Dropped boyfriend off at airport this morning, he's off to Cannes.
I want May 10 to be marked as a very important date. Beside it being mother's day in Mexico - we still celebrate it on the 10th in my house, we had the honor and fortune to meet my hero.
Monday was a ridiculously long day. The wait to see her was about an hour and a half, since we weren't already clients of hers we were just squeezed in between her other appts. Initially I got the impression she wasted too much time. But once I was sitting in her office I realized it was a proper use of time. She could probably use some help focusing on one thing, but don't let me get ahead of myself, I'll explain her ways.
Of course the last encounter we'd had earlier on Monday wasn't great, but it gave me sooo much more hope just knowing that my hero is an actual Attorney, with real credentials. It sucks so much that I'm coming off elitist but this is some serious business and I can't have more people pretending to know what they're talking about, claiming to be experts in the matter. I've had that for 20yrs now, my hero seems to be the one who's going to bring this non-sense to an end.
As she was reading through the packet that had been compiled by the office of "attorney" jerkface, she starts shaking her head in disapproval, starts saying how he should've quoted this and that. In conclusion the motion to reopen was poorly written, she was very professional as she did not call him an idiot, I can because this isn't the first proof of his incompetence in dealing properly with my case.
After reading the packet, she goes, 'hold on I gotta call my friend, he's an expert with situations like these'. Ends up on the phone for maybe 20mins, where she discusses the details of my circumstance, they go back and forth on what the best options are, they come to a conclusion on my case. She then continues on to some other case she has sitting on her desk. Initially I was adamant about her, but her calling up a colleague whom she obviously trusts in and has great respect for the work they do, I change my mind.
She tells us there are three options from where I'm standing. Post-motion to reopen denial, you have three options, 1) file an appeal to the 9th circuit court of appeals, 2) ask the court to reconsider their decision, or 3) do a joint motion to reopen. Explains that she does not believe the first two options will result in a positive outcome for me as 1)in appeals to the 9th circuit an attorney can only expand on information already presented in the motion to reopen, so it leaves very little probability that the 9th circuit court of appeals will tell the regular court decision that they were wrong, 2) asking the court to reconsider, come on, the court is not about to take back a decision they've already settled on, very rarely does this happen. She tells me those are still options, but if I choose for either of those she cannot help us with that so we can take that process to another attorney.
The joint motion to reopen however, she says is the one thing she would do for us if we hire her. A joint motion to reopen entails the attorney having a one-on-one with the Chief Counsel of Immigration. This allows the attorney to personally speak to the head honcho of immigration courts in the Los Angeles district, and present to him the reasons why I deserve to have my case reopened. Notice that it's not, "present to him the reasons why my case deserves to be reopened". She gets to talk about the one thing that has been overlooked through this entire time, the person affected by every single decision the court has taken up to this point. Doing a joint motion to reopen allows for a humanitarian factor. She gets to talk about the girl who's been making appearances in court since she was 9, was given an oder of deportation at the age of 15. Also, something I couldn't understand why it didn't matter, how good a student I am, how I'm exactly what most US citizens are expected to be . . . I'm not trying to be full of myself. I'm just trying to get you to see how dehumanized a person becomes when decisions are being taken by the courts. You are just an A#, just a case.
After explaining to us that she knows the man (top guy in immigration in LA), and that she will hunt him down to set down an appt, I'm just in awe. My head has been spinning while my heart is trying to jump out of me since the minute she started shaking her head as she was reading the motion to reopen, full of frustration and then awe in how much enthusiasm, determination and focus this woman has. I've never encountered someone so straight forward in this matter of immigration. Of course I haven't been totally present up until we started dealing the last "attorney" jerkface, realize that I wasn't fully aware of the gravity of the situation until I started the application process for college. My parents tried really hard to keep me from the stress and emotional game these matters have on people.
But back to the present. Attorney my hero will be handling things for me now. The money was taken to her office today.
My dad got into talking about how hard its been for me since leaving college, and once she heard how I managed to get through college, and that I already have my B.A., she goes, omg now I'm so pumped up I am so making this happen for you! I believe her so much, and I hope this finally comes through . . . I don't know that I could recover from the high I'm on right now bc of her words.
Originally Posted: Tuesday, May 11, 2010 at 10:04am
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