DID JOE WILSON MAKE UP STORY ABOUT PRACTICING IMMIGRATION LAW?

[kpete]

DID JOE WILSON MAKE UP STORY ABOUT PRACTICING IMMIGRATION LAW?

Yesterday Congressman Joe Wilson talked to reporters about his claim that the President was lying about immigrants having access to health care subsidies under the President's health care plan. According to the NY Times:

*** “I’m for immigration,” Wilson said, adding that he had been an immigration lawyer, although he did not specify exactly what he had done. “But people who come toour country and violated our laws, we should not be providing full services.”

It struck me immediately that this would be bizarre if true. Going from representing immigrants to being a member of the virulently anti-immigrant Immigration Reform Caucus and getting an A- rating from anti-immigrant group Numbers USA as well as support from the anti-immigrant fundraising group ALIPAC would show a dramatic tranformation in one's views.

I've been practicing immigration law in the South for nearly 20 years and know a lot of my fellow immigration lawyers in this region. I didn't recognize the name Joe Wilson from West Columbia, South Carolina. So I decided to call some of my friends in the Carolina immigration bar - including some from Columbia - and no one is aware of Congressman Wilson ever handling immigration matters.

more:
http://blogs.ilw.com/gregsiskind/2009/09/did-joe-wilson-make-up-story-about-practicing-immigration-law.html

[Raven]

1. Did you check out the SC Bar Association? Is he listed with his

areas of practice?

[ellenfl]

2. not according to his bio . . .

http://www.joewilson.house.gov/

those years that he practiced immigration law . . . was that when he was in the service, when he worked for strom thurmond or in his 17 years in the sc legislature?

i couldn't find him listed with the sc bar association or martindale-hubbell.

ellen fl

[Qutzupalotl]

3. glass houses, stones, etc.

[Lex]

4. HE LIES!

yet again

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

5. Someone could check the AILA database

AILA (American Immigration Lawyers Association) is a group that almost every immigration law practitioner joins who is serious about this area of practice. I'm not sure how far back their membership archives go but it might be worth checking. AILA tends to be a fairly liberal organization.

[intheflow]

6. K&R n/t

[Jim Lane]

7. I'm guessing he was using a very loose definition of "immigration lawyer"

Some speculations about what happened:

1. At the request of a wealthy client of his, he counseled a foreign student who had become friends with the client's kids and who wanted to stay in the U.S. after graduating.

2. Another client of his who owned a restaurant once asked him, "What are my responsibilities about verifying the citizenship/immigration status of a new employee?"

Voila, Joe Wilson, immigration lawyer. The claim wouldn't be outright and demonstrably false, because there's no fixed definition of the term "immigration lawyer".

[Lex]

8. kick