Over the past several years I’ve been asked what I enjoy
about being an immigration lawyer. My
response has always included that “I love the camaraderie of immigration
attorneys and how the majority of us have similar passions and respect one
another even when we disagree.” You
don’t see that in other areas of law. Typically lawyers are in court battling
one another. In immigration law, our
adversary is always the government. For
this reason, the past year has been pretty difficult for me to comprehend. With the heated debates on immigration reform
and what should or should not be included in the bill advocates and attorneys
are increasingly butting heads. That is
perfectly reasonable and expected. However,
the attacks have become personal and in some cases encroached into the realm of
dangerous libel. With immigration
attorneys currently under attack in California
by the state legislature, we don’t need to be cannibalizing one another.
What I’ve seen disgusts me.
It should disgust you as well.
I’m not going to name any names and that is not the point of this. You know who you are. We are witnessing social media-based personal
attacks against lawyers, DREAMers and other immigration activists. It really needs to come to a grinding halt. Nothing is more disappointing than to see
lawyers act like my 5 and 6-year-old girls fighting over the last Skinny Cow
Ice Cream cone in our freezer.
There is a modicum of respect that should be followed by
anyone in this continual debate on immigration reform. It does not have to become a personal
battle. Furthermore, you can make your
point without attacking another person’s professionalism or passion for their
work. If you don’t like a person because
of their differing views or something they have said you do not need to blast
your thoughts out every time on Facebook or Twitter or on your personal blog. That’s plain dumb. Plus, the mass majority of us, while enjoying
some of the back-and-forth with our popcorn in hand, have grown tired your endless
personal debates. We get it: you don’t
like each other…move on to something new or just keep it your arguments in
private chat-rooms, e-mails or messages.
So, please for the sake of all humanity I respectfully ask
you to stop with the nonsense. Thank
you.
