On Fox4 News last night, the attorney opined that Federal District Court Judge Jon S. Tigar was right to enjoin the imposition of Pres. Trump's proclamation forbidding border-jumpers from seeking asylum. The injunction rests firmly upon the legal conclusion that no president may override, by proclamation, the clear command of Congress to permit aliens to apply for asylum "whether or not at a designated port of arrival."

On November 17, the Dallas Morning News published the attorney's letter to the editor repudiating Pres. Trump's baseless claim that Central Americans' asylum claims are "bogus." The letter concludes, "We dispatch whole families back to all-but-certain death because we split hairs over whether they'll die for the right reason. These aren't 'bogus' claims. They're genuine claims denied for bogus reasons."

On October 23, 2018 the Dallas Chapter of the United Nations Association of the USA named Mr. Zoltan one of seven 2018 Global Goals, Local Leader Honorees for his efforts to defend human rights and "advance gender equality, immigration reform, humanitarianism, [and] democracy."

For the third time since 2008, the State Bar of Texas suspended the license of immigration attorney Angel Ottoniel Cruz. He must "actively" serve the first 12 of the 36-month suspension, forgoing all practice of law until August 17, 2019. As reported in the November edition of the Texas Bar Journal, an evidentiary panel of the District 6 Grievance Committee found he had (1) violated his earlier suspension by practicing law while forbidden from doing so and (2) failed to timely respond to the panel when notified of the suspected breach. In addition to his suspension, Mr. Cruz must pay $850 in attorneys' fees and $438 in direct expenses. 

On September 26, the Dallas Bar Association Immigration Law Section awarded Paul Zoltan its first annual Lifetime Achievement Award, honoring him for ongoing community engagement, including 

• Co-founding and assisting in the administration of the Refugee Support Network, a consortium that helps unrepresented Central American refugees present claims for asylum;
• Co-founding and assisting in the administration of a recently-established initiative to determine the scope of due process violations in Dallas Immigration Court; and
• Presenting on hundreds of occasions a “Silence is Golden” program, teaching immigrants of their rights under Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

The DBA recognized him also for past contributions, including

• Serving the American Immigration Lawyers Association as Liaison with the Houston Asylum Office and, for over a decade, Coordinator of the Dallas AILA section;
• Chairing the District 6A Grievance Committee for the Texas Bar, the advisory board of the Dallas office of the International Rescue Committee, and the boards of directors of Proyecto Adelante and the Center for Survivors of Torture; and
• Teaching both Immigration Law and Legal Writing and Reasoning at the University of Texas at Dallas.