In a reflection of how law does not take into account human factors, or emotions, a teenage girl was placed in the horrendous position of having to choose between the country where she was born, and her parents (whom she may not be able to physically meet for 5 more years). In a case in Japan, a girl (Noriko Calderon), born to illegal immigrants, was given a choice of staying on in Japan, or returning on with her parents who were getting deported back to the Philippines. Her parents, Filipinos Arlan and Sarah Calderon, were illegal immigrants to Japan in the early 1990′s, who then married in Japan and settled down there, and Noriko was born in Japan, and lived there for all of her young life. She is for all purposes a Japanese citizen (but not legally so, being granted a one year visa that will need to be extended annually), speaking only Japanese, and getting educated in Japan’s schooling system.
However, her life (and that of her parents) was totally turned upside down one day in 2006 when Noriko’s mother (Sarah Calderon) was arrested by authorities and accused of being an illegal immigrant. Her parents fought the legal battle till the end, but Japan is very strict about immigration controls and Noriko’s parents lost in the end, finally being deported. And the decision for Noriko was hers to take (stay or go with her parents) (link to article):

continue reading "Girl forced to choose between parents and country"

In a decision that shocked the Texas State Government, an appellate court decision on the 22dn of May 2008 threw out the Government action in taking away children from their mothers in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints case, whereby the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services had raided the gated compound of the Church (a known polygamist compound where there have been many cases of girls being married off when they were under-age and forced to have sex with their elder husbands) and taken away around more than 400 children from their mothers, giving a reason of their being in constant danger of being forced to marry and have relationships when they are under-age.
So, while this taking of children was being discussed in a somewhat chaotic lower court, an appellate court stepped in (in response to petitions from the mothers) and stopped proceedings in the trial court and ordered the return of children of the 38 mothers who had filed the suit. The decision by the appellate court was a severe indictment of the action of the state, essentially stating that the children were not in the peril that the state claimed; further, continuing news reports of this whole incident pointed out several problems – the state was not able to find the person who supposedly made the complainant, many of the people who were claimed to be underage were actually adult, and so on.

continue reading "Texas appellate court decision on children to be appealed"