"The Voice of the New Due Process Army" ————– Musings on Events in U.S. Immigration Court, Immigration Law, Sports, Music, Politics, and Other Random Topics by Retired United States Immigration Judge (Arlington, Virginia) and former Chairman of the Board of Immigration Appeals PAUL WICKHAM SCHMIDT and DR. ALICIA TRICHE, expert brief writer, practical scholar, emeritus Editor-in-Chief of The Green Card (FBA), and 2022 Federal Bar Association Immigration Section Lawyer of the Year. She is a/k/a “Delta Ondine,” a blues-based alt-rock singer-songwriter, who performs regularly in Memphis, where she hosts her own Blues Brunch series, and will soon be recording her first full, professional album. Stay tuned! 🎶 To see our complete professional bios, just click on the link below.
Pete Dougherty reports for the Green Bay Press Gazette:
The quarterback who guided the Green Bay Packers to five NFL championships and was as popular as any figure in franchise history has died.
Bart Starr, who served as the extension of coach Vince Lombardi on the field during the Packers’ glory days of the 1960s, has died, his family said Sunday in a statement. He was 85.
Starr’s health had been in decline since he suffered a mini-stroke while giving a speech in Madison in 2012. After suffering another stroke, a heart attack and multiple seizures in 2014, he underwent stem cell treatments in 2015 and ’16 and rebounded to some degree.
“We are saddened to note the passing of our husband, father, grandfather, and friend, Bart Starr,” the family statement said. “He battled with courage and determination to transcend the serious stroke he suffered in September 2014, but his most recent illness was too much to overcome.
“While he may always be best known for his success as the Packers quarterback for 16 years, his true legacy will always be the respectful manner in which he treated every person he met, his humble demeanor, and his generous spirit.
“Our family wishes to thank the thousands of friends and fans who have enriched his life – and therefore our lives – for so many decades and especially during the past five years. Each letter, text, phone call, and personal visit inspired him and filled him with joy.
“His love for all of humanity is well known, and his affection toward the residents of Alabama and of Wisconsin filled him with gratitude. He had hoped to make one last trip to Green Bay to watch the Packers this fall, but he shall forever be there in spirit.”
Starr’s place in Packers lore is cemented by his role in Lombardi’s 1960s Packers dynasty, which remains the most successful seven-year stretch in NFL history with five titles, including wins in the first two Super Bowls.
“The Packers Family was saddened today to learn of the passing of Bart Starr,” Packers President/CEO Mark Murphy said in a statement. “A champion on and off the field, Bart epitomized class and was beloved by generations of Packers fans. A clutch player who led his team to five NFL titles, Bart could still fill Lambeau Field with electricity decades later during his many visits. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Cherry and the entire Starr family.”
He is most famous for leading the legendary drive and scoring the touchdown on the iconic play in Packers history, the quarterback sneak against Dallas that won the Ice Bowl in 1967.
The Ice Bowl drive and sneak were the culmination of the Lombardi-era Packers’ will to win, toughness and discipline that Starr embodied as quarterback of those teams.
Former Green Bay Packers quarterback Bart Starr donated his Super Bowl II championship ring and other items to the Hall of Fame during, what his family says, was his last trip to Green Bay on Oct. 23, 2017. Sarah Kloepping/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin
“That’s the sign of a champion,” Cowboys tackle Ralph Neely told the Green Bay Press-Gazette after the Ice Bowl. “They needed a score, and Starr got it for them.”
Starr’s jersey No. 15 is one of only six numbers retired in Packers history.
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Go to the link for the complete article with more pictures and videos of Starr’s fabled career.
Growing up in Milwaukee, I was fortunate to see Starr and the Lombardi-era Pack play “live” on several occasions. In those days, unlike now, the Packers played three “home” games at Milwaukee County Stadium. While we didn’t have season tickets, my parents had a few friends who did, so occasionally two tickets would come our way.
While Starr’s most famous play was the successful quarterback sneak against the Cowboys in the “Ice Bowl,” he was also noted for crossing up defenses on third down plays. I remember sitting with my Dad, feet freezing, at County Stadium for a late season game between the Pack and the Cleveland Browns, who at that time had “all world” running back Jim Brown and a stout defense.
The Pack had a third and one in their own territory in tight game. In those days, most offenses were focused on running, rather than the wide-open pass-oriented game of today. That was particularly true of the Pack under Lombardi. “Grind it out” and punish your opponents with tough physical play was more or less the “Lombardi culture.” With future Hall of Fame running backs Jimmy Taylor and Paul Hornung, and one of the premier offensive lines ever, everyone in the stadium, including the Browns, expected a run up the middle or maybe one of the famous “Packer Sweeps” with “pulling guards” leading the way for Taylor or Hornung.
Starr changed the play at the line. On the a snap, he took three streps back and hit his receiver (probably Boyd Dowler, but perhaps Max McGee) with a strike resulting in an untouched trip down the field into the end zone. Classic Starr! It changed the momentum of the game, allowing the Pack eventually to prevail.
I think Starr’s relationship with the legendary Vince Lombardi was the key to Packer success. While Lombardi was undoubtedly a coaching “genius,” he also was a “larger than life figure” who “sucked the air” out of any room he was in. Additionally, he was known for being rather frank and brutal in assessing failures to perform up to his high expectations.
I doubt that most of today’s “top tier” quarterbacks could have existed in Lombardi’s system. And, without somebody like Starr, who understood the “big picture” of what Lombardi was doing, and always delivered under pressure, I don’t think Lombardi and the Pack could have reached the heights of football dominance in the 1960’s as they did.
R.I.P Bart! Thanks for the memories, the excitement, and the inspiration of a life well-lived.
NFL superstar Aaron Rodgers just waded into Trump’s LeBron feud with powerful statement
On Monday, the superstar quarterback of the Green Bay Packers weighed in on President Trump’s burgeoning feud with NBA legend LeBron James in a new interview with NFL.com’s Mike Silver, sharing a telling statement that clearly shows how he feels about Trump’s attacks on his fellow NFL players and on black athletes in general.
“I think that the more that we give credence to stuff like that, the more it’s gonna live on. I think if we can learn to ignore or not respond to stuff like that — if we can — it takes away the power of statements like that” said Rodgers, imploring the nation and the media to stop obsessing over the president’s tweets and cut off the stream of attention that our narcissistic president hungers for.
Rodgers applauded James’ “absolutely beautiful” decision to stand strong and not respond to Trump’s childish insults but instead sticking to what really matters — the opening of his I Promise school in Ohio and all the underprivileged children whose lives he will transform with his generosity.
“At a time where he’s putting on display his school, which is changing lives, there’s no need. Because you’re just giving attention to that (tweet); that’s what they want. So just don’t respond.”
When asked if he was considering sending out a tweet or statement in support of LeBron, Rodgers announced he stood in solidarity with the King but noted that “LeBron needs no help. He has stood on his own two feet for years, and he has done some incredible things, and he needs no support. He knows he has the support of his contemporaries, in his own sport and in other sports, and he’s gonna be fine.”
The president’s war on black athletes took a new turn last week when he insulted and demeaned NBA superstar LeBron James in a vicious Twitter attack, insulting both James and CNN host Don Lemon by questioning their intelligence in response to their critical discussion of Trump’s constant demonization of NFL players.
Trump’s judicious use of feuds with black athletes is a double-win for him, distracting the media from his interminable legal issues and advancing his white nationalist agenda at the same time. We should all take Rodgers’ advice to heart and stop playing into this would-be tyrant’s hands every time he hits the “send” button.
According to today’s Green Bay Press Gazette, the “Leader of the Pack” was considerably less mellow about the performance level of some of his young wide receivers during yesterday’s practice:
“It was one of the worst card sessions we’ve had,” Rodgers said. “I don’t know how you can make it any simpler. You literally have what the play would be in our terminology on the card, and the effort level was very low. Especially with what I’m accustomed to. I’ve been running that period for a number of years.
“So it’s not a good start for us on the card period for the young guys.”
Rodgers then drew a line in the sand. He made clear which young receivers have earned his favor: Geronimo Allison, DeAngelo Yancey and Jake Kumerow.
“Everybody else,” Rodgers said, “was kind of piss poor.”
Melissa Siegler reports in the Green Bay Press Gazette:
“WISCONSIN RAPIDS – Katrina Jabbi’s daughters keep asking for their daddy.
Her husband, Buba Jabbi, 41, on Feb. 15 was detained by immigration officials when he voluntarily reported at an annual check-in. He has since then been held in federal detention, and Katrina has been notified by U.S. government officials that on Tuesday he will be deported to The Gambia — a West African country he hasn’t called home for more than 20 years.
“I don’t want my kids to feel like their father abandoned them,” she said. “They’re asking and crying for daddy every single day.”
Katrina Jabbi is a Wisconsin Rapids native. She met Buba on a Greyhound bus in 2009, she said, and fell in love with him for his kind, loving spirit. They got married in 2013 and have two daughters, Nalia, 5, and Aisha, 1. Katrina said she works part-time from home; her husband had been working as a truck driver.
The couple moved back to Wisconsin Rapids in 2016 to be closer to Katrina’s family. They are expecting their third child in October.
Buba Jabbi appears to be part of efforts by the Trump administration to increase strict enforcement of immigration laws. He has not been charged with a crime in Wisconsin and his detention was not the result of an arrest.
According to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement data, the U.S. is stopping fewer people crossing the border illegally but deporting more who already were in the country without legal documentation. According to the data, ICE removed more that 81,000 illegal immigrants in 2017. Of those, 61,000 occurred after Jan. 20 of last year, which was an increase of 37 percent over the same time period in 2016.
The New Sanctuary Movement of Milwaukee, organized by immigration advocacy group Voces de la Frontera, has also seen an increase in the number of people being detained, according to the movement’s coordinator, Shana Harvey.
Buba Jabbi came to the United States in 1995 on a temporary travel visa to attend the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, according to Katrina. She said she wasn’t sure about the amount of time his visa allowed him to remain in the country, but that he overstayed the visa. When he tried to change his status, the paperwork he filed was incorrect and he was moved into removal proceedings, where he remained for several years, she said.
“He kind of got stuck in a system,” Katrina Jabbi said. “It was hard for him to move out of that.”
However, Buba Jabbi was considered “undeportable” because his country would not provide travel documents on his behalf, she said. Instead, he was given orders of supervision, requiring him to report to immigration once a year and obtain work authorization, which, according to Katrina Jabbi, he has done for the last 10 years.
Buba was at his annual appointment Feb. 15 in Milwaukee with immigration officials when he was detained and told he would be deported, according to Katrina.
His attorney filed a stay of removal on Buba’s behalf. According to ICE Public Affairs Officer Nicole Alberico, a stay of removal can be granted for up to one year and is meant to give the deportee time to get their affairs in order.
Alberico declined to speak about the details of Buba Jabbi’s case.
Katrina said she will continue to fight for her husband by filing a 601 Waiver, which argues that the Jabbi family would endure extreme hardship as a result of Buba’s deportation.
Katrina, who first shared her family’s story on a GoFundMe page, said she finds comfort in knowing that Buba will be with his family in The Gambia, including his parents, whom he hasn’t seen since coming to the U.S.
“I really appreciate everyone’s support and kindness,” she said. “It’s humbling to know so many people are supportive of our situation. It is a very complex situation. I appreciate the people that open their minds and try to understand.”
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Yup. Tearing apart American families, hurting communities, and deporting our friends and neighbors. That’s what the “New ICE” is up to.
But, the affected U.s. citizens do have the “ultimate remedy.” They can vote Trump and his enablers out of office and demand sane, humane, sensible immigration laws and enforcement that benefits, not hurts, America and our future. “Green Card ” holders can eventually become citizens and vote. If everyone in America who has been affected by the evils of Trumpism goes to the polls, the next two years could be better, and Trump can be removed after four years.
U.S. citizen children who now are helpless victims of Trump’s ICE will eventually grow up and become voters. They should remember who took their mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters away from them!
Forget “S___gate,” the Budget, North Korea, and all that other stuff. Even forget the Pack’s post-season reorganization of their coaching staff and front office following a disappointing 7-9 season, The front page news from Green Bay is that the Superstar QB Aaron (“AR”) Rodgers is dating recently retired race driver Danica Patrick.
Here’s what the Green Bay Press Gazette had to say about it in an article that forced most other news to the second page!
“Buckle up, Packers fans: Aaron Rodgers and Danica Patrick’s relationship just hit the fast lane.
“Yes, Aaron and I are dating,” the race car driver confirmed Monday to the Associated Press.
Speculation that Rodgers, 34, had moved on from actress Olivia Munn with Patrick, 35, surfaced earlier this month when sports gossip blogger Terez Owens reported the two had been spotted at Chives Restaurant in Suamico after Christmas and “couldn’t seem to keep their hands off each other.”
Neither Rodgers nor Patrick had commented publicly about the report, but it didn’t stop Maxim from quickly declaring them “the sports world’s newest super couple.”
Patrick told the AP the two first met at the 2012 ESPY Awards. There is, however, a wrinkle: Patrick, who was born in Beloit and grew up in Illinois, is a Chicago Bears fan.
“I told him (Rodgers) a long time ago I’d always root for him as a player,” Patrick told the AP. “Now I am probably going to cheer for the whole team. Take out the word ‘probably.’ Now I’m going to cheer for the whole team.”
Rodgers split from actress Olivia Munn in 2017 after three years together. In December, a spokesperson for Patrick announced she and fellow NASCAR driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were no longer a couple after nearly five years.
TMZ posted a photo over the weekend of Rodgers and Patrick dining with other guests on Saturday night at a Mexican restaurant in Scottsdale, Arizona. Patrick lives in Arizona.
In November, Patrick announced her retirement from full-time racing and said she plans to make the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500 her final two races.
She has recently been promoting her fitness book, “Pretty Intense: The 90-Day Mind, Body and Food Plan That Will Absolutely Change Your Life,” which came out Dec. 26.”
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Wow! Dinner in Suamico! Can’t get much more romantic than that! We were actually in Green Bay right after Christmas. But, we mostly ate (vegan) Mexican and carry out! Actually, a fantastic and very authentic Mexican restaurant is right in Wick’s neighborhood. I was impressed with how well they had meshed the Mexican and Packer themes. A bunch of big screen TVs tuned to football and low-priced generous Margaritas didn’t hurt either. I highly recommend El Serape (two locations) the next time your travels take you to Packer city.
No speculation yet on how this will affect AR’s play next season. I suspect that the performance of new Defensive Coordinator Mike Pettine and how the Pack does in the draft and in free agent signings will have more to do with AR’s stats and the Packer’s success next fall than Danica!
And, yeah, even though as a lifelong Packer fan I don’t normally have much of a warm spot for the Minnesota Vikings, I was very happy for them and their fans after the “miracle catch” by Stefon Diggs for the winning TD. Good luck to them in the NFC Championship game v. the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday! Congrats to Arlington ICE Deputy Chief Counsel David Kelly, a native Minnesotan and die-hard Vikes fan! I just wish my daughter-in-law Anastasia’s mother Susan Rathman had lived long enough to see her beloved Vikes a game away from the Super Bowl!
The Washington Post reports about today’s first NFL game in London:
“Less than three hours after President Trump called on NFL owners to suspend or fire players who protest during the national anthem, the Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars — the first teams to play on Sunday — linked arms or took a knee during the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the teams 9:30 a.m. EDT kickoff in London’s Wembley Stadium.
Ravens Coach John Harbaugh joined his players, linking arms, and Ravens Hall of Famer Ray Lewis took a knee. Jaguars owner Shahid Khan, who had contributed $1 million to the Trump inauguration, locked arms with his players in what is believed to be the first visible participation in relation to anthem protests by a league owner.”
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Read the full report on the link.
Our President is a racist. Decent folks should band together and stand up against him. The entire state of Alabama should be hanging its head in shame as should the GOP which enabled and continues to enable this type of destructive conduct by an unqualified President.
And our racist, homophobic Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his White Nationalist agenda are a key part of dividing our country, whipping up bogus racial paranoia, and making a mockery of our justice system. Liz was right!
Meanwhile, star NFL QBs Tom Brady (Patriots) and Aaron Rodgers (Packers) posted their own messages of “unity” with their teammates.
A Madison restaurant has raised pay for entry-level chefs in recent years more than 50 percent to $14 an hour, but still closes on Sunday evenings — not because of a lack of customers, but because workers are scarce.
Those and countless other stories across Wisconsin are symptoms of a growing worker shortage that is expected to worsen over the next decade, according to Wisconsin State Journal interviews with dozens of employers, economists, advocacy group experts and state political and economic development officials.
“We are right at the brink of the crisis,” said Ann Franz, director of the Northeast Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance in Green Bay. “There just aren’t enough human beings in Wisconsin with baby boomers retiring. Just driving down the road there are constantly signs hiring. I’ve seen them on billboards: ‘Come to our car dealership and buy our car. Come so we can give you a job.'”
Employers from a broad range of industries are reporting difficulty finding workers — and not only for skilled professionals such as nurses, welders and computer programmers, who require a strong education and training system, but also for workers with a high school diploma and some additional training at restaurants, farms, construction sites, factories, senior care facilities, retailers and other businesses.
“I would call it Wisconsin’s mega-issue,” said Kurt Bauer, president of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state’s largest business group, which recently found 77 percent of members surveyed had difficulty finding workers, up from 53 percent two years ago. “All other issues, they may be important, but they are subordinate to workforce.”
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Read the rest of the article at the link.
In this context, terminating DACA, thereby depriving existing productive American workers of work authorization, is not only cruel, but also crazy. And supporting the RAISE Act — specifically designed by White Nationalist restrictionists to lower legal immigration while limiting the remaining opportunities largely to White, English speaking individuals with college degrees — is simply insane.
Legal immigration is good for America in many ways (beyond the economy) and we need more, not less, of it. Indeed, had we developed a more rational and realistic legal immigration system, most of the Dreamers and their families would have been admitted in an orderly fashion under the legal system years ago.
Guys like Jeff “Gonzo Apocalypto” Sessions who worked as an effective legislative minority to block sensible immigration reform through parliamentary maneuvers, are now falsely claiming that deportations, “gonzo” arbitrary enforcement, and a reign of terror are the only solutions to a fake crisis that they largely created.
But, in fact, there is no crisis. Most of the 11 million migrants here without documentation are working hard, in jobs we need, part of American families, English speaking or learning English, and fitting well into American communities. Indeed, they are far less disruptive to society than are ICE’s arbitrary and fear spresding enforcement policies. That’s certainly the case here in Alexandria and Northern Virginia. And even more of them would pay taxes if we simply made it easy for them by granting legal status.
The relatively small minority of undocumented migrants who are engaging in anti-social behavior can be identified and removed with some reasonable readjustment of existing resources. For example, more money allocated to the U.S. Immigration Courts, training, technology, community-based policing, and focused “smart”enforcement instead of wasteful and inhumane detention, unfocused arbitrary enforcement, unneeded walls, and filling prisons with minor immigration violators. ICE prosecutors should be authorized and encouraged to use their discretion to prioritize their Immigration Court dockets with a focus on due process and bettering society while recognizing that judicial time will always be both precious and limited.
The current scare tactics and dire, but false, scenarios being pushed by the Trump Administration will neither aid our economy nor serve America’s real needs. They would make us both less safe and less great as a nation.