California Immigration Lawyer Blog

Applying for citizenship can be a daunting task because your entire immigration history is reviewed at the time you apply for citizenship. It can also be an expensive one because the filing fee with the biometrics is quite expensive at $675.00.

If you are looking for legal assistance with your citizenship application, you are low income and you live in the San Francisco Bay area, you may wish to consider contacting the legal department of Jewish Family and Children's Services ("JFCS"). The agency provides legal assistance with a variety of family based immigration petitions and applications. The staff also assists people with applying for citizenship and disability waivers (Form N-648). They do an outstanding job and as recognition of their work in the community, United States and Citizenship Services ("USCIS") just awarded them a grantfor the purpose of citizenship assistance and education.

For legal immigration assistance, you may check out their citizenship services websiste or call the emigre department of JFCS at (415) 449-2900.

I recently wrote a post about a proposal pending in front of the Solano County Board of Supervisors that recommends that the Board limit funding to La Clinica de la Raza in Vallejo to only Solano County residents who have proof of citizenship or legal residency. I indicated in my post that the Board was going to vote on the proposal on September 22, 2009. This date has now been changed. The Board is now going to vote on the proposal at their meeting scheduled for October 6, 2009.

I have received a copy of the actual report issued by the "watch dog" group that recommended the cut in funding. It turns out that the recommendation was made by the Solano County Grand Jury. Apparently the Grand Jury received a complaint from a "citizen" (although the report does not indicate how they verified the citizenship of this individual) about Solano County providing funding to the clinic because the clinic provides services to illegal aliens. The Grand Jury decided to investigate the complaint. Based on their investigation, the Grand Jury recommended that the County contributions (of $100,000 each year for three years) be limited to "serving only Solano County residents who have proof of citizenship or legal residency."

In my opinion there is a lot that is wrong with the recommendation morally and socially, but I wish to focus on the immigration aspect of it for this post. Basically it is my opinion that a verification requirement of immigration status will create an unworkable and bureaucratic mess for the following reasons.

Continue reading " Update on proposal to limit funding to La Clinica De La Raza in Solano County " »

Today was a day where everything worked out the way it should have. I represented two individuals at their naturalization interviews at the San Francisco district office. My clients, husband and wife, are both severely disabled. They could not learn history and English because of their disabilities. We filed their applications for naturalization (Form N-400) along with waivers of the English and history requirements (officially called Medical Certification for Disability Exceptions, Form N-648),

I have had my share of battles with USCIS officers over N-648s so I expected today to be no different. I was pleasantly surprised today. In both situations, the officers had read the N-648s and approved them without incident. Just as importantly, the USCIS officers treated my clients in a respectful and understanding manner. Today the officers seemed to understand that my clients were disabled and were willing to work with them to adjudicate their applications.

And for the best part, USCIS agreed to administer administrative oaths to my clients today so that they would not have to travel to the oath ceremony.

I am very pleased at how the day worked out. I had represented my clients in their very first applications with USCIS and now I have seen them all the way through the immigration process. It is has been a rewarding experience.

If your experience with the N-648 process has not been good or you are concerned about the adjudications of N-648s in general, you may be interested in an upcoming meeting/teleconference sponsored by the USCIS on the N-648. On October 8, USCIS will be soliciting views from the public about the adjudication of Form N-648 and will be seeking suggestions on how to improve the process.

I am a member of the Legislative Affairs Committee of the Benicia Chamber of Commerce. We periodically invite federal and Solano County legislators and their aides to our committee meetings to update us on local issues that impact business owners and residents of Benicia. I enjoy being on the committee because I get a real feel for what is happening in the city.

On Wednesday, September 9, the legislative aides for Congressman George Miller and Solano County Supervisor Linda Seifert spoke at our meeting. One of the issues they spoke about was the existence of La Clinica North Vallejo. The health clinic was established in November 2008 to provide urgent and primary care to the community's low income and uninsured population. The clinic is situated across the street from Sutter Solano Hospital and is funded in part by Sutter Solano, Kaiser Vallejo and Solano County. The idea behind the establishment of the clinic and the location of the clinic was to provide care for patients who were going to the emergency room in the hospitals. It is more cost effective for people to go to a clinic and receive preventive care than to show up at an emergency room for something that could have been prevented. Some of the clients who I see in my Benicia Social Security practice have been receiving care at La Clinica Vallejo so I was excited to hear about it.

After the meeting I returned to my office and decided to read more about La Clinica North Vallejo. What I learned, surprised me. I did not know that it has become the focus of a debate about illegal immigration. As the Wall Street Journal recently reported, the clinic has been criticized for providing care to undocumented residents. A "watchdog group" (unidentified in the article) has released a report advising the county that the clinic should only serve residents who have proof of citizenship or legal residency. According to the article, the County board of supervisors and the County health director have 90 days to respond to their report.

Continue reading " Immigration and health care debate hits Vallejo " »

Today Immigration Customs and Enforcement ("ICE") announced an arrangement with Imperial County Sheriff's Department in which individuals during the booking process will have their biometric data checked with Department of Homeland Security ("DHS") data and FBI data to determine whether or not they are in the United States illegally. When a person's fingerprints match those of someone in DHS' biometric data system, ICE is automatically notified. ICE will then take steps to determine the individual's immigration status and then take appropriate action after the offender completes his or her prison term.

ICE already has agreements with Los Angeles County and San Diego County. Nationwide coverage is expected by 2013.

While it may sound odd for an immigration attorney to talk about free legal assistance, I am devoting this post to that very topic. Sometimes it is just not possible for to pay for legal services - especially when trying to file for political asylum in the United States. Political asylum applicants have it the hardest. They have escaped from their country of persecution with little money. They may have been tortured in their country and just needed to get out. They do not have money to hire an attorney, yet, it is difficult to win asylum in the United States without a lawyer. Understanding the asylum laws and how to meet your burden of proof are difficult and complex concepts such that I would strongly urge an applicant to hire an attorney. Fortunately for us in the San Francisco Bay Area, there is an organization that can help.

The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area has an asylum program in which they will help an applicant find an attorney to take on the case. First, the Lawyers' Committee staff will interview potential applicants. If the potential applicant has a legitimate case and really no source of income, the asylum program staff will then find a volunteer attorney to take on the case. The volunteer attorney may or may not have experience in asylum law but the Lawyers' Committee staff will assign a mentor attorney to the volunteer attorney so the volunteer will have someone whom to direct questions. It is a terrific system. Applicants receive great quality representation.

For those of us who are immigration attorneys, most of us started out our career by taking pro bono asylum cases through the Lawyers' Committee. It was a terrific resource for me when I first began. I received free training, great resource materials and I was paired up with a volunteer mentor attorney and interpreter. It was exciting to work on a real case and feel that I had a great deal of support.

If you are interested in obtaining free legal help for your asylum case and you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, you may call the Lawyers' Committee and ask to speak to someone in the asylum program. Their phone number is (415) 543-9444.