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By Immigration Attorney James O. Hacking III with Hacking Law Practice LLC.

In May 2018, President Trump enacted a zero-tolerance policy that would prosecute anyone trying to cross the United States border illegally. Weeks after, in June 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions stated that domestic violence and the threat of gang violence may not be valid claims for asylum seekers.

Unfortunately, as new information comes to light, these are not the only ways the United States government is making it more difficult for those trying to find protection within the country.

In a new report published at the end of May, the Sunlight Foundation’s Web Integrity Project found that 26 documents were removed from online by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

These documents guided asylum seekers through the process of the interviews during which their cases are heard. The removal also made it more difficult for immigration attorneys trying to help and prepare asylum seekers.

The documents included an overview of international human rights law, explanations on how decisions on asylum are made and one that dealt exclusively with asylum claims based on gender, such as the domestic violence many are trying to flee.

A lengthy guide on what one could expect during the interview process also went missing. It was found that these files disappeared between March 2 and April 27, 2017, not long after Donald Trump was inaugurated as President.

“The documents have not disappeared altogether,” says Asylum Lawyer James O. Hacking III. “But now that they are buried in other training documents, some hundreds of pages long, it has certainly made them much more difficult to find.”

In addition to the missing documents, the USCIS is also now processing those who have most recently applied first. It is a process that makes little sense considering that many asylum seekers have been waiting at border crossings for weeks.

Some believe that this is being done so that people have very little time to prepare for their interviews, particularly when the very documents that could help them cannot be found.

After the news of the missing documents broke, a spokesperson for USCIC stated simply that the documents were still available online.

While that is true, they are not where they once were, and certainly not as easily accessible as before. And that is only further impeding the process for those desperately seeking asylum.

By Arlington Criminal Defense Attorney Steve Duckett with Price Benowitz LLP.

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam has signed two teacher child abuse laws following a News4 I-Team investigation into a former Virginia teacher. It was discovered that a teacher sexually abused a student in Virginia and was able to obtain a teaching position in Maryland.

The new laws signed by Governor Northam require child protective services notify the state department of education and school districts when it is discovered that a child has been abused by a teacher.

The I-Team investigation came to light in August 2017, which spurred the creation of the legislation and heated debates throughout Virginia.

“Child abuse is a serious allegation that can have long-lasting repercussions,” Steve Duckett, a Virginia child abuse attorney said. “This new law can make it difficult for someone to find employment after facing accusations.”

The investigation discovered that a teacher from Arlington County had sexually abused a student and still kept his teaching license. The teacher then obtained a position at a school in Prince George’s County in Maryland just months after Arlington Child Protective Services made the discovery.

Arlington Child Protective Services failed to notify not only the school board but also the Virginia Department of Education about the abuse by the teacher.

The laws signed by the governor apply to the more than 130 child protective agencies that operate in Virginia. Other supporters of the new laws claim that they will help not only students in Virginia but also all other states.

The laws may prevent teachers seeking jobs outside Virginia following alleged abuse or other misconduct involving students since the agencies will now be forced to issue warnings.

If you are a teacher facing allegations of abuse, it is important to take every action possible to fight these allegations. An attorney can work with you to help you tell your side of the story and help you fight these allegations that could threaten your livelihood.

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By New Jersey Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Attorney Carroll of Garden State Bankruptcy.

Suniva, the solar manufacturer with headquarters in Georgia, is headed to bankruptcy court. The solar company influenced the Trump administration to levy tariffs on solar panel imports worldwide using Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974, instigating the trade war that is now being played out in the geopolitical arena.

However, the company has been in bankruptcy since March 2017; it saw the 30 percent tariffs as the way to save jobs in the solar manufacturing industry — 260,000 people — and eliminate the threat from China and their cheap imports.

The solar industry, led by SEIA, the Solar Energy Industries Association, fought Suniva’s proposal, believing just the opposite would happen, that higher prices on imports would cause job losses.

In fact, although there have been many project cancellations, the job losses have not been severe. Suniva has not been active and manufacturing at its U.S. factories has been stalled for a year while in Chapter 11 bankruptcy and looking for a buyer.

To get around the US tariffs, JinkoSolar, a Chinese solar company, announced in March that it would spend $50 million to build a plant in Jacksonville, Florida. Suniva’s assessment of the tariffs’ impact was correct and the manufacturing industry is picking up.

In April, SunPower Corp, the largest US solar company, said it would acquire SolarWorld Americas, another manufacturer who also favored the tariffs. And First Solar Inc. also announced in April that it will open a new plant in Ohio.

However, Suniva’s fate has not turned around. Its largest creditor, SQN Capital Management, asked the bankruptcy court to allow it to sell assets it held as collateral on loans totaling $57 million at manufacturing plants in Saginaw, Michigan and Norcross, Georgia; these assets consist of the contents of the factories: printers, ovens, diffusers, conveyers and laminators as well as its patents and trademarks.

Wanxiang America Corp., a Chinese company that holds other assets, including much of Suniva’s equipment, joined SQN Capital Management in the late May auction.

“Chapter 11 is an option companies might pursue to hold off creditors while they draft a business plan to get out of bankruptcy,” said an attorney with Garden State Bankruptcy. “If a business cannot reorganize within a reasonable time period, this might be the best course of action. If they continue missing deadlines, auctioning off the company’s property, including equipment as well as intellectual property such as patents and trademarks in Chapter 7 can result, which will dissolve the company.”

If no reasonable offer is made at auction, Suniva’s creditors could buy the assets and own the company themselves, which is what happened — last week, SQN announced that it has released Suniva from bankruptcy and will restart operations soon.

By Virginia criminal defense lawyer Steve Duckett, with Price Benowitz, LLP.

Body cameras have entered the public consciousness over the last two years due to the high-profile killings of unarmed black men across the United States.

In many of those instances, it was initially the word of the officer against the word of eyewitnesses. Law enforcement and members of the public have identified the need for consistent reporting of civilian interaction with members of law enforcement.

With today’s wireless connectivity and technology, small, wearable cameras that can constantly upload and store data are available to provide contemporaneous documentary evidence of these interactions.

“Body cameras are incredible tools that all law enforcement should take advantage of,” said Steve Duckett, a Manassas criminal law attorney. “They provide in-the-moment documentation of police interaction with the public, suspects, and arrestees. This evidence is crucial for not only law enforcement, but for the public and defense attorneys as well. Additionally, the cameras encourage accountability and make officers more aware of how they interact with the public.”

The Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD) has initiated a pilot program to study the benefits of department-wide body cameras and will work with American University researchers to provide a report on those benefits.

The goal of the pilot program is to determine whether investment in body cameras across the department will provide the type of benefits to justify incurring the roughly $4 million per year necessary to maintain the program.

However, any program like this has drawbacks, and one of the most commonly cited drawbacks is how police records of interactions will be used, and what sort of affect that will have on privacy. Duckett thinks that the proper limitations on when the cameras will record and when the evidence can be used are being discussed in relation to this pilot program. “Having reviewed the policy adopted by the FCPD, I think they are taking the right steps to ensure that individual privacy rights are protected,” Duckett said.

The FCPD policy, which was drafted with input from both law enforcement and public stakeholders, indicates that body cameras should be turned off upon the request of citizens when responding to a call at someone’s home, or when someone is reporting a crime and desires anonymity. Additionally, cameras should be turned off when in court, hospitals, or mental health facilities, unless the officer suspects that the use of force may be necessary.

The presence of cameras may make people uncomfortable about interacting with law enforcement. The important thing to remember is that those cameras are there to protect all parties, and as long as the proper practices are in place to restrict when those cameras are on and when their recordings can be introduced as evidence, they should add positively to the interactions of police and the public.