FIU Law’s Carlos A. Costa Immigration and Human Rights Clinic and Professor Juan Carlos Gómez were featured in a recent Miami Herald article for their work with low-income undocumented migrants applying to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA.

Professor Gómez is a Visiting Clinical Assistant Professor of Law at FIU. Gómez has been defending the rights of individuals in immigration matters for the last twenty years. During this time he has represented persons before the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, the United States Departments of Justice and Homeland Security in complex immigration matters. Within the field of immigration law, he has helped thousands of individuals in situations including removal and deportation proceedings, family immigration, and the transfer of professionals and executives to the United States.

“You hear all of these incredible stories of young people who have been brought to the United States and have such hope to contribute so much,” Gómez said. “They want to run businesses. They want to be accountants. They are paying for college out of their own pockets. These are incredible human beings, who will only make us a richer nation.”

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The following op-ed by first-year FIU Law student Frandley Julien, Haitian leaders avoid root problems, originally appeared in The Sun Sentinel on September 30, 2012.

Those who follow Haitian politics closely have noticed that, for the last 25 years, no government has matched the current team’s ability to come up with innovative ideas, or their eagerness to achieve quick results. However, one’s enthusiasm is quickly dampened upon the realization that no other government has had so little institutional knowledge either.

Therefore, the current government’s entrepreneurial spirit, uplifting at first, may mean more trouble for the country if its innovative drive is unleashed with little respect for the institutions, and without a clear understanding of what it would take to achieve irreversible democratic, economic and social progress.

The current government approaches Haiti’s challenges as if it were a new country, with no history or antecedents. Everybody agrees Haiti has a great potential for tourism, that its hard-working people could constitute the ideal workforce for scores of local and foreign businesses.

But what the government fails to realize is that until Duvalier’s departure, thousands of tourists were visiting Haiti on a weekly basis, that all the jobs we are trying to attract, we had them until then. Why did these enterprises leave? Why did the tourists stop visiting us? The answer is a no-brainer: political instability and insecurity.

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In a recent article, FIU Law Professor Thomas Baker is quoted on why the Supreme Court’s fall session begins without any direct First Amendment cases. He states the dearth of First Amendment cases could mean that the justices “are turning in other directions after having decided some important speech and religion cases the last couple of years. The idea is that they decide some big cases, like the ministerial-exemption case and then back away to allow the lower courts to work out the details.”

With over three decades of law teaching experience, Professor Baker is a nationally-recognized constitutionalist who has received numerous awards for his teaching, including the first-ever Pioneer Award for his commitment and dedication to students from the FIU Student Bar Association in 2004. Professor Baker publishes commentaries and is frequently quoted in the national media as an expert in constitutional law and the federal courts.

High court spotlight misses First Amendment

By Tony Mauro

The Supreme Court’s fall session begins without any direct First Amendment cases on the argument docket, signaling a possible respite from free-speech and religion cases for the near-to-middle future.

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In a recent interview with NBC6 Miami, FIU Law Professor Jose Gabilondo discusses the $16 trillion national debt, and explains the difference between our country’s debt and personal debt.

Professor Gabilondo teaches tax and corporate finance at FIU Law and his scholarship focuses on debt markets. He is a nationally recognized commentator in the Spanish-language media on financial and economic matters and has worked in financial market regulation at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the World Bank.

South Florida Professor Explains $16 Trillion Debt

By Gilma Avalos

$16,000,000,000,000. That is the number that would appear on the United State’s theoretical credit card statement.

Although the analogy is often made, our country’s debt is not similar to our personal debt, according to Jose Gabilondo, an associate professor of law at Florida International University.

“I can’t borrow indefinitely, you can’t, but the government can. In a way, it’s not the number that matters,” said Gabilondo. “What matters is can you make your monthly payment? And are your creditors still lending to you? The answer for our country, is yes.”

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In the August 9th edition of The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, FIU Law Professor Megan A. Fairlie discusses the need for the “International Criminal Court (ICC), both to ensure accountability for the perpetrators of the worst crimes known to humankind and to stem the loss of innocent lives.”

Megan Fairlie is an Assistant Professor at Florida International University College of Law. She has lectured and published in the United States and abroad on international criminal justice issues over the last decade. Her analyses have appeared in such prestigious venues as the American Journal of International Law and the Berkeley Journal of International Law. Professor Fairlie is an honors graduate of Washington and Lee School of Law; she also holds an LL.M. in International Peace Support Operations and a Ph.D. in International Human Rights Law, both from the National University of Ireland, Galway.

Security Council referrals to the International Criminal Court: Much Ado about Nothing?

BY MEGAN FAIRLIE

The ongoing brutalization of civilians at the hands of the Syrian regime makes it abundantly clear that the world needs the International Criminal Court (ICC), both to ensure accountability for the perpetrators of the worst crimes known to humankind and to stem the loss of innocent lives. As it stands, however, leading powers and the UN Security Council are preventing the ICC from effectively deterring the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria and elsewhere.

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In the July 23rd edition of The Atlantic, FIU Law Professor Howard Wasserman and co-author Dan Markel discuss creating “Fan Action Committees” to enable fans to pool and pay money to lure free-agent athletes to their teams.

Howard Wasserman is a professor of law at Florida International University and the editor of the Sports Law Blog.

What If Fans Could Have Paid Jeremy Lin to Stay in New York?

BY DAN MARKEL & HOWARD WASSERMAN

Introducing a new plan to lure sports superstars: Fan Action Committees

New York Knicks fans were deeply disappointed by the loss last week of guard and basketball folk hero Jeremy Lin to the Houston Rockets. Knicks fans are not alone in their sadness. Cleveland fans still have not recovered from LeBron James’ decision to take his talents to South Beach, when he signed with the Miami Heat two years ago.

It’s too late now for Lin and LeBron, but high-profile departures like these are a recurring matter in professional sports. And fans should be able to have more influence on these matters. Here’s how.

Imagine if Knicks fans could monetize their support for re-signing Lin, either as a financial kicker or simply as an expression of their desire to have him stay with the Knicks. Like politics, where we see political action committees (PACs) raise and spend money for candidates, we think there should be “Fan Action Committees” (FACs) performing similar functions. Using Facebook, Paypal, and other crowd-sourcing technologies, fans in the future could form something like a “Don’t Stop the Linsanity” Committee. From the other side, Houston fans might to do the same to make their city even more attractive to Lin.

Such FACs would organize and collect money (pledged conditionally via credit card) from other fans to provide a one-time (or perhaps even a recurring) payment for a player who joins or stays with the team. The organizers of the FAC could track the number of fans participating, as well as the money raised, as a demonstration of fan love for the player. In essence, FAC members operate like college boosters, showing their support for their teams through money. The difference is that the money goes not to the team, but to the players.

Read more at theatlantic.com »

In NBC News, Professor Phyllis Kotey is quoted on the possible strategic reasons for George Zimmerman granting an exclusive interview to Fox News’ Sean Hannity on national television.

In the article, Kotey states: “It’s a chance to hone the story and test it — test versions, what works, reactions, to see what’s going to happen. It’s an opportunity to see how a particular position will play.” She also notes that in a television appearance, Zimmerman can speak without the risk of cross-examination by the prosecution.

Phyllis Kotey is a retired judge and former prosecutor , who now teaches at Florida International University College of Law.

Zimmerman to appear on Fox to ‘open up’ about night of Trayvon Martin shooting

George Zimmerman has granted an exclusive interview to Fox News’ Sean Hannity, scheduled to air Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET, Fox announced.

“Zimmerman will open up about what happened the night of Trayvon Martin’s death and his experience in the aftermath of the fatal shooting,” according to a Fox press release.

Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Martin, an unarmed black teenager, on Feb. 26 in Sanford, Fla. The case has become the focus of national media, and ignited an emotional debate over race and gun rights.

Zimmerman, the son of a white father and Peruvian mother of Hispanic descent, has pleaded innocent to the murder charge, and says that he shot Martin in self-defense after Martin attacked him. He is out on bail preparing for a trial.

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In the Orlando Sentinel, Dean R. Alex Acosta is quoted on the threat underfunding for the state court system can pose on wrongful convictions.

R. Alexander Acosta is the Dean of the College of Law at Florida International University. A native of Miami, Dean Acosta earned his undergraduate degree from Harvard College and his law degree from Harvard Law School. After serving as a law clerk to Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., then a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Dean Acosta practiced law at the law firm of Kirkland and Ellis and taught at the George Mason School of Law. Most recently, Dean Acosta became the longest serving U.S. Attorney in South Florida since the 1970s, sitting as the senate-confirmed United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, which carries one of the busiest trial calendars in the nation. He currently serves on the Florida Innocence Commission, a 23-member commission, made up of judges, politicians, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and other criminal justice professionals.

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In the Miami Times, law student Desmond Meade is quoted on the State of Florida’s purging process and why he feels entire communities are being wiped out of existence with the purging of voting rolls.

In the article, Desmond Meade states: “When you focus on the rights of one person, you sometimes forget to look at the bigger picture,” he said. “Given the disproportionate number of Blacks in prison who are now ‘returning citizens’ [he refuses to use the term ex-felons which he says is a negative label], when we allow for these purging schemes, it’s inevitable that entire Black communities are losing their political voice. They are becoming a political non-factor. Commissioners still listen to ‘returning citizens’ because those jobs [city and county commission] are tied directly to the community. But when you look at folks like state representatives or state senators, even school systems and public parks, voters sway the decisions of the office holders. Why fund a park or help a school where most of the people cannot vote? They can’t keep you in office anyway. Those who live in such communities that can vote find themselves and their needs being ignored more and more.”

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