U.S. Electoral Politics: June 2008 Archives

It can be stressful working in a field where my clients, and I by extension, feel constantly under siege from government agencies, the courts, and even members of the public.  So sitting at the opening session of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) annual conference with 3,000 or 4,000 other immigration attorneys yesterday was an empowering experience.  We are fed up!  Both the outgoing 2007 and incoming 2008 AILA presidents took a vocal and rousing stance against the egregious violations of constitutional rights and basic human rights we have seen recently from ICE and the other immigration agencies.

Marshall Fitz, advocacy director for AILA, said what most immigration attorneys have come to realize in recent years, that 9/11 changed the entire immigration landscape. 

(Picture from Flickr)

I hope everyone is having a good weekend.  Hillary Clinton just delivered her concession speech, and I thought I'd throw aside politics for a bit, and acknowledge the barriers she has courageously worked against in her run for the Presidency. 

Since the beginning of the campaign for the Democrat nomination, I tended to see Clinton as the establishment candidate.  But as the inevitability of Obama locking up the nomination grew more and more pronounced, and Clinton fought on, the discrimination she was working against really came into focus for me.  Despite the political connections she had as a Clinton, we all should have stood, and should continue to stand against the horrific sexism she was a victim of.

Most of you have probably already heard that Obama clinched the nomination.  Here's a piece of information you probably weren't familiar with though. 

A global Ipsos poll, commissioned by Al Jazeera, says from a sampling of the most engaged citizens across 22 countries that most (55%) would "like to see Barack Obama as the next President of the United States".