The HMA Law Firm - Immigration & Criminal Defense Lawyers

Call: 703.964.0245

  • Home
  • Our Team
  • Practice
    • Immigration >
      • Employment-Based Immigration >
        • The H-1B Visa
        • Investor and Intracompany Transfers (E & L Visas)
        • PERM Labor Certification >
          • Cross Chargeability
          • EB-5 Green Cards
      • Marriage & Fiancé Visas >
        • Special Service for Servicemen
        • Marriage Interview Questions
        • The I-751 Good Faith Waiver
        • Evidence for Filing an I-751
        • My I-751 Was Denied: Now What?
        • Same-Sex Marriage Immigration Issues
        • New 90 Day Rule
      • General Immigration >
        • Filing a FOIA from USCIS
        • Form G-639: How to Complete
        • Re-Entry Permits
        • TPS >
          • More on TPS
          • SYRIA TPS
          • TPS Yemen
        • U Visas
      • Legal Victories
      • How To Choose The Right Immigration Lawyer
      • Waivers (I-601/I-601A) >
        • Drunk Driving (DUI/DWI) and I-601/I-601A Waivers
      • Citizenship >
        • N-648 Medical Waivers
        • Naturalization Pitfalls
        • The Civics Test for Naturalization
        • Exceptions for English Test
        • Criminal Convictions and Naturalization
      • Mandamus: It's Taking Too Long >
        • Mandamus: What to Think, What to Expect
        • How an Immigration Writ of Mandamus Works
        • Petition for Hearing on Naturalization
      • Deportation Defense >
        • Overview of Removal Proceedings
        • Deportation: Preventive Maintenance
      • Deferred Action (DACA) >
        • To Lawyer Or Not To Lawyer
        • Applying for a Social Security Number
    • Criminal Defense >
      • Traffic Offenses
    • Learn >
      • Immigration In A Nutshell >
        • The Visa Bulletin and Family Immigration
      • Criminal Immigration Law 101 >
        • Know Your Rights
      • Eligibility for Citizenship >
        • Citizenship versus Naturalization
        • Why Become a Citizen?
  • Consult/Pay Fees
  • Testimonials
  • Careers
  • Blawg
  • En Español
    • Accion Ejecutiva
    • El Interdicto Temporal
    • Buscar Detenido
    • Reforma Inmigratoria
    • Papeles Por Los Indocumentados

The HMA Law Firm Blawg

    Question? Contact a lawyer now!

Submit

Protect Due Process

2/1/2017

0 Comments

 
The chaos from the Muslim ban continues to tear at the fabric of our country. It's but one page in a playbook, but I'm quite content to focus on it because I believe victories gained here will pay forward to other battles against the accumulation of power.

In one week the executive branch has disrupted countless lives. I've been inundated with stories of separated families, mental anguish, and magnified uncertainty. I've witnessed the outright defiance of a Court order shrugged off as the mere words of "an outside judge." I've seen legislators turned away, unable to penetrate the faceless fortress this new administration has built. And I've witnessed an assault on due process of law, the enlightened principle that a right cannot be taken away without both sides being given a fair chance to defend.

When "due process!" becomes a rallying cry as we saw at Dulles Airport on Saturday, something is seriously wrong. Due process is something to be zealously guarded, and the time and resources spent guarding it is the best preventive medicine a society can buy.

This administration started with immigration its first week because it's the low hanging fruit. There's not much process due an alien, and they want to take it away.

Expanding expedited removal (no hearing.) Mass visa revocations (no right of appeal.) No access to counsel (even with a court order.) Arbitrary suspension of immigration benefits for those who otherwise did it legally (no way to challenge.) Bans effectively on a religion (insulated by the plenary power doctrine.) Immediate blacklisting of entire countries (no notice.) It's all easy within our immigration laws, which are hard to follow, but very easy to break.

And then perpetuating the story of the dangerous and untrustworthy immigrant, rallying popular support behind the ban by doing things like reporting alien crime (but only alien crime) *weekly* and calling it "transparency."

We need borders to be crossed in an organized manner. A country is defined not by its borders as Mr. Trump suggests, but by the people inside it. And those people need to move to keep goods, services, and ideas flowing.

Shutting the door, then, as if to a snake oil salesman, inherently means one does not value those other ideas, that one's native ideas are the only ones needed.

They're not. We need fresh ideas and the grit and determination that frequently comes with them.

Be vigilant in ensuring destructive ideas don't make it in. But be equally vigilant to make sure they don't grow inside the house, either.

And assaulting due process is a very, very destructive idea.

Hassan Ahmad spent the weekend at Washington-Dulles International Airport after the Muslim ban executive order was signed last Friday, volunteering with dozens of other lawyers to fight for the rights of affected foreign nationals. Follow him at @HMAesq. 
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    DISCLAIMER: If a blog post you read here contains case results, be advised that case results depend upon a variety of factors unique to each case. Case results do not guarantee or predict a similar result in any future case.

    Authors

    Sharifa Abbasi, Esq.
    Hassan M. Ahmad, Esq.
    Humza Kazmi, Esq.
    Faisal Khan
    ​Valeria Prudencio
    Carly Stadum-Liang, Esq.

    Archives

    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    May 2014
    April 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    April 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    August 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    July 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010

    Categories

    All
    Appellate
    Asylum
    CBP
    Citizenship
    Constitutional Rights
    Criminal
    DACA
    Deportation
    Family
    Framing
    General
    H 1B
    H-1B
    Hma Law Firm
    Immigration
    Immigration Policy
    Immigration Reform
    International
    Interns
    Muslim Ban
    National Security
    Politics
    Removal
    Syria
    Tanton FOIA Lawsuit
    Trump
    Waivers

    RSS Feed

Quick Links

  • Our Team
  • Practice Areas
  • Executive Action
  • Consult

Contact Info

8133 Leesburg Pike, Ste 801
Vienna VA 22182

Tel:  703.964.0245

Fax: 703.997.8556
Email: info@hmalegal.com

Subscribe to the HMA LawFeed

Picture

​Pay Fees Here

Book you consult online by clicking on this link now!

©2009 - 2021 by Hassan M. Ahmad. All rights reserved. No portion of this website may be copied or reproduced for any purpose without express written permission.

Photos used under Creative Commons from Beshroffline, Thorne Enterprises, alex-s, swanksalot, 401(K) 2012, hyku, Gage Skidmore, Gage Skidmore, michaeln3, Antony J Shepherd, Korean Resource Center 민족학교, Don Fulano, lewebafricain, Images_of_Money, Lord Jim, Kevinth Nunez, Joe Crimmings Photography, Cohen.Canada, Thane Eichenauer, Gage Skidmore, CGP Grey, digitalshay, anokarina, Debbie Ramone, slightly everything, loop_oh, aaron_anderer, U.S. Marshals Service, tsuacctnt, Andrew Feinberg, Official U.S. Navy Imagery, Soggydan, Keith Bacongco, photosteve101, Emery Co Photo, futureatlas.com, david_terrar, weiss_paarz_photos, juanktru, Anh Le Tran's Photogphy, Amanda M Hatfield, IcronticPrime, Fibonacci Blue, blvesboy, Carl Montgomery, zappowbang, khawkins04, kennethkonica, opensourceway, Supernico26, mynameisharsha, JBrazito, Glyn Lowe Photoworks, Justin A. Wilcox, Wesley Fryer, MAClarke21, khalid Albaih, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff