Hello Professor Birdsong’s blog readers.  There will be few blogs posts this summer because I will be teaching in Spain and then traveling through Europe. On today, Monday, May 30, I begin teaching a course in Comparative Immigration Law in the St. Thomas Law School and Barry Law School joint program held each summer in El Escorial, Spain. El Escorial is 40 miles northwest of Madrid. Look for new postings  on my return home starting in August, 2011. In the meantime you can purchase my book “Professor Birdsong’s Zany But All True Criminal Law Stories.”  You can find it on Amazon.com in soft cover or as an e-book.

Amrita Lamba is one of Professor Birdsong’s favorite students.  She graduated from Barry Law with her J.D. degree last Saturday.  Before her graduation she did a directed research project under my supervision.   Her research resulted in a  well written and informative article about the Padilla v. Kentucky case recently decided by the U.S. Supreme Court and how it may change the immigrant’s world. Ms. Lamba has given me permission to share her article with the world.

Read it and learn.

MR. PADILLA CHANGES THE IMMIGRANT’S WORLD 

How Criminal Convictions Are Impacting Immigration Cases and Ineffective Assistance of Counsel Claims

 by: Amrita K. Lamba

MR. PADILLA CHANGES THE IMMIGRANT’S WORLD

HOW CRIMINAL CONVICTIONS ARE IMPACTING IMMIGRATION CASES AND INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL CLAIMS

I.      Introduction

There are over 12.8 million legal permanent residents in the United States.[1]  Their backgrounds, cultures, physical characteristics, and country of origins may all vary, but they come to American to establish their home and roots in the community.[2]  They contribute to the general economy “…as members of the workforce or as small business owners, raise families, and join the military…”[3]  Just like citizens of the United States, sometimes immigrants can “…run afoul of the law.”[4]  However, when they face the criminal justice system they are subject to more disadvantages than citizens because of cultural differences and language barriers.[5]  This “problem [has] compounded…under current immigration law[s because], convictions of many types of relatively minor crimes result in mandatory detention and deportation.”[6]

Dallas, TX: Nathan Pugh walked into a a Dallas bank and demanded money from a teller, police report.  The teller said she could not comply unless he showed her two forms of identification.  He complied with the request.  he was arrested a short time later.

IDIOT!

Virginia: Officials at Hickory Middle School in Virginia suspended a student after he was caught with a bag of dried oregano in his possession.  The school declared it an “imitation controlled substance” because it resembled marijuana. It seems unfair, but it did not help that the student’s name was Adam Grass.

These zero tolerance rules have become beyond silly!  An “imitation controlled substance

Kazakhstan: Traffic police in the central Asian country of Kazakhstan say that the latest craze among  young male drivers is replacing their license plates with signs

Florida: A man loves his incarcerated girlfriend so much he shoplifted two bras for her as a gift, police report.  Now Johnnie Brown,29, is behind bars as his girlfriend prepares to get out of jail in a few days.  After Brown was nabbed at WalMart he allegedly told police, “She has done so much for me… I felt I had to support her.”

Gobles, MI: Here’s a story about trying to save money  on gasoline by buying it wholesale and storing it at home. Not a good idea.  A man admitted storing gasoline in fuel drums in the basement of his Michigan home. in anticipation of higher gas prices.  Sadly enough, something sparked a home fire, and the fuel drums exploded, as was the man’s house.  We learn no one was hurt in the explosion and fire.

The workings of a mental midget!

Los Flores, CA: We learn that Omar Khan, a California student who has watched  the movie “Ferris Bueler’s Day Off” 5,405 time has been sentenced for emulating his hero.  Khan was charged with breaking into his high school and hacking its computer in order to bolster his grades.  he was sentenced to 200 hours of community service and three years’ probation.

I am sure he believes it was worth it.

San Diego, CA: The headline  in the New York Post read, “She was on a bluff in the buff.” The story recounted the fact that police in San Diego had to rescue a naked