"Homeless Dumping by Los Angeles Hospital

Just when you thought you heard it all.... read this article. It's sickening. A hospital van in the Los Angeles area dumped a homeless man on the street who was paraplegic, wearing a soiled hospital gown and with a torn colostomy bag. And this is America?

Is the U.S. mishandling asylum seekers?

A bipartisan federal commission stated yesterday that in its zeal to protect the U.S. borders, it is possible that many asylum seekers are being left vulnerable to deportation as well as mistreated, "rip-searched, shackled and held in jails." One of the recommendations that the Department of Homeland Security has made following these findings is that officials should be better trained to deal with asylum seekers. However, the most important question to me is: isn't this training basic? Why is it that these findings of more than two years ago were required for such a recommendation to come to the surface? I would assume that officers were already well-trained so that such events do not happen.

Another disturbing aspect to this artice is that often this mishandling leaves asylum seekers vulnerable to deportation. However, the fact remains that often those who are deported are sent back to miserable lives. The idea that mishandling such persons increases their risks of getting sent back is a very heavy thought.

"Why I Defend Terrorists"

An excellent article by Anant Raut, an associate at Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP, on why he donates his time to represent pro bono 5 individuals at Guantanamo Bay that have been labelled terrorists by the US government, but have yet to be charged for any crime.