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From: William Chip (e-mail him)
Re: Today's Letter: An Immigration Lawyer Is Appalled At The Idea Of More Immigration Lawyers
I don't get what point letter writer Barrister Bricolage is trying to make.
Even if Peter Brimelow were king, there would be at least some immigrants, and they would need lawyers to navigate the rules.
Once the government has decided the number of immigrants, even if we agree that there are too many, on what basis does one complain about training lawyers to represent them?
Chip has worked in immigration law for many years. His previous letter about how to correctly define an "immigrant" is here.
James Fulford writes: While I see Mr. Chip's point that the profession of advocate is useful, necessary, and sometimes even noble, the modern day immigration bar is part of what we call the Treason Lobby. Defense lawyers don't usually actually approve of crime, or try to make crime legal.
It may seem that, on pure principles of advocacy, a trained immigration lawyer can either prosecute or defend, and a given number of graduates in immigration law might mean additional prosecutors. But that turns out not to be the case. One government whistleblower wrote to Juan Mann that
"[A]fter the reorganization of departments and the consolidation of INS [Immigration and Naturalization Service] into DHS, ICE no longer hires graduating law students, as DOJ entities do.
"My understanding is that, in order to be hired as an attorney for ICE nowadays, one must have several years experience in immigration litigation. And since the only private-sector immigration litigation experience is working for immigration defense, what kind of attorneys will ICE be able to hire?
"It won't be prosecutorial-minded ones."
So, while admitting Chip's basic point, (if a liberal who's been mugged may rethink crime, a conservative who's been indicted may rethink defense lawyers) we do have good reason to complain about an immigration bar whose motto seems to be "It's not over until the alien wins."
