Friends,
I have been involved in many events recently where members of the general public have had the opportunity to learn about immigration. Some events have been inspired
by Christian films, others by
those in the community seeking justice, but the similarities are there - people are interested in immigration issues, immigrants, and those in need of a voice, but many people do not know exactly how our immigration laws work. We have seen this on the news as people are told to "wait in line for a visa". We hear this on the radio as the President promises over and over again to do something for these voiceless people. But if most Americans knew the stories of the individuals, I think more people would become interested in Immigration Reform and the need to change our system.
Allow me to share some of their stories with you....
One story we have seen play over and over and over again are the asylees coming up from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala (this is a whole other issue you can read about
here). The asylum seekers are children, or children and mothers, and are people who are escaping the terrible conditions in their country. Conditions where
gangs are a real danger that governments are unwilling or
unable to control. Children who are abused and beaten, who run away from the people who do this, but who are brought back by the gangs in return for money or a favor from the abuser. Children who do not speak the language of this country, who need real assistance - food, clothing, legal help - and are instead finding themselves
locked up in prisons in
horrific conditions. Once the asylum seekers are in the system, it can then take months for a first hearing, then the next one is set six months, maybe even 18 months out. And although after 6 months, the U.S. government will allow them to work, this can take a very long time. This can be even longer when you move a client to a closer court (because all the first hearings are usually set in a Texas court), and while the paperwork is moving, that 6 months clock (EAD clock) is paused and everything is at the discretion of the (overworked) court to begin the clock again. And on top of all that, even if the asylee is able to stay in the United States while they are waiting, everything is so uncertain. Imagine living and just waiting to find out if you will be allowed to stay in the country, or kicked out. Would you put down roots? Would you try to make the area your home? It can be an incredibly difficult, uncertain period of time for these already downtrodden, often abused, scared minors.
As a person, as a mother, my heart hurts for these children. As a lawyer, I am able to do something about it and help represent them. But unfortunately there is another reality so many immigration lawyers are facing here as well - it takes a lot of work to represent an asylee well. Most of these asylum seekers have no money - they used everything they had just to get to the United States. And now they have nothing. Pro Bono work is a truly wonderful gift that the attorney bar can give back to their communities, but it can be difficult for many immigration attorneys (because this is work most regular lawyers cannot undertake) to commit themselves to a full-time pro bono job.
So we look to other clients as well. Now I know that most areas of the law are depressing - people only come to lawyers when they have problems! But sometimes immigration law can be so sad. Our second most common type of client is an immigrant who has come over the border without inspection - you may hear them called "undocumented". They have lived here for 20 years, working, paying taxes, having a family, creating a life. And they live every day knowing that Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents (ICE) could pick them up at any time and deport them. These are people who have not been back to their home country for so long - this is their home. The United States is their home now. Now DACA (Deferred Action) is a process that the government has put in place which defers deportation for kids who have been brought over in the past fifteen years or so and attend high school in the U.S. and this is a program which helps this situation for younger people. But older immigrants - ones who have children here - U.S. citizen children - are forced to
live in the shadows. When their child turns 21, they may have a pathway to a greencard - but they will still be subject to the 10 year bar punishment for crossing without inspection. And usually there is nothing we can do for them. We try - we run through all the options available (not many), we get creative, we think about all the options. But if someone who lives like this is picked up by ICE, there is often no legal remedy for them. No line, no waiting list, nothing.
The goods news is that this job is not all sad news and depressing situations. We do have the opportunity to help people obtain legal status in the United States. We recently helped a couple who had attended university here - a citizen and a non-citizen - and they are on their path to permanent residency based on the citizenship marriage. The non-citizen has received work authorization after 70 days of submitting the application (which we see as a good thing...but it also means that the NC has been unable to work for the past two months and just had to sit around and wait), and after their interview, a greencard should be authorized. And stories like that are great, and as we watch our clients receive greencards, or gain citizenship, we are pleased that we were able to help them on this path. It is very exciting. But as
so many sources tell us, the numbers of paths to legal status are limited.
The number of
work visas available has become a lottery system in which only 50% of employees whose companies have legitimate claims that only this immigrant can do the job (no American can) are given the visa. The
waiting time for those who are not immediate relatives (but still eligible for a greencard) can run fifteen, twenty years back - if you applied for your brother or sister in the Philippines to come to the United States, USCIS is just now allowing applicants from 1991.
Writing this, I have realized there is so much more to say, so we will continue with our discussion in the future and share more stories with you. But hopefully now you will be a little more informed about some scenarios that immigrants can face when they enter the United States - as an asylee, just crossing the border, or if they are lucky enough to fall in love here. We need #immigrationreform. Please help us advocate after this election - #congress needs to #dosomething.
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