NSEERS

So the past few weeks have been interesting, and I definitely have learned a lot. Although being in an office all day is very different from what I am used to, I actually really enjoy it. This week I mostly wrote letters to HKAM clients. Most of them were regarding their case status and which steps are needed to proceed with their immigration journey. It is interesting to see how people from different countries are dealing with their emigration to the US. Some of them are very successful, while others unfortunately have major difficulties to deal with. It is quite sad that for a person with children Immigration is almost 2X as hard. Families are often ripped apart from the difficulty of Immigrating to the US. This is widely seen in our history as well. For example int he case of the Irish, many people came to the US to never see their families ever again, only to live under harsh and undesirable conditions. In a sense sometimes I feel like Immigration is extremely biased towards certain races. For example in my fiances immigration case, he had to wait much longer than most people did because he was a Muslim male from the Middle East. To most Americans, this should happen especially after the attacks on 9/11, but it is important to note that by going the extra mile in excluding ME men, the department of justice and other governing bodies are essentially implying that all terrorists come from the middle east, which most people know is not true. Under the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS), which was established by the department of Justice, men between the ages of 16 and 25 from certain ME countries and North Korea, are given special registration requirements upon application to immigrate to the US. These guidelines seem quite ridiculous to me especially because of the feats we have made against racial profiling in the past. Furthermore, to know that this type of state sanctioned racial profiling has sort of been swept under the rug quite frankly bothers me. It brings me back to when I had read Edward Said's Orientalism (1977), in that effect our government is treating entire groups of people differently based on where they came from, rather than their personal actions. The government has clearly constructed the idea of the "other" amongst Middle Eastern immigrants, which completely dismantles the foundations that we pride ourselves on as Americans today. The good news is this law was ended in April 2011, but it is very important to understand that this type of profiling happened during our supposed "modern times".

Past Present and Future of Immigration

One of my main tasks at work is to help the attorneys find previous case decisions that give precedence to current court cases. This is common with all types of law, but in a sense gives a background to how and why immigration to the United states has changed so much over the years. In my next few blogs I will discuss some for the cases that I had worked with over the past semester.

One of the first cases that I had to deal with, was in regards to a woman who was going to be deported for criminal charges, but her daughter had citizenship. She worked with a criminal lawyer, who advised her to plea guilty on the charges at hand. Unfortunately, he did not look into how the decision to plea guilty could affect her immigration status in the US. Her daughter had many medical issues, and was unable to receive proper treatment in their native country. Also, they had no family members in the US that would be able to care for the girl, so the mother was obviously stuck in a large predicament. One of the cases that the Immigration attorney was looking at was Andrews v. United States Attorney General (3d. Cir. April 15, 2011) pretty much this case dealt with a women who also had some criminal convictions, but was also incorrectly advised by her attorney. The result of her case changed quite a bit following the appeal. In a sense, this just details the importance of an attorney having some degree of ability in multiple fields of law, because without it they could severely affect many aspects of their clients life.

I think previous court documents are very important historically, obviously like most history majors have learned legal doctrines and decisions are a large part of US history on many issues. I cant even remember how many times I have learned about decisions like Roe V Wade, or Brown V Board in my history classes. That is why I believe immigration law also has so much to do with history.

All in a Days Work

The past few weeks have been great at the office. I am learning alot, and getting alot done. I love talking to the Attorneys when I get the chance to just to pick their brain a bit. One of them was previously an immigration judge, which I thought was pretty cool (besides being super excited to really see what he does). I kind of stepped out of what I was doing after I first started. I mean I still answer some phones, but now that is in between typing up documents for clients, or even court documents. I really enjoy it, once I finish my draft I sit with an attorney and go over whether it was correct or not (I usually do it right though, not to brag). Overall, It has been a really good experience, and I am learning loads. This experience is really helping me decide what I want to do in life. It is also helping me open up new doors that I was always afraid of opening. On another note, MY BEST FRIEND WORKS ACROSS THE STREET!!! So that just made this ten times better!

Anyways, YOLO! have fun

YOLO

YOLO, You Only Live Once. That is my motto, and the first thing I said to myself when I woke up on the first day of my internship. I was obviously nervous, but had a blast on the drive to the office. I met with my supervisor Vivian, and we discussed the tasks I had for the week, and which days I would be coming in. We also talked about the layout of the firm, and about each of her partners and their specialty in law. Vivian is great, and I know I will enjoy working with her. She is definitely a role model to me, especially because we both come from the same cultural background and have the same interests, politically speaking. The firm is currently going through some changes, and they are trying to computerize everything. They are also switching their database to PCLaw. Vivian told me that they are still new to it, and learning how the system works. I watched the tutorial for the program, and spent the remainder of my time inputting data for cases. When I was about to leave I told vivian about how I am kind of a computer geek (which is totally true), and how I was going to look into the program more on my end to further learn the system. She told me that would be great, and that if I learned the system properly that maybe I could teach it to the rest of the firm. So when I left I spent a few hours over the weekend looking up the database and tutorial etc. I think I have got a good grasp of it, and for sure I will master it this week. Hopefully before I go back on Wednesday and show my newly acquired skills. You know what they say, dress to impress!

Oh and I met the clerk at their Palos Hills office, we talked a bit before my supervisor came in to work. I Love her, she is really sweet. I really think I am going to like it here. YOLO!

It's All About Me!

My name Is Jenna, and I am a 4th year history major at Loyola. I am hoping to go to law school when I graduate, and plan on practicing Immigration Law. I am interested in Immigration law for many reasons. First, I have learned a lot about the different immigration patterns in the United States in some of my history courses. Among my favorite, is the Irish Diaspora. I believe that in learning immigration practices, and policies I can better understand the History of this country; after all, the US is a "melting pot" of immigrants. One of the other reasons I am interested in immigration law is the fact that I have personally had to deal with the strenuous, and ever-changing immigration laws. Last February I had applied for my fiance to come to the US so that we may start our life and get married. We dated when I was in high school in Amman, Jordan for 2 years. For the past year of my life, I have been filling out documents, checking updates, and pretty much sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for any notice from the USCIS, NVC, or US embassy in Amman. The journey has been very strenuous, and extremely frustrating. I have a lawyer whom I hired to facilitate me in the case, and he hasn't helped me very much. I did ALL of the paperwork, and when something new happens in regards to the case I am the one calling the lawyer in order to see what new steps need to be taken. Obviously, this upset me very much. As a result, I vowed to assure that when I become a lawyer that I will do whatever is in my power to re-unite loved ones. I am very passionate about this subject, which is why I am hoping to learn a lot from my internship at KAM-Law.