth M. Streefland 

Senate Immigration Bill Fails

Last night the Senate adjourned after having a disagreement over a large amendment to the immigration bill.  This morning the Senate took a cloture vote to determine if the Senate should continue or end debate/work on the immigration bill.  This means that 60 votes would be needed to conclude to final passage of the bill.  Less than 60 votes would mean that the Senate immigration bill is dead for the near future. 

 This morning the senate failed to get 60 votes to move the immigration bill towards passage.  The immigration debate in the Senate is over.  Majority leader Reid had to pull the bill from the floor.

 The Senate will adjourn today for the July 4th holiday.

This bill was highly problematic from the beginning and many of the amendments coming in were even more so.  Yet I don’t feel cheerful that the bill died because it leaves us with a status quo which is flawed and it proves to me that immigrants are at the heart of the political divide in this country. 

Yet how can a people be at the heart of the political divide?   Surely we teach our children that all human beings are equal.  Surely we teach our children to value the family.  Surely we are a generous nation towards those in need.  Surely we have room in this country for more hard-working people.  Surely we are proud of our own ancestor’s struggles to make it in this country.  Surely we are proud that many of the brightest minds and hardest workers chose to make the US their home. 

We forget all of these good qualities, though, when we are fearful of something. 

I just can’t understand what we are afraid of as a nation.  Yes, we may be losing our competitive edge.   Yes, many people are earning less than their parents earned and far too many American children are growing up in poverty.  Yes, we harmed our reputation in the global community through our government’s use of torture, indefinite detentions in Guantanamo and elsewhere, through the war, through the destruction of the environment, through our personal overspending, and so on. 

But was this caused by immigrants? 

Americans are a lucky people.  We have it good.  We ought to have the ability to make good laws as well. 

Peace,

Elizabeth 

   

The Senate Takes up the Immigration Bill Again Today

Yesterday the Senate voted 63-45 to resume work on Senate Bill 1639, known as the Grand Compromise Bill. 

The fast and furious round of amendments starts as early as this morning.   So far there are approximately 27 amendments to be presented, debated and voted on. 

 I disagree with the vast majority of this bill and the majority of these amendments.    I favor reform which promotes due process, family reunification, family values, security, return of judicial review, increased number of employment and family-based visas, etc.  This is not what is happening in the senate. 

For example, Senator Coleman from my beloved Minnesota has proposed an amendment which was struck down by one vote a few weeks ago.  Ever determined, Coleman is bringing it up again — despite the fact that the executive director of the police chief’s association in Minnesota, the police chiefs of Minnesota’s two larges cities, and the mayors of Minnesota’s two largest cities have publicly expressed their opposition to this amendment. 

Coleman’s amendment wants to outlaw local/county and state governments from passing laws prohibiting employees from inquiring about immigration status before providing services.  The police chiefs — who have been working hard to building trust in the communities of color around the country — believe this prohibition is a tool which allows immigrants to begin to trust the police.    How about teachers reporting students to the government?  Health Care workers?  Social workers?  Driver license clerks? The fire departments?    How does this make any sense on a local level?  Senator Coleman, as a former Mayor of St Paul, should know this. 

Another example is the Senator Thune amendment.   Part of the grand compromise of this immigration bill is that the large pool of undocumented workers get the opportunity to get in line to legalize, although they have to go through some enormous hurdles to do so.  Before they can legalize, though, they get a chance to qualify for a temporary Z visa so they can come out of the shadows.  Thune proposes to bar the benefits of this Z visa, such as work authorization, until certain triggers are met such as security checks among others.  I know from experience that our government can take up to four years to conduct a security check.  So this amendment will not encourage people to come from out of the shadows to legalize and it will dampen our efforts to enhance our security through identifying and screening the pool of undocumented.

 I could go on and on.  The next few days will be interesting. 

Peace,

Elizabeth M. Streefland

Reid Pulls Immigration Bill from Senate Floor

So it is over for now.   

After much political fighting and maneuvering in the Senate, Senator Reid pulled the immigration bill from the Senate yesterday.   You can read some of the details here:  http://www.startribune.com/587/story/1233739.html  Both the minority and the majority in the Senate have committed to working on this issue again in the near future.

The past few weeks have been amazing to be a part of – much worse than I imagine sausage making to be. 

You can learn how your Senator voted on certain amendments through this site.  http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/vote_menu_110_1.htm

Now it up to the House to move forward on Immigration Bill.

Peace,

Elizabeth M. Streefland