Virtual Office Attorney

The New York Times has featured an article about a video game based on the life and death of a Guinean tailor held in a New Jersey jail for overstaying his visa.

Mr. Boubacar Bah was injured and left in an isolation cell without treatment for more than 13 hours. After four months in a coma, Mr. Bah died in May 2007, despite emergency brain surgery.

The video was created by an international human rights organization trying to get public support in the area of immigration detention.

More information and the link here: Detainee’s Death Inspires a Video Game - NYTimes.com.

Effective October 1, 2008 if you want a Texas drivers license or ID (original, renewal, or duplicate) you will have to prove you are a citizen, a legal permanent resident alien or in some other lawful immigrant status. 

See the new rules here  Texas Department of Public Safety - New Texas Driving Laws.

For the advocates of comprehensive immigration reform (CIR), the Phoenix Business Journal features an article about MATT (Mexican and Americans Thinking Together). MATT's mission: To encourage Mexicans and Americans to come together to bridge the gaps in understanding and quality of life so that we may truly prosper together.

See the link to the article here:

Link: Immigration reform hopes pinned on new administration, Congress - Phoenix Business Journal:.

After Hurricane Ike, new United citizens are ready to vote on November 4th according to the Houston Chronicle. The right to vote is one of the most important rights of U.S. Citizens.

Readers if your are a citizen, early vote or vote on Tuesday, November 4th.

Link: Undeterred by Ike, newest U.S. citizens ready to cast ballots | Politics | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle.

In this NYTimes briefing, relatives of a now deceased detainee can now sue the United States government for lack of a meaningful medical exam while he was in custody. 

This one makes me gasp --- Cancer can be a serious disease to battle, even harder without medical intervention.  I'd like to think if I was incarcerated that I could have a proper medical examination so that I could avoid body parts from being amputated. 

Anyone have any feedback on having your penis amputated because you have no access to proper care?  What about if your husband, brother, or son had been in this situation?  Would it change your opinion? 

See the link here:  National Briefing - West - California - Suit in Detainee’s Death - NYTimes.com.

Here's a recent editorial from the NYTimes.com regarding recent legislation in Congress for green cards.  Read the following link and if you agree that legislation like this for legal immigration should be approved, email, call, write your senator or congressperson to support it.  Link: Editorial - Legal Immigration? Anybody? - NYTimes.com.

According the the Pew Hispanic Center -- Fewer people are coming to the US illegally.  This is may be to increased enforcement by ICE at workplace and borders.   

The reports says most of the immigrants are from Mexico. 

It is becoming harder to be latino in the USA.  Many said they had been questioned about their immigration status, had trouble finding or keeping a job or finding housing. 

Other consequences: the value of remittances from the United States to Latin America and the Caribbean will decrease for the first time since 2000.

See the link to the article here: Fewer People Entering U.S. Illegally, Report Says - NYTimes.com.

Even highly skilled professionals have problems getting access to the United States.  For those who hold the opinion that ALL immigrants need to go home.....what about medical doctors, dentists or even nurses?  Many parts of the country have shortages of qualified nurses and doctors.  This is especially true in areas like Longview, Texas.

One of my friends is a dentist who has a difficult time recruiting a dentists to the practice.  Many US born and trained physicians, dentists and nurses, prefer working in urban locations. The people in the following link are the kind of immigrants many will need as the baby boomers age.  See Link: Towns Need Doctors, and the Doctors Need Visas - NYTimes.com.