It’s a double whammy.
Over the past decade, costs for immigration programs have increased. At the same time eligibility restrictions on green card and work authorization have tightened.
For some immigrant and mixed-status families, the financial burden is insurmountable. This, of course, makes the legal obstacles more difficult to overcome.
I often wonder what happened to clients who did not hire me.
A few weeks ago, for example, a young woman came into my office seeking information about what to do for an upcoming green card interview with USCIS.
She had only been married a short while when her husband filed an immigrant petition for her. She had legally entered on a visitor visa. She let it lapse.
They had filed on their own. The couple ignored considering why hiring an immigration lawyer might be necessary.
I am strongly pro-immigrant. I want immigrants, especially from poorer countries, to have the same opportunities as those of us from richer nations.
But I’m torn on the issue of professional visas.
My discomfort arises from the dog-eat-dog attitude displayed by some immigration lawyers.
The Second Cooler is a documentary about illegal migration shot primarily in Alabama, Arizona, and in northern and central Mexico.
The documentary’s producer, Ellin Jimmerson, seeks to bring migration issues into clearer focus for the American public.
Perhaps if immigrant advocates switch tracks, we may still be able to achieve immigration reform in this millennium.
Instead of pushing for a holistic approach to immigration reform, we might ask ourselves, in a sliding scale of political possibilities, “For whom could immigration reform be passed?”
Sure, this is the back way into the house of immigration reform.
That Time American Women Lost Their Citizenship Because They Married Foreigners
Over the past 36+ months, I have watched the Trump Administration tighten restrictions against legal immigration over and over ago.
It’s gotten to the point that I now wonder, like the Limbo, how low can he go?
Actually, things could be worse.
Immigration fraud is a silent epidemic. The effect goes far beyond the money stolen from immigrants under the false pretense of helping them.
Immigration fraud destroys the dreams of hard-working immigrants and their families.
The exact number of victims are unknown.
“There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”
I was a teenager when I first heard those words. It was a sad moment. Ted Kennedy, the youngest of the three Kennedy brothers, was giving the eulogy at his brother’s funeral.
The evening before Robert was shot and killed in Los Angeles, I had shaken his hand as he toured Southeast San Diego in an open motorcade.
Given the uncertain future of immigration programs, preparation and planning ahead are perhaps the two most essential elements for immigration success.
For many immigrants, the quest to live and work legally in the United States has been an incessant roller coaster ride.
One day, immigration reform is just around the corner. A day later, reform is just another word, void of practical meaning.
Humane Borders is a non-profit organization which offers assistance to migrants in need through the deployment of emergency water stations on routes used by those coming north through the desert.
Located in Tucson, Arizona, Humane Borders was founded in June 2000 to create a safe and death free border environment. The strength of its efforts rely on its vast volunteer membership of more than 1,500 indivduals and private donations.
211 N. State Street, Ste. 210
Hemet, CA 92543
Tel: (951) 929-0782
Click for directions
198 N. Arrowhead Avenue
San Bernardino, CA 92408
Tel: (909) 467-6736
Click for directions
