Claudia Grégoire Law Blog

According to R.I. Lawyer's Weekly, a Rhode Island man initially accused
of abusing and assaulting the 6-year-old son of his girlfriend, is now
facing a murder charge. The child was pronounced dead at Hasbro
hospital soon after police found him unconscious in Cranston.
Prosecutors announced the enhanced charge at Mr. Michael Patino's
arraignment in District Court in Warwick Rhode Island. Patino entered
no plea. Source: R.I. Lawyer's Weekly Octo. 19, 2009. Read More

R.I. Lawyer's Weekly reports that the Government has moved to dismiss
itself from the case brought by the mother of Mr. Hui Lui Ng, who died
after being allegedly abused and denied medical care at the Wyatt
Detention Facility. To support their motion to dismiss, the Government
claims that the people who may be responsible for Mr. Ng's death were
contractors and therefore not Government employees. Since Mr. Ng's
death, U.S. Immigration and Customs... Read More

An immigration
judge is permitted under statute to review and modify conditions of
release imposed by Department of Homeland Security (DHS), according to
the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). In Matter of Garcia-Garcia,
25 I&N Dec. 93 (BIA 2009) Interim Decision #3657 (AILA InfoNet Doc.
No. 09101561). The BIA said that regulations gave the Immigration Judge
jurisdiction to review appeals of the conditions of release placed by
DHS. So where in... Read More

In a recent First Circuit case where immigration lawyers sought to overturn the Board of Immigration Appeals' (BIA) denial of the asylum claim of a Chinese couple, the appeal was denied.  The First Circuit ruled on the petitioners' requests for asylum, withholding of removal and protection under the Convention Against Torture that the BIA acted permissibly in finding not credible that the Chinese government had persecuted the wife by forcing her to undergo an abortion in 1991 and the... Read More

The Providence Journal reports that 10 more people will join the Institute
for the Study & Practice of Nonviolence in Providence RI.  These
workers mostly have criminal pasts and will be assigned to persuade
Rhode Island youths to avoid a life of crime.... Read More

American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) reports that the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is now offering a social
networking website called Our Border
that allows for an open dialogue with many groups of people interested
in Southwest border issues. The website allows for conversation with
groups such as Comprehensive Immigration Reform, USCIS, CBP, and ICE.
Source: AILA InfoNet.... Read More

Customs and Border Protection prevented 23 Mexican nationals from
entering the United States as the agency reported in a press release.
The people had arrived near the San Diego coastline (close to Carlsbad
CA) by boat when they were spotted by CBP and intercepted. Source: AILA
InfoNet.

www.georgejwestlaw.com... Read More

A temporary worker visa pilot exit program affecting H-2A and H-2B
visa-holders will be delayed according to Customs and Border Protection
and AILA InfoNet. The program would require these visa-holders who
enter at either San Luis or Douglas Arizona to depart from the same
port of entry and to submit biometrics and biographical information.
Source: AILA InfoNet.

www.georgejwestlaw.com... Read More

In a recent article, the Providence Journal reports an interesting (and disturbing) aspect of RI criminal legal system.  The article describes the trajectory of a man out on probation, who was found to be in violation of its terms when arrested for a robbery he said he did not commit.  Under the low standard "reasonably satisfied" (much lower than the... Read More

Professors and academics writing in an open letter believe that indoor prostitution should not be banned as R.I. state legislators have proposed because it is less likely that "sex workers" who operate behind closed doors are abused physically or use drugs.  Apparently, research shows that indoor prostitutes are older on the whole and less likely to be assaulted or raped, as compared with outdoor counterparts.  R.I. legislators who sponsored the bill seemed unswayed by... Read More