ICE has decided not to deport Harvard student Eric Balderas after all. They are going to put him on deferred action status.

Balderas has lived here since the age of 4. He was detained and given a summons to show up for the beginning of removal proceedings when he was boarding a flight from San Antonio, where his mother lives, back to Boston.

These cases illustrate the need for comprehensive immigration reform. ICE is focused on smart, effective immigration enforcement that focuses first on criminal aliens who pose a threat to our communities while we continue to work with Congress to enact reform,” ICE spokeswoman Cori Bassett said. “ICE uses its discretion on a case-by-case basis, as appropriate, and has the authority to grant a deferral of a removal action based upon the merits of an individual’s case and a review of specific facts.”

None of the articles say whether his mother is a citizen. I hope ICE also leaves her alone.

It's time for Congress to get busy and pass the DREAM Act.

DemfromCt celebrates this CNN poll finding:

According to the poll, opposition to increased offshore drilling has grown 10 points since May and is now twice as high as it was in 2008. Fifty-eight percent of those questioned support a six-month moratorium on new drilling in the Gulf and other offshore sites; 68 percent favor increased regulation of the oil industry in this country.

DemfromCt appears to want to attribute this result to President Obama's speech:

World Cup -- The Netherlands beat Japan 1-0. Ghana faces Australia now. Cameroon faces Denmark later. I like Australia and Cameroon.

Golf -- The US Open is at Pebble Beach, a beautiful place. Phil Mickelson is just 2 shots back after shooting 66 yesterday.

Tennis -- Wimbledon starts on Monday.Nadal looked great in Paris and is now No. 1 again. Roger Federer is still the favorite in Wimbledon.

Cycling -- Lance Armstrong rides a time trial on Sunday in the Tour of Switzerland that should tell us a lot about whether Lance has a chance in the Tour de France, which starts July 3.

Open Thread.

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff announced his giving the go-ahead for Ronnie Lee Gardner's execution last night in real-time on Twitter.

What progress (not), we've moved from the Executioner's Song to the Executioner's Tweet. "Firing Squad" is now trending on Twitter. At least he didn't post a twit-pic.

What a big black eye for Utah and the U.S. As I wrote last night, even Vietnam outlawed death by firing squad this week.

Go Algeria! Beat England!

Open Thread.

FINAL 2-2. Great comeback win even though it goes in the books as a 2-2 draw. Now to root for Algeria against England.. What a terrible referee.

Bump and Update: Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed by firing squad just after midnight. He was dead at 12:20.

Bump and Update: The Supreme Court denied a stay Thursday Night. Justices Stephen Breyer and John Paul Stevens, would have granted the request for a stay. At 9:30 pm:

all communication from clergy, attorneys and others was cut off. Gardner continued watching movies at that point. He was 90 feet from the death chamber.

Barbarism is alive and well in the United States.

Barring a last minute reprieve, Ronnie Lee Gardner will be executed by a firing squad in Utah just after midnight. He has eaten his last meal and intends to fast until then. Here's how it will go down:

U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth has recused himself from the habeas case of Guantanamo detainee Abdal Razik Ali.

In a nutshell, Judge Lamberth, in an interview with Pro Publica, discussed how judges were weighing the risks of releasing detainees. He was quoted as saying, not with respect to any particular detainee:

"How confident can I be that if I make the wrong choice that he won’t be the one that blows up the Washington Monument or the Capitol?"

Ali's lawyer filed a motion to recuse him. [More...]

Shahzad Faisal, accused of planning to explode a car bomb in Times Square, has been indicted on terror charges. The Indictment is here.

The Indictment alleges Faisal conspired with a Pakistani Taliban group called Tehrik-e-Taliban. It says someone Faisal knew in Pakistan, who worked for that group, wired money that ended up with Faisal. (It's not clear whether the money was wired directly to Faisal or whether it was wired to a third person who then gave Faisal the cash.)

[The Indictment] said Shahzad received approximately $5,000 in cash in Massachusetts on Feb. 25 from a co-conspirator in Pakistan whom Shahzad understood worked for Tehrik-e-Taliban.

Approximately six weeks later, on April 10, 2010, Shahzad received an $7,000 more in cash in Ronkonkoma, N.Y., which also was sent at the co-conspirator's direction, the indictment said.

While the Indictment alleges a conspiracy, and says Faisal received terror training in various places, and he and "others known and unknown" intended to cause destruction here, I don't see any allegation that any another specific individual knew what he had planned or when. [More...]

For a series that is going 7, this has been a nondescript and uninteresting series. Perhaps it has do with not having a rooting interest (dislike both teams.) But I've watched the games and they have simply been boring.

The other problem for me is I detest the announcers, particularly Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson. My gawd are they awful.

I suppose the Lakers will probably win tonight. I can't say that I care much either way.

Open Thread.

Is it an exaggeration to say that the USA's game with Slovenia tomorrow is its most important since its knockout round win over Mexico in 2002? I do not think so.

Off of a lucky draw with England in its first match, the USA can virtually assure itself of getting through to the round of 16 with a win over Slovenia tomorrow. A loss would almost certainly knock them out. A draw would force a USA win in its third game, against Algeria to even have a chance to go through.

Should the USA win this game? Yes. Because the USA should win, this becomes a huge, pressure filled game. I hope Bob Bradley puts the right team on the field. I thought he did not in the game against England. On the flip,what I think Bradley should do.

ICE has an image problem. The Washington Post reports the agency is making changes and hopes to fix it.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will realign its duties to promote criminal investigations over immigrant deportation, officials have announced.

By streamlining and renaming several offices, officials hope to highlight the agency's counterterrorism, money laundering and other complex criminal investigations and in the process "re-brand" ICE, turning the public -- and political -- spotlight away from its immigration work.

Here's the memo that went out to ICE employees last week.