New York F/W Fashion Week Report

Twice a year, in February and September, New York City hosts Fashion Week: an eight-day long fashion extravaganza. According to The New York Times, New York Fashion Week presents approximately 320 shows and hauls in over $860 million for the City (more than the US Open, the marathon, or Super Bowl). Fashion Week is the culmination of months of work for not only designers, but also for many other artists and contributors, including supremely talented producers, hairstylists, makeup artists, nail artists, fashion stylists, set designers, DJs, and models, all helping to make these shows works of art. We always love an invite to a show whether for our clients or designers we admire. For buyers and editors the shows mark the beginning of their work for the next season, but luckily for us we can sit back and enjoy the shows solely for their fashion and artistic merits.

I attended two shows: the Jill Stuart show, held in the Tents at Lincoln Center, and the Marc Jacobs show at the Armory. I also watched MADE Fashion Week at Milk Studios from afar (okay, from our offices across the street).

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DOMA and Same-Sex Marriages Q&A

Last week my colleague Matt Bray described the history of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and background to the Windsor decision overturning DOMA. As a followup to that post and also inspired by the helpful Q&A on the US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) website, this post aims to provide some practical answers to commonly asked immigration-related questions in the aftermath of the decision.

Given the previous record of treatment by the US government and USCIS, some same-sex couples are understandably cautious about moving forward. That said, the US government has made it clear that same-sex married couples can (and should) expect equal treatment under the law. Practically, though, what does that mean?

My partner and I have entered into a civil union. Is that the same as a marriage for immigration purposes?
No. Only legal marriages are considered for immigration purposes. For the marriage to be legal, the marriage must have taken place in a jurisdiction (i.e., a US state or foreign country) where same-sex marriage is legal.

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Deport Justin Bieber

Will Bieber be deported? Many people are wondering.

Will Bieber be deported? Many people are wondering.

The "We the People" WhiteHouse.gov petition to deport Justin Bieber has over 260,00 signatures, well above the 100,000 signature threshold required for the White House to officially respond. The petition (tagged under "Human Rights" and "Women's Issues") states: "We would like to see the dangerous, reckless, destructive, and drug abusing, Justin Bieber deported and his green card revoked." From news reports, it appears that Bieber has an O-1, not a Green Card, so assuming that the petition isn't denied based on these grounds, I consulted my colleague Matt Bray, who as an attorney has several years of experience on deportation cases, on whether deportation via direct presidential executive order could happen. "I’d never say never, but the law as I understand it provides for removal hearings," Matt said. "There are 'expedited' procedures for prisoners with aggravated felonies in correctional facilities, but there are still proceedings. Even people accused of providing 'material support to terrorists' are afforded the 'due process' of removal proceedings. I would be very surprised to hear that someone was deported by a presidential executive order."

City ID Cards

During his campaign, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio had a number of proposals and plans to help the City's immigrants. These included allowing undocumented New Yorkers access to driver's licenses, ending law enforcement cooperation with federal "Detainer Requests" for violations except in the case of violent and serious felonies, cutting red tape for immigrant domestic violence victims obtaining visas, and a City ID card for undocumented immigrants to make it easier to open a bank account and lease an apartment as well as to improve police relations. The mayor is actively pursing this last campaign pledge announcing last week that these cards "would help immigrant residents without legal status participate more fully in civic life." The mayor said moreover that "we will not force any of our residents to live their lives in the shadows.”

The New York Times is hosting a debate about whether a city should grant these types of ID cards. Kica Matos, director of immigrant rights and racial justice at the Center for Community Change, writes that a similar ID card in New Haven, Connecticut "greatly improved the relationship between the immigrant community and the police" and that also brought a "level of dignity. Immigrants now know they truly belong and are a part of New Haven." Steven A. Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, says the mayor by granting these ID cards is "willfully and explicitly trying to undermine federal immigration law. There is no difference between what the mayor is proposing than if he was helping people cheat on their federal income tax or violate any federal law."

Valentine's Day All Over the World

Here in New York City three couples were married at the Empire State Building. Elsewhere, Italians celebrated in St. Peter's Square with Pope Francis. The French, who "claim the Valentine’s Day card originated in France when Charles, Duke of Orleans, sent love letters to his wife while imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1415," go out to restaurants, apparently. The British, usually so bold and upfront, send Valentine's Day cards anonymously. In Saudi Arabia celebrating Valentine's Day is prohibited. In Estonia Valentine's Day is Friends Day. In Latvia nine couples went bungee jumping "nearly" naked. In Pakistan students fought. In Beijing men wearing pig masks carried their girlfriends on their backs in a race to be selected as finalists during a kissing contest. The winner got an iPhone 5S. Whatever you may be doing, happy Valentine's Day.

A Post-DOMA America: How Did We Get Here?

The June 2013 Supreme Court decision United States v. Windsor, overturning a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), is of historic importance for same-sex married couples in the United States and is undoubtedly a major legal victory for the American LGBT rights movement. With Section 3 of DOMA struck down, we have seen rapid change in the legal treatment of married same-sex couples, including under immigration law. In this (somewhat academic and lawyerly) post I look at how DOMA came to be, examine the Windsor decision in detail, and consider its broader impact. In a separate future post my colleague Liz Brettschneider will answer some practical questions for couples whose immigration cases are affected by the Windsor decision.

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Politico: "TSA Screener Confession"

Jason Edward Harrington, former Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screener and once anonymous author of the TSA-themed blog Taking Sense Away, writes a lengthy piece about his time with the TSA:

I hated it from the beginning. It was a job that had me patting down the crotches of children, the elderly and even infants as part of the post-9/11 airport security show. I confiscated jars of homemade apple butter on the pretense that they could pose threats to national security. I was even required to confiscate nail clippers from airline pilots—the implied logic being that pilots could use the nail clippers to hijack the very planes they were flying.

We learn of the agency's racial profiling, the ineffectiveness of the Rapiscan Systems full-body scanners (reviewing the scans turn into an "an unofficial break" time for officers), guyspeak, and various other unsettling secuirty lapses and issues that any frequent flier probably does not want to know.

The LA Times reports the TSA has responded saying that Harrington is either "lying or describing long-abandoned practices" and furthemore the TSA will not "pursue the allegations of misconduct that Harrington raised."

[via the Economist]