Some Like It Hot Pot

Dating back approximately 1,000 years, hot pot refers to several East Asian varieties of stew, consisting of a simmering metal pot of stock at the center of the dining table. While the hot pot is kept simmering, ingredients are placed into the pot and are cooked at the table. Varying vastly by region, typical hot pot dishes include thinly sliced meat, leaf vegetables, mushrooms, wontons, egg dumplings, and seafood. The cooked food is usually eaten with a selection of dipping sauces.

Ashley: I discovered the deliciousness of hot pot with a group of friends here in New York City a few years ago and have been going on a near monthly basis since that time. I love it for both the culinary and social experiences. My favorite culinary aspect of hot pot is the dipping sauces. Most places have a make-your-own sauce bar and it can make or break your meal depending on how you mix it up. Sensitive stomachs beware!

Liz: I would definitely classify myself as an adventurous eater who loves to experience different cuisines. When Ashley spoke of her hot pot adventures I knew I wanted in! Over the past months I have really enjoyed discovering the different variations on “hot pot” in New York City.  I also really appreciated spending the time with Ashley and learning from her sage sauce-making abilities.  

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New York Times: "In the White House, Debating How Far to Go in Easing Deportations"

Given the President ordered Homeland Security "to make immigration enforcement more humane," and the debate continues on how best to do so, it may be worthwhile to glimpse inside a hearing in Immigration Court, which The Washington Post did masterfully earlier this year. Mario Iraheta, an undocumented immigrant and national of El Salvador, is in removal proceedings after he was arrested for drinking and driving. Complicating matters, he has criminal convictions for hit and runs, both misdemeanors for property damage of less than $1,000. He appears via live feed from a detention facility in Farmville, Virginia, since the government often can't afford to transport detainees to their own hearings. The judge is Lawrence Burman, who has about seven minutes to spend on this case that morning. In the court is Iraheta's wife, Maria, and his three children ("'Today will be a new beginning for us,'" he says. "'They will see we are a good family.'") along with his attorney Ricky Malik, who is now representing Iraheta pro bono, after the family's money ran out. See what happens.

Asylum for Transgender People

Sanctuary, or asylum, is a very old legal concept that refers to the protection that a country or other sovereign provides to a national of another country fleeing war or persecution. Unlike most of US immigration law, asylum is unique in that it is derived from international law, including the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (Refugee Convention), which provides a definition of refugee and sets forth the principle of non-refoulement. Under the refugee convention and US asylum law, a refugee is a person who “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.”

The principle of non-refoulement is the principle that a country may not return a refugee to countries where they would face persecution based on one of these protected grounds. Another international treaty is the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), to which the US is also a signatory, that prohibits returning a person to a country where there are “substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.”

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Ted: "Tan Le: My Immigration Story"

We're always interested in hearing people's immigration stories. Manny and Ashley have shared their own family's stories (here and here), and we recently came across a particularly compelling and moving story from Tan Le, Founder and CEO of Emotiv Lifescience, a bioinformatics company. Recorded at a TedXWomen event a few years ago (these stories, however, are timeless), Tan Le talks of the dangerous boat trip that she, her younger sister, mother, and grandmother took, of their new life in Australia, and her move to the US. She says:

I realized...that it is okay to be an outsider, a recent arrival, new on the scene. And not just okay, but something to be thankful for, perhaps a gift from the boat. Because being an insider can so easily mean collapsing the horizons; can so easily mean accepting the presumptions of your province.

Definitely watch, but warning: you might need some tissues.

Blossoms

There are no blossoms. That’s the first thing I noticed about this year’s Sakura Matsuri a.k.a. Cherry Blossom Festival at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. And yes, it’s the opening line of a haiku I wrote and was muttering to myself while pushing my way through the hundreds of other festival goers on the so-called Cherry Esplanade (no trees in bloom), getting body-checked by backpacks, and my foot run over by strollers pushed by parents with that look in their eye. And if there are no cherry blossoms, how exactly does one contemplate the beauty and fragility of life and death?

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Travel Report: AILA in Athens

Every year, the Rome District Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) holds a conference outside of the US. The Rome District Chapter is mainly composed of AILA members from the US, Europe, and Africa and specifically focuses on the visa application process and related consular issues, with an additional focus on outbound immigration (i.e., when US citizens need work or travel visas to Europe and beyond). This year, in March, the Rome District Chapter Conference took place in Athens, Greece.

As a first-time conference attendee and traveler to Greece, and inspired by Protima, Liz, and Jen's own travel reports on conferences in San Francisco, Vermont, and India, respectively, I am thrilled to report on this most recent travel and conference experience!

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