Sin Papeles: Life without papers

Documents have become a gatekeeper to living and working in the United States. Liz Hoffman reports on the importance of having papers, and the commerce that's developed to serve it.

An Iranian odyssey: A Chicago lawyer looks back

Azita Mojarad was 13 years old in 1978 when she and her parents left their home in Tehran for Chicago. Follow her on her odyssey through immigration channels as she abandons Chicago to avoid deportation, flees from Iran again, this time on foot and horseback to Turkey, moves to Sweden from where she left under a false Italian passport to get into West Germany, then into Austria, much of the time as an illegal immigrant. Liz Hoffman catches up with her in Chicago where she is an immigration lawyer helping others navigate the vagaries of international migration.

The screen of Chicago's immigration courts

The glistening five-story building at 101 W. Congress Pkwy. in Chicago is home to the Department of Homeland Security's immigration offices and courts. As Liz Hoffman reports, it's also the home far away from home for immigrant detainees whose deportation cases are heard there using videoconferencing that has them trying to penetrate the legal process from miles away.

Holder's ruling, though narrow, draws hope, backlash from both sides of immigration debate


A ruling from Attorney General Eric Holder earlier this month has both sides of the immigration debate talking. Though the decision was narrow -- simply vacating an earlier decision by former Attorney General Michael Mukasey -- it has people again talking about what rights immigrants are guaranteed in court -- and what the Obama administration might have in store.

Fake IDs: A forged fact of life in Little Village

Come with us to Little Village in Chicago, to the intersection of street life and social security numbers. Listen in. 

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Liz Hoffman
For the People....around Chicago
Medill Reports on what's working and what's not.

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