Sunday, June 9, 2002

Latham & Watkins Aiding Unaccompanied Children On the recent issue of the need for legal protection for unaccompanied immigrant children, the NYT mentioned the free legal aid Latham & Watkins has been providing these children. Despite this generous help, however, there is still a need for more fair and supportive legislation. "The immigration agency says it works with nonprofit organizations and public agencies to place children in the least restrictive setting, but many spend months in jails without access to important services." "Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts and chairman of the immigration subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee, says more than 30 percent of children in custody are in juvenile jails. Many others, he says, are kept at shelters for months without translators, education or medical care." "Many unaccompanied juveniles appear in court without lawyers or guardians, legal advocates say. Immigration laws do not provide government-paid lawyers for immigrants." 1:25:20 AM

Airport Bomb Detection Targets Passengers Congress is addressing the issue of bomb security at airports with a combination of high-powered x-ray and explosive trace material machines, which it wants to finish installing by year-end. The x-ray machines, though relatively fast, is not especially accurate (it both flags non-dangerous items and, though more rarely, passes items it should have flagged); and the trace material search is slow enough that it depends on sorting passengers into risk categories, which threatens dependence on racial profiling techniques. 1:06:21 AM

Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech ... Every citizen may freely speak, write and publish sentiments on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of this liberty;...

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