Founded in the fall of 2001, our Committee has been active and at the forefront of some important immigration law developments. We participated in the drafting, and later co-sponsored, the ABA Standards for the Custody, Placement and Care; Legal Representation; and Adjudication of Unaccompanied Alien Children in the United States, which were adopted by the ABA in August 2004. We are presently busy with considering possible responses to the Real ID legislation, particularly the weakening of judicial review and habeas standards contained in that legislation.

We could certainly use your help! We have four busy sub-committees, devoted to Membership, Newsletter, Website/Technology and Programs, with numerous opportunities to get involved should you so desire. We’d also welcome your comments on our first Newsletter, and your thoughts about what else the Section of Litigation and the Immigration Litigation Committee can do for you.

Effective January 1, 2008, all Arizona employers must participate in the federal government’s electronic employment verification program known as E-Verify, which was formerly known as Basic Pilot. While this program is voluntary nationally, a federal judge last week upheld an Arizona law which requires its mandatory use and which also provides for monetary penalties and worse, loss of state issued business licenses.