Last summer I cheered when Padilla v. Kentucky was announced.

As a green card lawyer, I thought the Supreme Court had provided immigrants with a new weapon against unfair deportations.

Over the past 14 years, far too many lawful permanent residents have plead guilty to criminal charges without knowing the convictions would lead to automatic deportation from the U.S.

Immigrants need a Dirty Harry.

From coast to coast, ICE officials act as if they are above the law.

Although the goal of the “Secure Communities” program is to remove immigrants who have been convicted of certain serious criminal offenses, many immigrants with no convictions or only low level offenses, like traffic citations, have been targeted by less-than-compassionate ICE agents.

Stories of ICE’s callous approach to law enforcement, at times, resemble robotic seek and destroy immigrant family missions.

As I read news reports about the HALT Act, my thoughts raced to poor Desirée from the 1973 musical, A Little Night Music.

Repeatedly scorned by her sought-after lover, she lamented her misplaced loyalty.

Don’t you love farce?
My fault, I fear.
I thought you’d want what I want . . .
Sorry, my dear!
And where are the clowns?
Send in the clowns

Don’t bother, they’re here.

With the introduction of the HALT Act, the president is probably also wondering if it’s time to send in the clowns.

A few months ago, Illinois Representative Luis Gutierrez announced the “Change Takes Courage” campaign.  The initiative challenged the president to exert leadership on immigration reform.

Sadly, courage and leadership are not traits found in most politicians.  Their modus operandi is reactive in nature.  If they feel a threat to their reelection, they start to adjust in accordance with the public winds of the day.

As a result, since far too many representatives lack the internal fortitude to push for change on their own, the public must externally provide the impetus for them to exercise such courage.

On June 17, 2011, John Morton, Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a new memorandum on prosecutorial discretion.

The memo outlines a new direction for how ICE should handle prosecutions of detained immigrants.

Nice gesture.

I don’t recommend jumping the gun.  It’s questionable whether any real changes will take place.

I’ll believe a new direction exists when I see it in action.  Not just once, twice, or three times.  Rather, I’ll believe a new direction exists when I see a widespread pattern of immigrant friendly discretion being exercised on a more-or-less regular basis.  Not a second before.

Apparently, immigration officials haven’t read recent reports about how to fix our broken immigration system.

Perhaps they just don’t care.

But whatever their rationale, their recently-announced plan to open a new immigration detention center in Southern California is misguided.

Earlier this week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials announced the opening of a new detention center in Southern California.

I have a better idea.  Build an immigration court.  Hire some new judges.  Update  equipment and add support staff.

As a long time practitioner of deportation defense, I know how badly the judiciary is overworked.

And I understand how this undermines the ability of immigrants to defend themselves at immigration court.

Once upon a time, I believed government was the solution.

Whatever the problem, be it poverty, health care, the environment, or immigration reform, it seemed elected officials held the key to change in their hands.

Of course, this was long before I became an immigrant advocate and defense lawyer.

In the years since, I’ve watched candidate after candidate use “change” as part of their campaign themes. Gradually, I started to grow tired of the false promises.

As a San Bernardino immigration attorney, I was disappointed to learn about a local immigration attorney being sent to prison for immigration fraud.