00:00:00.276 --> 00:00:02.693
(soft music)

00:00:07.080 --> 00:00:08.633
- [Araceli] You ready?
- [Man] Yeah.

00:00:09.780 --> 00:00:12.570
- So what we're gonna do today's practice,

00:00:12.570 --> 00:00:14.508
your citizenship interview.

00:00:14.508 --> 00:00:15.570
- Okay.

00:00:15.570 --> 00:00:19.681
- And you became a lawful
permanent resident when?

00:00:19.681 --> 00:00:20.800
- 1963.

00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:23.190
- Okay, so it was May 4th, 1963.

00:00:23.190 --> 00:00:24.750
- May 4th, 1963.

00:00:24.750 --> 00:00:26.350
- And what country are you from?

00:00:27.840 --> 00:00:28.673
- Mexico.

00:00:29.580 --> 00:00:31.560
- Have you ever registered to vote?

00:00:31.560 --> 00:00:32.670
- No.

00:00:32.670 --> 00:00:35.670
- Have you ever voted?
- No.

00:00:35.670 --> 00:00:37.680
- And are you part of the communist party,

00:00:37.680 --> 00:00:39.390
or have you ever been?
- No.

00:00:39.390 --> 00:00:40.980
- How about the totalitarian party,

00:00:40.980 --> 00:00:42.450
or a terrorist organization?

00:00:42.450 --> 00:00:43.710
- No.

00:00:43.710 --> 00:00:46.200
- Have you ever been associated
with a military unit,

00:00:46.200 --> 00:00:48.540
a paramilitary unit, a police unit?

00:00:48.540 --> 00:00:49.373
- No.

00:00:49.373 --> 00:00:51.210
- A rebel group?
- Nope.

00:00:51.210 --> 00:00:52.160
- A militia?
- No.

00:00:53.340 --> 00:00:55.680
- Have you ever been charged
with committing a crime?

00:00:55.680 --> 00:00:56.513
- Yes.

00:00:56.513 --> 00:00:58.680
- Have you ever been convicted of a crime?

00:00:58.680 --> 00:00:59.970
- Yes.

00:00:59.970 --> 00:01:02.430
- What could happen is that they deny it,

00:01:02.430 --> 00:01:05.880
and we need to go see a
judge in immigration court.

00:01:05.880 --> 00:01:08.283
We've known this since we started, okay.

00:01:10.110 --> 00:01:12.810
We could move on, and then
we'll review your minute order

00:01:12.810 --> 00:01:14.643
so we know exactly what happened.

00:01:19.470 --> 00:01:21.843
- [Man] Right now I'm
still doing the lend.

00:01:23.070 --> 00:01:25.080
- We do what we can before,

00:01:25.080 --> 00:01:29.250
but make sure to take a break.

00:01:29.250 --> 00:01:30.400
- [Man] Yeah.
- Right.

00:01:31.590 --> 00:01:33.480
- [Radio presenter] You
know and you're right.

00:01:33.480 --> 00:01:35.580
The administration's been
trying a lot of ways to do this

00:01:35.580 --> 00:01:37.620
to discourage more migrants from coming.

00:01:37.620 --> 00:01:39.930
Many of those ways have
been blocked in court.

00:01:39.930 --> 00:01:42.510
A few have succeeded, but
many more have been blocked.

00:01:42.510 --> 00:01:43.560
- [Araceli] I'm home.

00:01:48.101 --> 00:01:51.630
(speaking foreign language)

00:01:51.630 --> 00:01:53.803
- Kinda like this and then like this.

00:01:53.803 --> 00:01:55.560
- [Araceli] I was just following
up to see if you're calling

00:01:55.560 --> 00:01:57.760
to make an appointment
to come to my office.

00:02:04.620 --> 00:02:07.530
Being a solo practitioner
can be very lonely,

00:02:07.530 --> 00:02:10.953
but I have the support group
of immigration attorneys.

00:02:11.865 --> 00:02:14.448
(message tone)

00:02:33.687 --> 00:02:37.170
We all started working
at the same law firm.

00:02:37.170 --> 00:02:39.423
Eventually each one of us left.

00:02:40.680 --> 00:02:42.810
We're all scattered a little bit in LA,

00:02:42.810 --> 00:02:46.383
but through that text,
we closer than ever.

00:02:49.275 --> 00:02:51.692
(soft music)

00:03:10.566 --> 00:03:13.649
(indistinct chatter)

00:03:18.540 --> 00:03:20.286
- Run in the van honey.

00:03:20.286 --> 00:03:22.703
(soft music)

00:03:26.010 --> 00:03:28.020
- This is my mother's father.

00:03:28.020 --> 00:03:32.040
And this card is the card
that Debra Zeroz would get

00:03:32.040 --> 00:03:35.220
in the program where
they would bring Mexicans

00:03:35.220 --> 00:03:39.720
over to work the agricultural
fields for a season.

00:03:39.720 --> 00:03:44.703
And then next to it is once
he actually got a green card.

00:03:45.690 --> 00:03:47.943
So here they sit on my desk.

00:03:53.550 --> 00:03:56.490
I'm the eldest in the
group in terms of age

00:03:56.490 --> 00:03:58.203
and lawyer years.

00:03:59.430 --> 00:04:01.620
I'd gotten to a level where I felt

00:04:01.620 --> 00:04:05.340
like I had seen mostly every type of case.

00:04:05.340 --> 00:04:08.460
I had a strategy for
almost every type of case.

00:04:08.460 --> 00:04:12.300
Come the new administration
with its policy changes,

00:04:12.300 --> 00:04:15.000
I really started to feel
like a rookie attorney again.

00:04:16.408 --> 00:04:18.991
(message tone)

00:04:29.498 --> 00:04:32.910
(indistinct conversations)

00:04:32.910 --> 00:04:34.770
Most of us are first generation.

00:04:34.770 --> 00:04:37.410
We're all Mexican, very,
very intimately tied

00:04:37.410 --> 00:04:38.523
with our roots.

00:04:39.900 --> 00:04:43.800
I'm probably perceived as
the mother hen of the group.

00:04:43.800 --> 00:04:45.510
- Who got vegetable frittata?

00:04:45.510 --> 00:04:47.130
- Me.
- You do.

00:04:47.130 --> 00:04:49.020
- Where's the fancy taco place?

00:04:49.020 --> 00:04:49.853
- It's by the coast,

00:04:49.853 --> 00:04:51.510
somewhere where they got a Michelin star.

00:04:51.510 --> 00:04:52.353
- Okay, I was just listening.

00:04:52.353 --> 00:04:54.903
- Shut up, a taco bar got a Michelin star?

00:04:54.903 --> 00:04:55.736
- Yeah, yeah.

00:04:55.736 --> 00:04:57.300
- Mariscos Jalisco got a Michelin star.

00:04:57.300 --> 00:04:58.440
- What?

00:04:58.440 --> 00:05:01.155
- [Alma] Gladdys is an
amazing, amazing networker.

00:05:01.155 --> 00:05:02.400
(Gladdys laughing)

00:05:02.400 --> 00:05:07.400
Jose is always one to
bring comedic relief.

00:05:07.710 --> 00:05:11.460
Elizabeth is a great
sounding board for strategy.

00:05:11.460 --> 00:05:13.920
- And they're like, no,
it's not a qualifying.

00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:16.200
- Araceli brings just the freshness

00:05:16.200 --> 00:05:18.708
of a new practitioner of immigration law.

00:05:18.708 --> 00:05:21.791
(singing in Spanish)

00:05:28.089 --> 00:05:29.370
- So Comorgan, my client that wants

00:05:29.370 --> 00:05:31.796
to file that (speaking Spanish)

00:05:31.796 --> 00:05:33.510
'Cause I told her, I'm like, look,

00:05:33.510 --> 00:05:36.030
these cases are getting
dragged out for years,

00:05:36.030 --> 00:05:36.960
they're getting denied,

00:05:36.960 --> 00:05:39.010
you're gonna be sent in front of a judge.

00:05:44.670 --> 00:05:45.503
Bye Sheila.

00:05:51.390 --> 00:05:52.920
- [Radio presenter] President
Trump is holding a meeting

00:05:52.920 --> 00:05:55.037
this afternoon where the 227.

00:05:55.037 --> 00:05:56.677
- Sheila asked me this morning,

00:05:56.677 --> 00:05:58.437
"Why do people need papers?"

00:06:00.420 --> 00:06:02.640
'Cause I said, "Wish me luck,

00:06:02.640 --> 00:06:05.369
I'm gonna try to get this person papers."

00:06:05.369 --> 00:06:07.317
Why do people need papers?

00:06:07.317 --> 00:06:09.423
And she said stupid laws.

00:06:13.740 --> 00:06:17.430
This is a sibling to sibling
petition that's been pending

00:06:17.430 --> 00:06:22.430
since 1998, I believe, or 1997.

00:06:22.860 --> 00:06:26.250
So this is like a prime
example of these lines

00:06:26.250 --> 00:06:28.680
that everybody talks
about, just get in line,

00:06:28.680 --> 00:06:29.760
just do it legally.

00:06:29.760 --> 00:06:33.210
Yeah, well it took 21 years
for this person to do it

00:06:33.210 --> 00:06:34.113
the right way.

00:06:37.080 --> 00:06:40.660
They're not even letting
people in the building yet.

00:06:43.243 --> 00:06:45.660
(soft music)

00:06:49.617 --> 00:06:52.200
(message tone)

00:07:24.488 --> 00:07:27.405
(speaking Spanish)

00:08:20.106 --> 00:08:22.689
(message tone)

00:08:33.703 --> 00:08:36.120
- I still have family
members who are undocumented

00:08:36.120 --> 00:08:39.333
so it's not something abstract
for me, it's very personal.

00:08:41.490 --> 00:08:42.750
You kind of feel like
you're always waiting

00:08:42.750 --> 00:08:43.920
for the other shoe to drop.

00:08:43.920 --> 00:08:47.700
You never know when is
something that he tweets

00:08:47.700 --> 00:08:51.870
is going to become policy
that affects my family,

00:08:51.870 --> 00:08:53.613
that affects my community.

00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:08.040
- Turkey, Armenia, Japan, Fiji.

00:09:08.040 --> 00:09:10.170
Yeah, clients come in, they
think those are the places

00:09:10.170 --> 00:09:11.640
of the world that I have traveled to,

00:09:11.640 --> 00:09:14.090
but the pins are where my
clients have come from.

00:09:15.999 --> 00:09:19.915
- Okay.

00:09:19.915 --> 00:09:22.832
(speaking Spanish)

00:10:29.160 --> 00:10:33.300
- There's always that risk
that he could be stuck abroad.

00:10:33.300 --> 00:10:35.670
And that's what keeps you up at night

00:10:35.670 --> 00:10:37.020
when these cases are going.

00:10:39.640 --> 00:10:42.057
(soft music)

00:10:47.736 --> 00:10:50.319
(message tone)

00:10:59.320 --> 00:11:02.570
(plane engine revving)

00:11:11.220 --> 00:11:12.960
- So he's gonna become a citizen?

00:11:12.960 --> 00:11:14.107
- Yes.
- Oh God.

00:11:15.930 --> 00:11:17.880
- In the front, he just
checked off that he passed

00:11:17.880 --> 00:11:20.250
a history test, and
congratulations your application

00:11:20.250 --> 00:11:22.710
is recommended for approval.

00:11:22.710 --> 00:11:26.520
- So save that day and you
should know by maybe next week.

00:11:26.520 --> 00:11:28.050
- [Man] We'll call you.

00:11:28.050 --> 00:11:30.000
- Yeah, I'll get the letter too.

00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:33.854
And then for sure then ask
for the day off at the union.

00:11:33.854 --> 00:11:34.687
- [Man] Oh, well.

00:11:34.687 --> 00:11:35.520
- Take some family members.

00:11:35.520 --> 00:11:36.541
- I'm gonna have the whole weekend.

00:11:36.541 --> 00:11:37.374
(Araceli laughing)

00:11:37.374 --> 00:11:38.970
- 'Cause you're on vacation.

00:11:38.970 --> 00:11:41.580
- Can we see your LPR card?

00:11:41.580 --> 00:11:43.560
- [Man] My parents immigrated in 1963.

00:11:44.610 --> 00:11:48.064
They're all citizens and I
was the last one to holdout.

00:11:48.064 --> 00:11:48.897
Thank you Araceli.

00:11:48.897 --> 00:11:49.730
- You did very good.

00:11:49.730 --> 00:11:50.563
- Thank you very much.

00:11:50.563 --> 00:11:52.113
- Thank you so much, take care.

00:11:58.171 --> 00:11:59.758
(message tone)

00:11:59.758 --> 00:12:02.175
(soft music)

00:12:32.713 --> 00:12:34.500
- I was sitting there
with my client waiting

00:12:34.500 --> 00:12:37.530
for his checklist in the little
room where they bring you in

00:12:37.530 --> 00:12:39.280
when you have a scheduled check in.

00:12:40.530 --> 00:12:42.390
And the officer was
taking a really long time.

00:12:42.390 --> 00:12:44.790
So already I had that feeling
in the pit of my stomach

00:12:44.790 --> 00:12:47.130
that things were not gonna go well.

00:12:47.130 --> 00:12:49.920
And the officer walks in with a paper bag,

00:12:49.920 --> 00:12:53.850
and a baggage claim tag, and a zip tie.

00:12:53.850 --> 00:12:56.310
And so right then I knew, he's like,

00:12:56.310 --> 00:12:58.350
we're gonna take your client into custody.

00:12:58.350 --> 00:13:00.900
And my client just, the look on his face,

00:13:00.900 --> 00:13:05.400
and the color of his face,
just the color was gone.

00:13:05.400 --> 00:13:07.200
He tried to give me his
wife's telephone number,

00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:10.080
and it was absolutely wrong.

00:13:10.080 --> 00:13:12.213
Now I'm getting calls about, hey,

00:13:13.740 --> 00:13:15.870
the wife is struggling
financially 'cause he was

00:13:15.870 --> 00:13:18.570
the only means of support for the family.

00:13:18.570 --> 00:13:20.943
So it's a super tough situation.

00:13:21.780 --> 00:13:24.353
The wife didn't know where
the girls' passports were.

00:13:26.310 --> 00:13:27.360
- How are you?

00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:29.550
- Oh, hanging in there.

00:13:29.550 --> 00:13:30.383
- I hear you.

00:13:31.440 --> 00:13:33.062
How old are, are your
daughters at the school?

00:13:33.062 --> 00:13:34.833
- 12 I'm 16.

00:13:36.900 --> 00:13:39.450
- Have you thought about
what your next move

00:13:39.450 --> 00:13:41.222
is in terms of living.

00:13:41.222 --> 00:13:44.520
- I've been now looking for whatever

00:13:44.520 --> 00:13:48.120
I could find the vrooms,
work, and things like that.

00:13:48.120 --> 00:13:51.513
And it's like, I haven't
been able to find anything.

00:13:55.350 --> 00:13:57.540
- You guys have been my
clients for a long time.

00:13:57.540 --> 00:13:59.370
I know your family, I know your daughters,

00:13:59.370 --> 00:14:02.460
I know your story, and
I know how far he's come

00:14:02.460 --> 00:14:03.720
from where he's been.

00:14:03.720 --> 00:14:06.840
- You know he was doing
what he needed to do.

00:14:06.840 --> 00:14:10.308
He was working, he was
going in, so much fighting,

00:14:10.308 --> 00:14:13.020
and going to courts, and everything.

00:14:13.020 --> 00:14:15.450
And I don't understand it's like

00:14:15.450 --> 00:14:17.400
they give you hope and
your kids are all happy,

00:14:17.400 --> 00:14:18.690
okay, we have this hope.

00:14:18.690 --> 00:14:20.670
And then all of a sudden
you just go in there,

00:14:20.670 --> 00:14:23.163
and they take him away.

00:14:24.360 --> 00:14:28.290
- I can't imagine the
grief, and the sadness

00:14:28.290 --> 00:14:29.880
that you're going through.

00:14:29.880 --> 00:14:33.780
And the only way that I have
been able to understand it

00:14:33.780 --> 00:14:38.780
is that the current administration
has shifted its focus.

00:14:39.420 --> 00:14:42.390
We're continuing his process
towards the green card

00:14:42.390 --> 00:14:45.660
through the petition that
you filed on his behalf.

00:14:45.660 --> 00:14:49.920
So we'll keep up the fight.

00:14:49.920 --> 00:14:51.140
We'll do that, okay?

00:14:51.140 --> 00:14:52.140
- Thank you.

00:14:53.816 --> 00:14:56.399
(message tone)

00:15:05.068 --> 00:15:06.318
- Okay Gladdys,

00:15:07.470 --> 00:15:10.260
so what are your thoughts

00:15:10.260 --> 00:15:12.460
in terms of helping this client

00:15:13.830 --> 00:15:18.150
to basically not be in her
car with her teenage daughters

00:15:18.150 --> 00:15:21.423
within the next week as seems to be the-

00:15:25.267 --> 00:15:26.100
- [Gladdys] The fear

00:15:26.100 --> 00:15:27.930
- The fear, yeah, certainly the risk

00:15:27.930 --> 00:15:30.243
at this point is imminent.

00:15:31.080 --> 00:15:34.950
- [Gladdys] Yeah, so one is
I wanna put you in contact

00:15:34.950 --> 00:15:36.870
with my friend Claudia Medina who works

00:15:36.870 --> 00:15:38.523
for Eviction Defense Network.

00:15:39.510 --> 00:15:43.110
And I'm gonna reach out
to my cousin who works

00:15:43.110 --> 00:15:47.010
on homelessness issues, but
don't use public benefits,

00:15:47.010 --> 00:15:48.810
we're just gonna put your
people on the street.

00:15:48.810 --> 00:15:51.427
- Right, once he does
show up and they ask him,

00:15:51.427 --> 00:15:55.327
"Hey, have you ever received
any public benefits?"

00:15:55.327 --> 00:15:56.160
"Well, no I haven't."

00:15:56.160 --> 00:15:57.487
"But has your family?"

00:15:57.487 --> 00:15:58.920
"Well, I got deported,

00:15:58.920 --> 00:16:01.467
therefore my wife had
to, you know, whatever."

00:16:02.880 --> 00:16:05.343
I can't even allow my mind
to go there right now.

00:16:06.302 --> 00:16:08.176
- [Gladdys] No, you just
gotta deal with the crisis

00:16:08.176 --> 00:16:09.772
that's on your desk right now.

00:16:09.772 --> 00:16:10.605
- Right.

00:16:13.301 --> 00:16:15.718
(soft music)

00:16:23.456 --> 00:16:26.039
(message tone)

00:17:43.080 --> 00:17:44.970
- He's been detained for a long time.

00:17:44.970 --> 00:17:46.070
He doesn't wanna wait.

00:17:47.070 --> 00:17:51.120
That would mean being detained
for several more months,

00:17:51.120 --> 00:17:54.330
and continuing a different
type of case in court

00:17:54.330 --> 00:17:56.253
in the meantime, like asylum.

00:17:59.340 --> 00:18:02.760
And as hard as I've tried
to talk him out of that,

00:18:02.760 --> 00:18:05.490
he wants voluntary departure.

00:18:05.490 --> 00:18:07.020
I'll tell them that the family's here

00:18:07.020 --> 00:18:08.220
so that you guys could sit

00:18:08.220 --> 00:18:10.725
inside the courtroom as one, okay?

00:18:10.725 --> 00:18:11.558
- Thank you.

00:18:11.558 --> 00:18:13.975
(soft music)

00:18:36.553 --> 00:18:39.300
- I think you should keep
heading that way, try to go

00:18:39.300 --> 00:18:41.340
to B18, knock on the door,

00:18:41.340 --> 00:18:43.710
so you guys could try to see your dad.

00:18:43.710 --> 00:18:46.830
I know you wanna give him maybe
a suitcase before he leaves.

00:18:46.830 --> 00:18:49.740
That's where you would
ask more information

00:18:49.740 --> 00:18:52.593
about if it's possible
to do that and when.

00:18:54.180 --> 00:18:58.563
Families do pack a suitcase when they can.

00:19:00.180 --> 00:19:01.260
Thank you so much.

00:19:01.260 --> 00:19:02.613
- Thank you.
- Thank you.

00:19:10.920 --> 00:19:15.300
- Sometimes you think
it can't get any worse,

00:19:15.300 --> 00:19:16.260
and then guess what?

00:19:16.260 --> 00:19:18.210
There's like some new interpretation,

00:19:18.210 --> 00:19:20.283
or there's like some new policy.

00:19:21.870 --> 00:19:24.120
One of the things that we started seeing

00:19:24.120 --> 00:19:28.200
was an increase in apprehensions.

00:19:28.200 --> 00:19:32.400
I had one client for example,
who was departed to Mexico,

00:19:32.400 --> 00:19:36.870
and about three weeks ago
his former partner called

00:19:36.870 --> 00:19:39.930
to let us know that unfortunately
he had been murdered

00:19:39.930 --> 00:19:44.220
in Mexico, and that his
body had been found burned

00:19:44.220 --> 00:19:45.840
in the desert.

00:19:45.840 --> 00:19:50.840
We were like so close to
having him obtain some status

00:19:51.390 --> 00:19:52.983
in the US.

00:19:54.510 --> 00:19:57.510
He has two children in
the US that he left behind

00:19:57.510 --> 00:20:01.980
that are very young,
and they will never see

00:20:01.980 --> 00:20:02.853
their dad again.

00:20:04.830 --> 00:20:09.830
Especially when I see kids
just this thought of knowing

00:20:10.170 --> 00:20:14.640
how bad it had to be
in their home country,

00:20:14.640 --> 00:20:18.782
and that they were willing to risk it all.

00:20:18.782 --> 00:20:21.865
(singing in Spanish)

00:20:33.291 --> 00:20:35.874
(message tone)

00:20:54.949 --> 00:20:57.866
(speaking Spanish)

00:21:46.890 --> 00:21:49.980
- I love my job, I love this profession,

00:21:49.980 --> 00:21:54.980
I love dealing with my clients,
and this is my passion,

00:21:55.590 --> 00:21:59.820
and this is where all of my
life's preparation has gone

00:21:59.820 --> 00:22:02.493
into from the moment I left college.

00:22:04.680 --> 00:22:07.620
But at some point you
might say you know what?

00:22:07.620 --> 00:22:11.040
I had a good run, and now
it's time to do an about face,

00:22:11.040 --> 00:22:13.563
and do something else.

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So I don't know, I don't know.

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I mean, there's just a lot of uncertainty

00:22:22.500 --> 00:22:26.070
within the next couple of
years as we see what happens

00:22:26.070 --> 00:22:28.413
with the administration.

00:22:36.648 --> 00:22:39.231
(message tone)

00:22:51.042 --> 00:22:53.490
- We hear a lot of
like, "Oh, with all this

00:22:53.490 --> 00:22:54.807
you must be so busy."

00:22:56.760 --> 00:23:00.910
Well the clients, but for me I don't think

00:23:02.850 --> 00:23:05.160
the business is like
exploding or anything.

00:23:05.160 --> 00:23:08.970
I think it's become
more overwhelming to try

00:23:08.970 --> 00:23:11.700
to keep up with the law,

00:23:11.700 --> 00:23:13.533
and the changes, and the policies.

00:23:17.597 --> 00:23:18.970
I think I still

00:23:23.550 --> 00:23:25.400
hopefully do it for the right reason.

00:23:40.340 --> 00:23:42.924
(message tone)

00:23:42.924 --> 00:23:45.341
(soft music)

00:24:24.051 --> 00:24:27.134
(indistinct chatter)

00:24:38.242 --> 00:24:40.407
- I pledge allegiance to the Flag

00:24:40.407 --> 00:24:43.068
of the United States of America,

00:24:43.068 --> 00:24:46.116
and to the Republic for which it stands,

00:24:46.116 --> 00:24:49.520
one Nation under God, indivisible,

00:24:49.520 --> 00:24:52.270
with liberty and justice for all.

00:24:59.164 --> 00:25:02.914
(Star Spangled banner plays)

00:25:06.545 --> 00:25:09.128
(message tone)

00:25:19.274 --> 00:25:23.941
(Star Spangled banner continue playing)