Bunch of lawyers arrested for immigration fraud

From NY Times:

They invented woeful tales of persecution for their Chinese clients. Prepped them on how to lie about having had a forced abortion. Even tutored them on religion.

In all, 26 people, including 6 lawyers, were charged Tuesday with helping Chinese immigrants submit false asylum claims in an effort to stay in the United States, law enforcement officials said.

The indictments describe elaborate schemes based in law offices in Manhattan’s Chinatown and in Flushing, Queens, which involved teams of paralegals and office managers, translators and a church official, who conspired to dupe immigration officials by inventing stories of political and religious persecution for their clients, officials said.

The indictments say female clients who sought asylum based on China’s one-child policy were encouraged to prepare for asylum interviews by watching Chinese soap operas so they could describe the experience of a forced abortion. Some paralegals were called “story writers” for their knack for inventing detailed tales of persecution. A church official in Flushing prepared clients for questions on religion by offering basic instruction in Christianity.

More than 20 defendants were arrested in raids in Manhattan’s Chinatown and in Flushing, capping a three-year investigation.

Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, accused the defendants of “weaving elaborate fictions” and making it “more difficult for those who are legitimately seeking refuge in this country.”

The indictments charged employees of at least 10 law firms, the authorities said. In the past few years, the firms filed more than 1,900 asylum applications, according to the indictments; officials did not say how many they believe were fraudulent.

Elected officials flunk first amendment test

From the NY Times:

New York, never at a loss for self-congratulatory words, regards itself as the most tolerant of cities, a place where one may express any thought freely. It is true. In New York, one may articulate any idea whatsoever — as long as that idea parallels popular opinion.

Stray too far from generally accepted wisdom, though, and you are asking for trouble.

The latest to discover this reality is a Texas group called Life Always, which bought billboard space in SoHo to deliver an anti-abortion message rooted in recent statistics from the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. They showed that in 2009, 41 percent of all pregnancies here ended in abortion. The abortion rate for black women was even higher, almost 60 percent.

Up went the billboard on a building at the corner of Avenue of the Americas and Watts Street. It showed a black girl with these words above her head: “The most dangerous place for an African American is in the womb.”

Was this anti-abortion statement subtle? Hardly. Accurate? Depends on your politics. Offensive? For some people, yes. Out of step with mainstream thought in New York? For sure. And so, a few days ago in this most tolerant of cities, a raft of elected officials wasted no time calling for the billboard’s removal.

Lickety-split, the sign came down...

Some who objected to the sign complained that it was provocative. Of course it was. Since when is the American concept of free speech confined to opinions that are nice and safe and unlikely to cause a ripple?

Some also saw the message as racist. Clearly, it was racial. But racial and racist are not one and the same...

This plain act of censorship was not isolated. Rather, it fit into an established New York pattern of squelching unpopular opinions.

Bill de Blasio, the public advocate and one of the influential figures who demanded removal of the anti-abortion billboard, saw no assault on free speech. There should never be a law prohibiting this sort of sign, Mr. de Blasio said, “but to have a serious debate, to have people express their outrage, and then to have a private owner of the advertising space decide that it was ultimately not appropriate, that to me is a functioning democracy.”

Not quite, said Norman Siegel, a leading civil liberties lawyer. To him, freedom of expression took a hit.

“The principle of free speech is easy when the speech is something that’s popular and noncontroversial,” Mr. Siegel said. “The real test is when you disagree with the content of the speech and you still defend the right of someone to articulate the message.”

The city, he said, just flunked that test.

Looks like Democrats voted for the wrong public advocate candidate. It's wrong when conservatives do it, too. At least the Supreme Court got it right this time.

Queens 2009 birth and death stats

From the Times Ledger:

Queens led New York City in deaths from seven diseases and other lethal causes in the latest statistical health snapshot of the city, but life expectancy in the five boroughs hit a new all-time high.

Life expectancy for New Yorkers has increased to an average of 79.4 years, a gain of almost five months since 2006.

Queens was No. 1 in the city for deaths from cancer of the kidney and central nervous system, cardiomyopathy, emphysema, pregnancy, childbirth, puerperion and complications from medical and surgical care.

For the first time since 1999, deaths did not decline in the city, rising to 54,193 from 54,073 in 2007.

1. A total of 44.6 percent of Queens women who gave birth were unmarried. In the Bronx, it was 70.6 percent, in Brooklyn 42.3 percent, in Manhattan 35.6 percent and in Staten Island 34 percent.

2. In Queens, 70 percent of births were to foreign-born women. In Brooklyn, it was 43.7 percent, in the Bronx 49.1 percent, in Manhattan 43.7 percent and in Staten Island 35.9 percent.

3. In Elmhurst-Corona, 89.4 percent of births were to foreign-born women. Otherwise, it was Sunnyside-Woodside at 77.7 percent, Woodhaven at 72.7 percent, Rego Park-Forest Hills at 70.6 percent, Howard Beach at 67.1 percent and Bayside at 66.6 percent.

4. The city had 89,465 abortions with 17,453 in Queens, 20,250 in the Bronx, 27,715 in Brooklyn, 13,288 in Manhattan and 2,790 in Staten Island.

5. Seven community districts citywide had less than 2 percent of births to teenagers. Bayside was at 1.1 percent, Rego Park-Forest Hills at 1.2 percent, Jamaica-St. Albans had 865 births to teens, Jackson Heights had 717 and Elmhurst-Corona had 577.

Ethnically, the highest number of births in Queens were to Mexican women (2,477), Chinese (2,413), African American (2,180) and Ecuadorian (2,050).

Woman dies during abortion in Jackson Heights

Queens Clinic Under Scrutiny after Woman Dies Getting Abortion

NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- An investigation is underway after a woman died undergoing an operation, believed to be an abortion, at a clinic in Queens.

The 30-year-old woman bled profusely after an artery was severed during the procedure Monday afternoon at A1 Medicine at 95-45 Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights, sources tell 1010 WINS.

The woman was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital where she was pronounced dead.

The clinic advertises plastic surgery and gynecology on a sign outside of the office.

The incident is under investigation.