Obama Admin Eases Deportation Rules: Stephen Dinan of The Washington Times reports the Obama administration Friday proposed new rules that would make it easier for illegal immigrants applying for legal status to stay in the U.S. if they have a spouse or parent living here legally, and would be subject to "hardship" if separated. Department of Homeland Security officials said the goal is to reduce the time that illegal immigrants are separated from their families while awaiting a decision on their application for visas. Under a 1996 law, illegal immigrants are barred from coming back to the U.S. for three to ten years, depending on how long they were in the country illegally. In the fiscal year 2011, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services received 23,000 hardship waiver applications and approved about 17,000 of them.
First Conviction in U.S. for Organ Transplant Tourism: International Medical Travel Journal reports New York resident Rabbi Levy Izhak Rosenbaum pleaded guilty to illegally buying kidneys from live Israeli donors, which were transplanted into three New Jersey residents, becoming the first person in the U.S. to be convicted of selling and trafficking human organs. Rosenbaum's sentencing is set for February 2, 2012.
CA Supreme Court Mulls Expanding Window for Clergy Abuse Claims: Lisa Leff of the Associated Press reports the California Supreme Court Thursday heard arguments for a case that could allow adults who only recently connected their psychological problems to the abuse they suffered as children to seek damages. The case involves six brothers in their 40s and 50s who alleged they were molested by an Oakland priest in the 1970s, but didn't link it to their chronic distress until 2006. Irwin Zalkin, the brothers' lawyer, urged the court to resist the temptation to deny his clients because of concerns that it would "open the floodgates" to more clergy abuse lawsuits. The state Supreme Court has 90 days to issue its ruling.
City of Chowchilla to File Legal Challenge Against Prison Conversion: Joshua Emerson Smith of the Merced Sun-Star reports the California city of Chowchilla said Thursday it plans to file a petition for writ of mandate in Madera Superior Court challenging the state prison system's notice of exemption to CEQA in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's attempt to convert the Valley State Prison for Women into a men's prison. The city hopes the legal action will force prison officials to conduct a formal study under the California Environmental Quality Act of the conversion's impact on the city and county. In December, prison officials stated they would not conduct a study of the conversion under CEQA because the conversion would "simply reorganize inmates" and "not affect the physical environment." Locals fear that the families of male inmates will relocate to the area at a higher rate, overwhelming the city's limited resources.
First Conviction in U.S. for Organ Transplant Tourism: International Medical Travel Journal reports New York resident Rabbi Levy Izhak Rosenbaum pleaded guilty to illegally buying kidneys from live Israeli donors, which were transplanted into three New Jersey residents, becoming the first person in the U.S. to be convicted of selling and trafficking human organs. Rosenbaum's sentencing is set for February 2, 2012.
CA Supreme Court Mulls Expanding Window for Clergy Abuse Claims: Lisa Leff of the Associated Press reports the California Supreme Court Thursday heard arguments for a case that could allow adults who only recently connected their psychological problems to the abuse they suffered as children to seek damages. The case involves six brothers in their 40s and 50s who alleged they were molested by an Oakland priest in the 1970s, but didn't link it to their chronic distress until 2006. Irwin Zalkin, the brothers' lawyer, urged the court to resist the temptation to deny his clients because of concerns that it would "open the floodgates" to more clergy abuse lawsuits. The state Supreme Court has 90 days to issue its ruling.
City of Chowchilla to File Legal Challenge Against Prison Conversion: Joshua Emerson Smith of the Merced Sun-Star reports the California city of Chowchilla said Thursday it plans to file a petition for writ of mandate in Madera Superior Court challenging the state prison system's notice of exemption to CEQA in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's attempt to convert the Valley State Prison for Women into a men's prison. The city hopes the legal action will force prison officials to conduct a formal study under the California Environmental Quality Act of the conversion's impact on the city and county. In December, prison officials stated they would not conduct a study of the conversion under CEQA because the conversion would "simply reorganize inmates" and "not affect the physical environment." Locals fear that the families of male inmates will relocate to the area at a higher rate, overwhelming the city's limited resources.
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