1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,000 Hi, I'm Hillary Walsh, a serial entrepreneur, award-winning immigration lawyer, law professor, 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:09,080 TEDx speaker, and raving Phoenix Suns fan. 3 00:00:09,080 --> 00:00:14,080 Over the past decade, I've helped thousands of immigrants live free in the United States. 4 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:19,480 I'm talking work permits, social security numbers, green cards, their citizenship, VAWA, 5 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:24,440 T-visa, U-visa, and lots of successful appeals. 6 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:26,100 Here's the thing. 7 00:00:26,100 --> 00:00:28,920 Immigration law is super complicated and legal advice? 8 00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:31,640 Well, it can be pretty expensive. 9 00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:37,060 So I created the Immigration Law Made Easy podcast to share my 10 plus years of experience 10 00:00:37,060 --> 00:00:39,440 with you for free. 11 00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:45,140 So if you're looking for tried and true, no BS, step-by-step strategies and tips on how 12 00:00:45,140 --> 00:00:51,080 to win your immigration case and live truly free in the United States, you're in the right 13 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:52,480 place, my friend. 14 00:00:52,480 --> 00:00:53,480 Let's get started. 15 00:00:53,480 --> 00:01:01,120 Hey friend, I'm so excited to introduce you to the substance, the muscles, the show me 16 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:06,880 the money, where's the beef part of our Immigration Law Made Easy podcast. 17 00:01:06,880 --> 00:01:10,720 Today's very first nuts and bolts. 18 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:16,040 Here's the no BS conversation about what are the consequences? 19 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:22,240 What are immigration consequences that might arise at the time of entering the United States? 20 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:27,840 I think that there's so much to cover here that it was hard for me to keep this episode 21 00:01:27,840 --> 00:01:34,480 short, but the tips and tricks inside of this episode really shape how I want you to start 22 00:01:34,480 --> 00:01:35,920 thinking about immigration law. 23 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:41,880 And this is what makes it easy, which is always ask more, no more assumptions. 24 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:47,240 The key one is the very first tip I talk about, which is a lot of people think that they entered 25 00:01:47,240 --> 00:01:48,960 the country illegally. 26 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:52,920 In left and right, I help people see that you didn't enter illegally. 27 00:01:52,920 --> 00:01:55,060 You didn't enter without inspection. 28 00:01:55,060 --> 00:01:59,320 You actually entered legally and here's how I'm going to say that again. 29 00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:03,920 You actually entered legally and here's how. 30 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:04,920 Enjoy. 31 00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:10,240 Hey friend, and welcome to another episode. 32 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:11,600 I'm so happy you're here today. 33 00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:17,020 We're going to talk about some stuff that I know has been on your mind. 34 00:02:17,020 --> 00:02:22,480 If you have ever entered the country or perhaps you're coming to the country as an immigrant 35 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:27,320 and you want to make sure that you don't make any mistakes as we go along the way, or perhaps 36 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:32,880 you're already here in the U S and you know that something's happened at the border or 37 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:36,960 maybe you want to leave and come back and want to make sure that you're all good. 38 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:43,620 But today's podcast episode is specific for all the things that can go wrong. 39 00:02:43,620 --> 00:02:50,380 All the consequences of our actions intentional or not at the point of entry. 40 00:02:50,380 --> 00:02:55,160 So that's whether it's at the airport you're coming in, you're flying in at JFK airport 41 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:57,600 or maybe you're coming into San Diego. 42 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:02,680 If you are walking, let's say you're at the bridge in Douglas, Arizona and you're wanting 43 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:08,560 to walk across the bridge or perhaps you are you're driving. 44 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:13,320 So maybe it's supportive entry and you're coming from Canada or you're coming from Mexico 45 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:17,320 and you're driving and you're wanting to enter the U S. So everything that kind of goes on 46 00:03:17,320 --> 00:03:18,920 right then and there. 47 00:03:18,920 --> 00:03:20,900 So let's get to it. 48 00:03:20,900 --> 00:03:26,960 One of the most common questions that we get are, you know, I came to the U S and I entered 49 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:32,280 without permission or entered illegally or I came walking to the U S. This is really 50 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:40,240 for a lot of my clients who are from Mexico, from Central America, a lot of clients from 51 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:48,040 South America, Brazil, especially, and also Haiti and Cuba. 52 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:51,320 A lot of folks really from the Southern hemisphere. 53 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:56,440 When we go south of the U S border, a lot of people are here in the U S and they entered 54 00:03:56,440 --> 00:03:59,880 the U S and they believe they entered without permission. 55 00:03:59,880 --> 00:04:03,840 And my first question is always as a lawyer is to challenge that and to think, did you 56 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:07,180 really enter without inspection is the legal term. 57 00:04:07,180 --> 00:04:11,880 You might hear it as e we that is entered without inspection. 58 00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:19,200 The acronym for that is E W I. And so an immigration law, we say e we, many people think that that's 59 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:25,440 actually that's their case when in fact it's not because if you, for example, you may have 60 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:30,520 been in a car and you were waved through by an immigration officer, this happens every 61 00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:31,520 single day. 62 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:36,140 It really happened a lot in the nineties and early two thousands. 63 00:04:36,140 --> 00:04:40,980 So if you were a kid asleep in the back of a car or perhaps mom and dad were driving 64 00:04:40,980 --> 00:04:45,000 or auntie or uncle were driving the car and they told you, close your eyes, look like 65 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:46,500 you're asleep. 66 00:04:46,500 --> 00:04:51,080 And they drove the car through because they showed their U S passport and you were in 67 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:54,320 the back of the car and no one ever asked you any questions. 68 00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:57,360 You did not necessarily enter illegally. 69 00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:01,440 If I were your lawyer, I would ask a lot of questions to find out if perhaps you were 70 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:06,240 caught what's called waved through and you can just imagine it where it's an immigration 71 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:09,380 officer literally waving you through. 72 00:05:09,380 --> 00:05:14,280 Those are called wave throughs and there's a little bit more to it, but I just want to 73 00:05:14,280 --> 00:05:19,580 plant the seed in your mind that just because we think or we've been told or we've always 74 00:05:19,580 --> 00:05:23,860 thought that we entered illegally or we entered without inspection doesn't necessarily mean 75 00:05:23,860 --> 00:05:24,860 that's the case. 76 00:05:24,860 --> 00:05:29,380 So that's a wave through you and that can happen even in the airport. 77 00:05:29,380 --> 00:05:31,780 You know, you could have gotten waved through at an airport. 78 00:05:31,780 --> 00:05:35,660 It's less common just because the procedure, anytime you go through customs and border 79 00:05:35,660 --> 00:05:42,380 patrol in the U S it's pretty regulated where, um, at, at the border, especially our Mexican 80 00:05:42,380 --> 00:05:48,220 border, they have such a volume of traffic that if you're in the car and they see you 81 00:05:48,220 --> 00:05:53,020 and they don't ask you any questions or they ask someone else in the car questions about 82 00:05:53,020 --> 00:05:56,180 you and the other person answers and you're waved through. 83 00:05:56,180 --> 00:06:01,260 I mean, a lot of times that's kind of a textbook wave through again, this isn't legal advice 84 00:06:01,260 --> 00:06:03,380 like for your specific case. 85 00:06:03,380 --> 00:06:07,540 I want to make sure that I stress that because as a lawyer, I want to make sure that I give 86 00:06:07,540 --> 00:06:11,180 you good advice, but know that I am not your lawyer. 87 00:06:11,180 --> 00:06:12,980 I am a lawyer. 88 00:06:12,980 --> 00:06:13,980 Okay. 89 00:06:13,980 --> 00:06:18,860 So I don't know your specific facts, but that in my experience would be a classic wave through 90 00:06:18,860 --> 00:06:20,140 situation. 91 00:06:20,140 --> 00:06:24,820 This is very different than if you're in the back of a semi and we hear about this all 92 00:06:24,820 --> 00:06:25,820 the time. 93 00:06:25,820 --> 00:06:29,740 It's really tragic when this sort of thing happens and things go wrong. 94 00:06:29,740 --> 00:06:35,020 Um, but if you're in the back of a semi truck and you're waved through because the border 95 00:06:35,020 --> 00:06:40,700 patrol officer talks to the semi driver, but waves everyone else through, that's not a 96 00:06:40,700 --> 00:06:45,420 wave through that's being smuggled into the United States or possibly trafficked into 97 00:06:45,420 --> 00:06:46,980 the United States. 98 00:06:46,980 --> 00:06:52,180 But that is not what I would consider a wave through on those exact facts. 99 00:06:52,180 --> 00:06:56,580 There's always more to explore, but I'm just giving you the quick and dirty on this. 100 00:06:56,580 --> 00:06:57,580 That's a wave through. 101 00:06:57,580 --> 00:07:00,540 Let's talk about what's called a key Lonton entry. 102 00:07:00,540 --> 00:07:07,220 He Lonton is the name of the board of immigration appeals case that established that these, 103 00:07:07,220 --> 00:07:12,220 that what I'm about to describe to you are considered lawful entries. 104 00:07:12,220 --> 00:07:18,980 So wave through is a lawful entry, but we also have where someone can be coming to the 105 00:07:18,980 --> 00:07:22,940 U S and it's a normal course of entry. 106 00:07:22,940 --> 00:07:27,420 And we see this a lot where back in the day, people would be able to walk through immigration 107 00:07:27,420 --> 00:07:31,580 and be like, I'm just going through, or just crossing the border to go over there, to go 108 00:07:31,580 --> 00:07:33,840 to that grocery store. 109 00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:38,620 And there was no formal process for being asked about it, but it was very common. 110 00:07:38,620 --> 00:07:43,300 The immigration knew that people from one town on the southern side of the border would 111 00:07:43,300 --> 00:07:48,860 be going to another key Lonton entry in a wave through a really similar and can. 112 00:07:48,860 --> 00:07:54,420 Oftentimes be considered the same thing and no one's wrong in doing that, but just know 113 00:07:54,420 --> 00:08:00,700 that if you're going through a normal place, the immigration knows that you're there again, 114 00:08:00,700 --> 00:08:05,660 I would put on my lawyer hat and think, I'm going to look at this key Lonton case and 115 00:08:05,660 --> 00:08:09,740 you can Google it and see what the things are that you kind of need to check the boxes 116 00:08:09,740 --> 00:08:12,660 on and prove to show that you have this lawful entry. 117 00:08:12,660 --> 00:08:18,260 But can I argue that this person does in fact have a lawful entry? 118 00:08:18,260 --> 00:08:22,740 Because once you have a lawful entry that removes the negative immigration consequences 119 00:08:22,740 --> 00:08:26,340 of entering without inspection or entering illegally. 120 00:08:26,340 --> 00:08:27,340 Okay. 121 00:08:27,340 --> 00:08:29,900 So that's always the first place to start. 122 00:08:29,900 --> 00:08:34,900 When you think I entered illegally or my family member entered without permission or they 123 00:08:34,900 --> 00:08:36,660 went walking. 124 00:08:36,660 --> 00:08:40,880 I've had cases where, you know, we have someone who's walked across the border. 125 00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:44,720 They went on a footbridge into the U S but it was a lawful entry. 126 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:50,860 So just because we think I came walking, um, don't count that out as a lawful entry. 127 00:08:50,860 --> 00:08:54,820 It could very possibly be a lawful entry and you can read up about those things. 128 00:08:54,820 --> 00:08:58,020 Um, we'll include some links in the show notes for you. 129 00:08:58,020 --> 00:08:59,020 Okay. 130 00:08:59,020 --> 00:09:03,380 So you can kind of go straight to the case and, and get your hands on that information. 131 00:09:03,380 --> 00:09:04,700 Okay. 132 00:09:04,700 --> 00:09:10,020 So the first question when we think about it is, did this person actually enter without 133 00:09:10,020 --> 00:09:11,020 inspection? 134 00:09:11,020 --> 00:09:12,020 Did they enter e-whee? 135 00:09:12,020 --> 00:09:14,540 Yes, no, maybe. 136 00:09:14,540 --> 00:09:19,900 If you came walking through the desert and it's, you know, a back road path where you 137 00:09:19,900 --> 00:09:25,780 never interacted with immigration officials, then yeah, I would say that's a pretty classic 138 00:09:25,780 --> 00:09:28,380 textbook case of having entered without inspection. 139 00:09:28,380 --> 00:09:29,380 Okay. 140 00:09:29,380 --> 00:09:34,420 If you entered in the back of a car, you probably, uh, like in the trunk or something like that, 141 00:09:34,420 --> 00:09:40,060 that is probably going to be regarded either as trafficking, smuggling, or an entry without 142 00:09:40,060 --> 00:09:41,060 inspection. 143 00:09:41,060 --> 00:09:42,060 Okay. 144 00:09:42,060 --> 00:09:48,260 The next, um, question I have a lot of consequences for things that happen that are important 145 00:09:48,260 --> 00:09:51,340 for folks who enter with a visa. 146 00:09:51,340 --> 00:09:57,580 Now you can enter with your visa with someone else's visa or passport. 147 00:09:57,580 --> 00:10:03,740 You can enter with a U S citizens documents, driver's license, passport, those types of 148 00:10:03,740 --> 00:10:04,740 things. 149 00:10:04,740 --> 00:10:10,460 Um, and then you can also, um, have come to the border and just basically lied about who 150 00:10:10,460 --> 00:10:14,540 you are and asked to come in and you can be led in that way. 151 00:10:14,540 --> 00:10:16,180 And there are consequences for those things. 152 00:10:16,180 --> 00:10:18,560 So let's kind of go through each of those. 153 00:10:18,560 --> 00:10:24,740 So if I'm entering with a visa and it is my visa, for example, it's very common for Mexicans 154 00:10:24,740 --> 00:10:28,100 to have what's called a border crossing card. 155 00:10:28,100 --> 00:10:33,040 And this is just, it's, it's a car that looks like a driver's license and you can come and 156 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:37,780 go with that card rather than having to get your whole passport out, having all of these 157 00:10:37,780 --> 00:10:39,820 stamps all over in your passport. 158 00:10:39,820 --> 00:10:43,740 It just doesn't really make sense when you can use a card, come and go. 159 00:10:43,740 --> 00:10:47,820 And those were really commonly issued really through the nineties. 160 00:10:47,820 --> 00:10:51,660 Um, and before that, so they're not as commonly issued now. 161 00:10:51,660 --> 00:10:56,880 A lot of times you'll just get a sticker in your passport, uh, your Mexican passport and 162 00:10:56,880 --> 00:11:01,760 you come and go on that visa and it's issued for like 10 years and you have multiple entries 163 00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:02,760 on it. 164 00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:04,540 Um, and you're good to go with it that way. 165 00:11:04,540 --> 00:11:10,180 So whether you're entering with a border crossing card because you are Mexican or, um, because 166 00:11:10,180 --> 00:11:16,220 you're entering on a visa because you've gotten the sticker in your passport, or if you're 167 00:11:16,220 --> 00:11:22,200 one of our Canadian friends and you just have to show your passport, if it's your document 168 00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:24,740 and you're entering with it, you're good to go. 169 00:11:24,740 --> 00:11:25,740 Okay. 170 00:11:25,740 --> 00:11:31,020 So the only question I would ask though is have you overstayed? 171 00:11:31,020 --> 00:11:34,140 Did you come into the U S and overstay? 172 00:11:34,140 --> 00:11:39,340 And I'll give you an example of this in a case that we actually ran into, um, that kind 173 00:11:39,340 --> 00:11:42,940 of got complicated, got a little bit sideways. 174 00:11:42,940 --> 00:11:48,180 And I want to make sure that you learn from all of our hard cases because I, I'm sure 175 00:11:48,180 --> 00:11:51,100 that they are popping up all over the place. 176 00:11:51,100 --> 00:11:52,880 Here's one of those cases. 177 00:11:52,880 --> 00:12:00,020 We have a 40 to 50 year old Mexican man who he always had a tourist visa and he always 178 00:12:00,020 --> 00:12:04,660 made sure to keep that tourist visa, um, current. 179 00:12:04,660 --> 00:12:06,540 He didn't want to let it expire. 180 00:12:06,540 --> 00:12:10,900 You know, you'll have the visa and it will say, you know, it's issued on such and such 181 00:12:10,900 --> 00:12:14,180 date and expires on such and such date. 182 00:12:14,180 --> 00:12:18,580 And so many people, even when they're here in the United States and they've built a life 183 00:12:18,580 --> 00:12:24,340 here, they feel like having a current visa provides them some type of protection, even 184 00:12:24,340 --> 00:12:29,220 if they've been here for five, six, seven years after they entered with that visa. 185 00:12:29,220 --> 00:12:32,100 And I want to tell you that that is not the case. 186 00:12:32,100 --> 00:12:35,780 A visa, whether it's expired or not, does not matter. 187 00:12:35,780 --> 00:12:38,340 A visa does not give you any protection. 188 00:12:38,340 --> 00:12:44,140 It does not help you in any way other than to show that you lawfully entered the country, 189 00:12:44,140 --> 00:12:48,220 however long ago when you got here, it of course provides you protection. 190 00:12:48,220 --> 00:12:53,740 If you're within the amount of time that that visa allows you to stay, which for most Mexican 191 00:12:53,740 --> 00:12:56,180 visas is six months. 192 00:12:56,180 --> 00:13:00,980 A lot of people from around the world get a three month tourist visa. 193 00:13:00,980 --> 00:13:05,540 So if you're Guatemalan and you're here on a tourist visa, you're probably going to be 194 00:13:05,540 --> 00:13:08,300 here for a three month period. 195 00:13:08,300 --> 00:13:14,540 But if you overstay that three months, let's say you enter in January and it's April, it 196 00:13:14,540 --> 00:13:21,740 doesn't matter whether your tourist visa has expired or not because you have already overstayed 197 00:13:21,740 --> 00:13:27,300 your permission to be here in the country for the amount of time that you were allowed 198 00:13:27,300 --> 00:13:28,300 to enter with. 199 00:13:28,300 --> 00:13:29,300 Okay. 200 00:13:29,300 --> 00:13:33,420 So I'll go back to my story about my 40 to 50 year old Mexican man. 201 00:13:33,420 --> 00:13:40,740 He entered in the early nineties with this tourist visa and then 10 years later, his 202 00:13:40,740 --> 00:13:42,980 visa was about to expire. 203 00:13:42,980 --> 00:13:50,020 So he left the country, went to Ciudad Juarez, renewed his tourist visa and then reentered 204 00:13:50,020 --> 00:13:51,200 with the new one. 205 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:56,160 So now he had a new tourist visa because he thought that would give him some protection 206 00:13:56,160 --> 00:13:58,620 and just some peace of mind. 207 00:13:58,620 --> 00:14:05,580 What that actually did though was create this whole can of worms that he opened up unknowingly 208 00:14:05,580 --> 00:14:09,780 because he didn't talk to an immigration lawyer or tune into a podcast like this. 209 00:14:09,780 --> 00:14:13,340 So let's learn from this mistake. 210 00:14:13,340 --> 00:14:20,220 Because he had overstayed his tourist visa for more than a year, when he left, he triggered 211 00:14:20,220 --> 00:14:25,140 what's called the 10 year bar, which means you're supposed to stay outside the U S for 212 00:14:25,140 --> 00:14:28,300 10 years before requesting to come in. 213 00:14:28,300 --> 00:14:29,340 Yikes. 214 00:14:29,340 --> 00:14:31,780 That 10 year bar is issued that is triggered. 215 00:14:31,780 --> 00:14:34,240 It goes up when you leave. 216 00:14:34,240 --> 00:14:40,060 It does not go up while you're here in the U S it goes up behind you as the door of the 217 00:14:40,060 --> 00:14:42,620 United States closes behind you. 218 00:14:42,620 --> 00:14:43,620 Okay. 219 00:14:43,620 --> 00:14:50,180 So when he left, he triggered the 10 year bar and then he lied on his tourist visa, 220 00:14:50,180 --> 00:14:55,220 a renewal by saying that he had not, he had never overstayed being in the United States 221 00:14:55,220 --> 00:14:58,760 when we know that he'd been here for 10 years and he was really only supposed to be here 222 00:14:58,760 --> 00:15:00,400 for six months. 223 00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:06,980 So now he's made a fraudulent fraud or misrepresentation issue on his tourist visa application. 224 00:15:06,980 --> 00:15:14,540 And then the next problem is when he reentered the United States, he, he used a tourist visa 225 00:15:14,540 --> 00:15:22,340 and that means he's telling immigration officers, I intend to come in, take me at my word. 226 00:15:22,340 --> 00:15:27,220 I intend to come into the country for only six months because that's what his tourist 227 00:15:27,220 --> 00:15:29,620 visa allowed him to come in for. 228 00:15:29,620 --> 00:15:34,300 When in reality he had children here, he had a spouse here, he had a whole family here. 229 00:15:34,300 --> 00:15:38,820 He'd been here for 10 years and he was coming back to continue living here. 230 00:15:38,820 --> 00:15:42,180 It was not coming back to be a tourist. 231 00:15:42,180 --> 00:15:48,260 Immigration regards that as a misrepresentation based on your intent as a tourist. 232 00:15:48,260 --> 00:15:54,340 So now we have three issues, the 10 year bar, fraud and misrepresentation to an immigration 233 00:15:54,340 --> 00:15:58,380 official for an immigration benefit to get his tourist visa renewed. 234 00:15:58,380 --> 00:16:04,940 And then when he reentered, he made a misrepresentation about what his actual intent was by using 235 00:16:04,940 --> 00:16:06,700 that tourist visa. 236 00:16:06,700 --> 00:16:11,460 So this causes a lot of problems because then he needs, he wants to adjust his status. 237 00:16:11,460 --> 00:16:16,820 He wants to get his green card here, but now he needs waivers and we're going to talk about 238 00:16:16,820 --> 00:16:19,780 waivers a whole lot on this podcast. 239 00:16:19,780 --> 00:16:24,780 But the key thing to know about waivers is it's great if you don't need them. 240 00:16:24,780 --> 00:16:26,040 It's not that big a deal. 241 00:16:26,040 --> 00:16:30,500 If you do need them, you just need a qualifying relative for it and that's where things get 242 00:16:30,500 --> 00:16:31,500 complicated. 243 00:16:31,500 --> 00:16:34,540 But we'll save that for another day. 244 00:16:34,540 --> 00:16:42,180 The way I see so many people trigger these consequences, immigration consequences really 245 00:16:42,180 --> 00:16:46,520 is by coming in as a tourist and getting married. 246 00:16:46,520 --> 00:16:51,660 Let's say you get married right away and you had sold your apartment. 247 00:16:51,660 --> 00:16:56,980 Let's say you lived in Venezuela, you sold your apartment, you come to the U S you get 248 00:16:56,980 --> 00:17:02,100 married to your U S citizen boyfriend and he petitions for you right away. 249 00:17:02,100 --> 00:17:07,160 That's wonderful, but it starts to look a lot to immigration officials. 250 00:17:07,160 --> 00:17:11,300 Like you had a fraudulent intent by entering with your tourist visa. 251 00:17:11,300 --> 00:17:16,900 Did you really intend to be a tourist or did when you entered or did you really intend 252 00:17:16,900 --> 00:17:18,660 to kind of trick me? 253 00:17:18,660 --> 00:17:23,180 You got this tourist visa, so you're going to enter the country and that's where, where 254 00:17:23,180 --> 00:17:29,940 immigration starts to punish people for what they believe is a fraud or misrepresentation 255 00:17:29,940 --> 00:17:31,900 at the time of entry. 256 00:17:31,900 --> 00:17:37,460 So be careful if that's your situation and you're wanting to get married right after 257 00:17:37,460 --> 00:17:39,180 you get to the United States. 258 00:17:39,180 --> 00:17:45,780 I may, if you let me know in the comments, I may do a whole episode on like what the 259 00:17:45,780 --> 00:17:50,900 rules are because there's a 90 day rule and does it apply and what are the, what are the 260 00:17:50,900 --> 00:17:52,260 things that go along with that? 261 00:17:52,260 --> 00:17:56,000 And can I, can I show that I really did have immigrant intent? 262 00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:57,660 We can do a whole episode on that. 263 00:17:57,660 --> 00:17:58,740 I want your input. 264 00:17:58,740 --> 00:18:00,460 I want to answer your questions. 265 00:18:00,460 --> 00:18:06,220 So let me know we're going to move on though, cause we have lots more things to discuss. 266 00:18:06,220 --> 00:18:14,140 So those are the situations where you have entered with your papers, your visa, and we 267 00:18:14,140 --> 00:18:17,220 may find ourselves with fraud and misrepresentation issues. 268 00:18:17,220 --> 00:18:18,220 Okay. 269 00:18:18,220 --> 00:18:22,260 Let's talk now about what if you enter with someone else's visa? 270 00:18:22,260 --> 00:18:28,980 So this is super common, especially back when we had so many border crossing cards. 271 00:18:28,980 --> 00:18:32,660 We, you may even do it with someone's lawful permanent resident card. 272 00:18:32,660 --> 00:18:37,420 You know, someone might have a green card in the U S and it's like your sister and you're 273 00:18:37,420 --> 00:18:41,820 trying to get her into the U S from Mexico or something like that. 274 00:18:41,820 --> 00:18:46,960 So you mail your sister or next time you're with her, you give her your lawful permanent 275 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:53,140 resident card for her to enter with you to look a lot of like, et cetera, super common. 276 00:18:53,140 --> 00:18:57,860 And if this is something that's happened to you or you've used a family member or friend 277 00:18:57,860 --> 00:19:03,740 or you bought it, however it is that you went about it, no judgment here. 278 00:19:03,740 --> 00:19:04,740 It's waivable. 279 00:19:04,740 --> 00:19:06,340 It's not like a criminal offense. 280 00:19:06,340 --> 00:19:09,460 Um, you know, it's not prosecuted like a criminal offense. 281 00:19:09,460 --> 00:19:13,020 Uh, so, you know, take that stress out of it. 282 00:19:13,020 --> 00:19:18,100 If that's what your mom or your dad have done, aunt or uncle, um, you will need a waiver 283 00:19:18,100 --> 00:19:22,260 though, most likely because you've committed a fraud or misrepresentation at the point 284 00:19:22,260 --> 00:19:23,260 of entry. 285 00:19:23,260 --> 00:19:27,500 Just like if you enter with your own tourist visa and you intend to overstay and you've 286 00:19:27,500 --> 00:19:33,220 committed fraud or misrepresentation, either case, you're going to need a waiver, um, for 287 00:19:33,220 --> 00:19:35,220 this fraud or misrepresentation. 288 00:19:35,220 --> 00:19:42,100 The one big snag, and you want to be really careful with this is if you've used someone's 289 00:19:42,100 --> 00:19:47,100 U S birth certificate, their order, U S passport. 290 00:19:47,100 --> 00:19:52,660 Now driver's licenses, like an Arizona driver's license, you don't need to be a U S citizen 291 00:19:52,660 --> 00:19:54,980 in order to get an Arizona driver's license. 292 00:19:54,980 --> 00:19:59,100 So let's say you use an Arizona driver's license, that doesn't mean that you have claimed to 293 00:19:59,100 --> 00:20:01,540 be a U S citizen. 294 00:20:01,540 --> 00:20:03,220 You'll just like that. 295 00:20:03,220 --> 00:20:07,860 Those are really, as an immigration lawyer, I always start to get really my ears perk 296 00:20:07,860 --> 00:20:11,540 up where it's like, Ooh, this could be complicated. 297 00:20:11,540 --> 00:20:15,820 And it's called a false claim to U S citizenship. 298 00:20:15,820 --> 00:20:20,420 And even with this, there are still exceptions to the rule. 299 00:20:20,420 --> 00:20:22,340 That's the thing about the law. 300 00:20:22,340 --> 00:20:27,820 There's very few situations where it's like black or white in the law. 301 00:20:27,820 --> 00:20:32,100 We deal in this space where there's so much gray and all these different exceptions and 302 00:20:32,100 --> 00:20:33,820 all these different paths. 303 00:20:33,820 --> 00:20:38,260 Remember at the beginning of this podcast, I was like, Hey, did you enter with or without 304 00:20:38,260 --> 00:20:42,340 inspection and the answer should be, well, I don't know. 305 00:20:42,340 --> 00:20:45,780 Let's talk about it because maybe I was waved through. 306 00:20:45,780 --> 00:20:49,840 Maybe, um, my family member said, maybe it wasn't even way through. 307 00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:52,580 My family member just said that I was a U S citizen. 308 00:20:52,580 --> 00:20:55,340 Is that a false claim to U S citizenship? 309 00:20:55,340 --> 00:20:57,140 Not if you didn't make it. 310 00:20:57,140 --> 00:21:00,620 So there are always exceptions to the rule. 311 00:21:00,620 --> 00:21:06,980 So if your heart kind of sinks because you're like, Oh yeah, um, my mom entered with her 312 00:21:06,980 --> 00:21:09,900 sister's U S birth certificate. 313 00:21:09,900 --> 00:21:12,020 Like what do I do? 314 00:21:12,020 --> 00:21:15,100 And I would say that's going to be a really hard case. 315 00:21:15,100 --> 00:21:20,940 I'm sorry to say, but I would want to ask a lot of questions about what timeframe that 316 00:21:20,940 --> 00:21:27,420 was because the bars for us, um, false claims to U S citizenship, they only apply at certain 317 00:21:27,420 --> 00:21:31,780 times and we can Google that again, if we want to, we'll probably do a whole episode 318 00:21:31,780 --> 00:21:37,700 on this, but from a 30,000 foot view, just know that if you entered with someone else's 319 00:21:37,700 --> 00:21:41,700 paper, the papers is going to be the rule of thumb here. 320 00:21:41,700 --> 00:21:51,100 Um, if you entered with someone else's papers, it's waivable in almost every single situation, 321 00:21:51,100 --> 00:21:56,460 except if they're U S citizen proof of U S citizen docs. 322 00:21:56,460 --> 00:22:02,700 So like a U S passport or a U S birth certificate, you can't waive that, but you can argue that 323 00:22:02,700 --> 00:22:05,380 there's an exception to the rule. 324 00:22:05,380 --> 00:22:10,980 Waveable would be admitting I did this exception to the rule would be, I may have done this, 325 00:22:10,980 --> 00:22:16,060 but there are these other things that mitigate it, which means it, it shouldn't, it shouldn't 326 00:22:16,060 --> 00:22:18,140 be the black mark on my case anymore. 327 00:22:18,140 --> 00:22:19,140 Okay. 328 00:22:19,140 --> 00:22:25,780 So those are, if you enter with someone else's stuff, now what happens if you bring other 329 00:22:25,780 --> 00:22:32,500 people's children in your kids, someone else's kids, um, there are different consequences 330 00:22:32,500 --> 00:22:38,140 if you are a U S citizen versus if you are an immigrant. 331 00:22:38,140 --> 00:22:43,020 So if you're a U S citizen, it doesn't, if you have brought people into the United States, 332 00:22:43,020 --> 00:22:49,460 um, that are, that, that didn't have permission to enter the U S let's say you're a U S citizen 333 00:22:49,460 --> 00:22:54,480 and you drive your nieces and nephews, three of your nieces and nephews across the border 334 00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:58,980 and tell the border patrol that they're your children. 335 00:22:58,980 --> 00:23:04,100 If you are not criminally prosecuted for this, like let's say you're not caught, um, there's 336 00:23:04,100 --> 00:23:06,140 no immigration consequence for you. 337 00:23:06,140 --> 00:23:08,860 You're not going to like you lose your citizenship. 338 00:23:08,860 --> 00:23:11,660 You're not going to get in trouble in terms of immigration law. 339 00:23:11,660 --> 00:23:16,760 And in fact, you can even like, you don't even lose your ability to petition for someone 340 00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:17,760 else in the future. 341 00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:23,020 There really is no consequence for you on the immigration law side of things. 342 00:23:23,020 --> 00:23:26,420 Of course it could like damage your credibility and that sort of thing. 343 00:23:26,420 --> 00:23:31,500 Um, but in terms of your rights as a U S citizen, to be able to petition for people and vote 344 00:23:31,500 --> 00:23:34,320 and all of that, it doesn't impact it. 345 00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:40,800 You could get in trouble criminally if you are caught, um, but you know, for, for human 346 00:23:40,800 --> 00:23:46,380 trafficking or smuggling, I know here in Arizona, they're trying to pass a statute that says 347 00:23:46,380 --> 00:23:50,100 it doesn't matter really who you are, even if they're your own children, if you're bringing 348 00:23:50,100 --> 00:23:54,220 someone in, we're going to criminally prosecute you for human trafficking. 349 00:23:54,220 --> 00:23:59,860 So it's not the existing law right now, but it has been in talks, um, here in Arizona 350 00:23:59,860 --> 00:24:01,220 specifically. 351 00:24:01,220 --> 00:24:05,660 So there can be criminal consequences if you're a U S citizen and you're bringing people to 352 00:24:05,660 --> 00:24:07,300 the United States without permission. 353 00:24:07,300 --> 00:24:11,140 And they can be very severe, even if they're your family member. 354 00:24:11,140 --> 00:24:17,580 But if you're undocumented or you are a lawful permanent resident, or if you're just someone 355 00:24:17,580 --> 00:24:22,060 who is here on a tourist visa, whatever it may be, if you're bringing, if you've brought 356 00:24:22,060 --> 00:24:28,980 your kids, like your biological or step children, and that's like a legal term, um, under immigration 357 00:24:28,980 --> 00:24:29,980 law. 358 00:24:29,980 --> 00:24:35,540 So, you know, you're married stepchildren would be you're married to the kids, mother 359 00:24:35,540 --> 00:24:38,700 or father before the child turns 18. 360 00:24:38,700 --> 00:24:42,020 Um, so those would be stepchildren. 361 00:24:42,020 --> 00:24:46,380 If that's the case and you've brought them, then we can waive that. 362 00:24:46,380 --> 00:24:51,140 Like you can get a waiver for this, but if they're someone else's children and you're 363 00:24:51,140 --> 00:24:55,380 caught doing this, you pretty much, there's no waiver for it. 364 00:24:55,380 --> 00:25:00,340 It's extremely like how I mentioned a minute ago, it's really, really frowned upon. 365 00:25:00,340 --> 00:25:02,780 Um, so be very cautious. 366 00:25:02,780 --> 00:25:07,180 And if, if that's the situation where your family member, like I have a client, for example, 367 00:25:07,180 --> 00:25:13,820 who she brought her daughter, um, to the United States when the daughter was an infant, she 368 00:25:13,820 --> 00:25:17,700 should be very cautious before going to the mom. 369 00:25:17,700 --> 00:25:24,040 She'd be very cautious before going to Ciudad Juarez in Mexico to consular process because 370 00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:29,540 she's going to get hit with an alien smuggling ground of inadmissibility once she goes to 371 00:25:29,540 --> 00:25:30,580 that interview. 372 00:25:30,580 --> 00:25:33,460 So these are things to really look out for. 373 00:25:33,460 --> 00:25:39,540 And again, there's all these immigration consequences that happen at the point of entry. 374 00:25:39,540 --> 00:25:41,660 You can even kind of get in trouble. 375 00:25:41,660 --> 00:25:48,080 Um, if you're just on the receiving and coordinating end of, of air quote, alien smuggling, I hate 376 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:49,460 the word alien. 377 00:25:49,460 --> 00:25:51,300 No one's an alien here. 378 00:25:51,300 --> 00:25:56,300 You know, we're all brothers and sisters and human beings, but in immigration law, it's, 379 00:25:56,300 --> 00:25:58,020 it's regarded as alien smuggling. 380 00:25:58,020 --> 00:26:04,740 So this is just something to keep in mind that if it's not your immediate family member, 381 00:26:04,740 --> 00:26:12,340 like your kid or your spouse, um, you know, this is a really big problem in immigration 382 00:26:12,340 --> 00:26:16,100 law and it's something to be taken very seriously. 383 00:26:16,100 --> 00:26:17,940 I hope this is helpful. 384 00:26:17,940 --> 00:26:20,700 Um, the last thing that I want to touch on. 385 00:26:20,700 --> 00:26:25,660 I hope this is helpful and not, not to immigration lawyer. 386 00:26:25,660 --> 00:26:30,180 Please ask me follow up questions because I want to make sure that I answer your questions. 387 00:26:30,180 --> 00:26:36,140 I want to talk to you briefly about what happens if I am re entering. 388 00:26:36,140 --> 00:26:42,460 So I described for you the 40 to 50 year old Mexican man when he left, he'd been here for 389 00:26:42,460 --> 00:26:45,040 over a year. 390 00:26:45,040 --> 00:26:48,000 So when he left, he triggered the 10 year bar. 391 00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:54,180 If you're here without permission or you overstay for more than six months, but less than a 392 00:26:54,180 --> 00:27:03,120 year, um, you are going to trigger the, if it's over six months, but less than one year, 393 00:27:03,120 --> 00:27:04,820 it's going to be the three year bar. 394 00:27:04,820 --> 00:27:08,580 So those are the two ways that you can trigger these different bars and they're when you 395 00:27:08,580 --> 00:27:09,580 leave. 396 00:27:09,580 --> 00:27:16,580 Now, when you re enter, let's say that you trigger the 10 year bar, I'll give specific 397 00:27:16,580 --> 00:27:22,060 facts because I find that to be easier to work with really common fact pattern. 398 00:27:22,060 --> 00:27:28,580 Um, and you'll notice that I talk about Mexicans, Guatemalans, um, so very much because that's 399 00:27:28,580 --> 00:27:35,260 the main client base that I serve here in Arizona, um, Kansas, Oklahoma, even up in 400 00:27:35,260 --> 00:27:37,820 Vegas where we serve a lot of people. 401 00:27:37,820 --> 00:27:45,980 That's our most common client base because of our location. 402 00:27:45,980 --> 00:27:50,940 And because all of our staff is bilingual in English and Spanish, so it just makes sense. 403 00:27:50,940 --> 00:27:53,900 But so let's use this fact pattern. 404 00:27:53,900 --> 00:27:59,680 We have, let's say Maria is 35 years old. 405 00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:05,380 She came to the U S in the late nineties, um, without permission. 406 00:28:05,380 --> 00:28:06,380 Okay. 407 00:28:06,380 --> 00:28:08,140 Late nineties came without permission. 408 00:28:08,140 --> 00:28:14,540 And then 10 years later, she returned to Mexico because her mom was sick and she wanted to 409 00:28:14,540 --> 00:28:18,580 see her mom always really heartbreaking cases. 410 00:28:18,580 --> 00:28:22,420 We see them all the time where it's like, you know, that you can't leave because you 411 00:28:22,420 --> 00:28:27,420 know, there's some type of immigration consequence, but mom's sick and I don't care. 412 00:28:27,420 --> 00:28:33,660 I'm going back home and I, I can not imagine being in that situation, but my heart breaks 413 00:28:33,660 --> 00:28:36,700 because I would go to, okay. 414 00:28:36,700 --> 00:28:43,180 Um, Maria leaves and then she comes back again, walking across the desert. 415 00:28:43,180 --> 00:28:44,780 It's a two day walk. 416 00:28:44,780 --> 00:28:46,380 She hires a coyote. 417 00:28:46,380 --> 00:28:49,980 She enters and she's not apprehended or anything else. 418 00:28:49,980 --> 00:28:53,460 Maria's daughter wants to petition for her. 419 00:28:53,460 --> 00:28:59,100 Her daughter's now, um, you know, 20, I don't know if my age is on Maria is going to add 420 00:28:59,100 --> 00:29:05,780 up, but pretend that Maria is normal and has now a 21 year old U S citizen daughter. 421 00:29:05,780 --> 00:29:08,440 She also has a U S citizen husband. 422 00:29:08,440 --> 00:29:11,260 Both of them want to petition for Maria. 423 00:29:11,260 --> 00:29:13,660 They want to know how they can help her. 424 00:29:13,660 --> 00:29:19,820 The problem is, is that when Maria left, she triggered the 10 year bar. 425 00:29:19,820 --> 00:29:24,460 And when she entered without inspection, when she came back, she triggered the permanent 426 00:29:24,460 --> 00:29:25,460 bar. 427 00:29:25,460 --> 00:29:27,900 And when I say triggered, that's fancy lawyer speak. 428 00:29:27,900 --> 00:29:28,900 It's kind of annoying. 429 00:29:28,900 --> 00:29:31,220 Sorry, I can't help that I do it. 430 00:29:31,220 --> 00:29:35,020 That just means it, it initiated it. 431 00:29:35,020 --> 00:29:36,020 It instigated it. 432 00:29:36,020 --> 00:29:44,300 It started it like the domino fell for the permanent bar and there's no waving the permanent 433 00:29:44,300 --> 00:29:53,340 bar outside of very specific case types like VAWA TV set and new visa and asylum. 434 00:29:53,340 --> 00:29:54,340 Okay. 435 00:29:54,340 --> 00:30:00,380 So those are like your four main ways to wave the permanent bar. 436 00:30:00,380 --> 00:30:05,060 So Maria is going to be in a tough position because the permanent bar means that you are 437 00:30:05,060 --> 00:30:11,880 barred from getting any immigration benefit, like a green card, unless you spend 10 years 438 00:30:11,880 --> 00:30:13,700 outside the United States. 439 00:30:13,700 --> 00:30:15,860 So Maria is kind of stuck. 440 00:30:15,860 --> 00:30:22,740 She is really, really stuck unless we can help her with VAWA, a U visa, a TV, so our 441 00:30:22,740 --> 00:30:23,740 asylum. 442 00:30:23,740 --> 00:30:24,740 Okay. 443 00:30:24,740 --> 00:30:26,820 So these are all very common things. 444 00:30:26,820 --> 00:30:30,220 I mean, we deal with this all day, every single day. 445 00:30:30,220 --> 00:30:33,940 So if you have questions, please reach out to us. 446 00:30:33,940 --> 00:30:40,420 You can email us at info at new frontier.us or just come find us on social. 447 00:30:40,420 --> 00:30:46,900 We are all over social at new frontier immigration law on Instagram. 448 00:30:46,900 --> 00:30:53,620 We're new frontier immigration law on Facebook and then obviously on YouTube as well. 449 00:30:53,620 --> 00:30:56,300 We want to help solve your problems. 450 00:30:56,300 --> 00:30:59,780 We want to make immigration law easy for you. 451 00:30:59,780 --> 00:31:06,780 And I hope that this is a helpful way for you to see that, yes, this is complicated, 452 00:31:06,780 --> 00:31:09,300 but I can do anything. 453 00:31:09,300 --> 00:31:12,580 Even if it's complicated, I can figure this out. 454 00:31:12,580 --> 00:31:16,700 We will spend more time talking about other immigration consequences. 455 00:31:16,700 --> 00:31:22,740 And hey, if you are interested in immigration reform, my, one of my dreams that I want to 456 00:31:22,740 --> 00:31:28,060 see before my kids leave the house for college, I've got my oldest are nine. 457 00:31:28,060 --> 00:31:37,220 So in the next nine years, my vision is that we see all the bars for immigration purposes 458 00:31:37,220 --> 00:31:38,540 taken away. 459 00:31:38,540 --> 00:31:45,580 If you enter the U S you leave and you come back like Maria did, she's not permanently 460 00:31:45,580 --> 00:31:49,780 barred even though she has a U S citizen husband, even though she's got a U S citizen kid over 461 00:31:49,780 --> 00:31:51,820 the age of 21, she's screwed. 462 00:31:51,820 --> 00:31:52,820 Okay. 463 00:31:52,820 --> 00:31:58,700 So immigration law is screwing over our families and oftentimes it's just one family member. 464 00:31:58,700 --> 00:32:02,980 And so you're stuck here in the U S and everybody says they support legal immigration and I 465 00:32:02,980 --> 00:32:09,220 support legal immigration too, but not when the rules, when, how can things be legal? 466 00:32:09,220 --> 00:32:15,780 If the rules are impossible to follow or the rules are so, if the punishment doesn't fit 467 00:32:15,780 --> 00:32:21,260 the crime, you know, law and policy have to make sense within the context of what society 468 00:32:21,260 --> 00:32:22,580 accepts. 469 00:32:22,580 --> 00:32:29,140 I no longer accept what was set up in 1996 when all these bars went into place. 470 00:32:29,140 --> 00:32:34,980 And when I think about all the kids who are in school with my children, they don't have 471 00:32:34,980 --> 00:32:39,700 a mom or they don't have their dad here in the U S or their mom or dad is here in the 472 00:32:39,700 --> 00:32:43,500 U S but there's no way for them to legally fix their status. 473 00:32:43,500 --> 00:32:47,820 So they have a family here, but their papers are unattainable. 474 00:32:47,820 --> 00:32:52,340 I think this is an unacceptable way of doing business as an American. 475 00:32:52,340 --> 00:32:56,860 So if you are an advocate and you've heard this and you're like, wow, look at all the 476 00:32:56,860 --> 00:32:58,820 ways things can go sideways. 477 00:32:58,820 --> 00:33:00,060 I agree. 478 00:33:00,060 --> 00:33:06,120 Things can go sideways a lot, but the positive thing folks, if you are in the thick of this 479 00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:12,940 is lawyers are on your side, like find the right person who is going to fight for you 480 00:33:12,940 --> 00:33:18,300 and figure out a way for your family to make it work. 481 00:33:18,300 --> 00:33:20,220 Reach out to us if you need us. 482 00:33:20,220 --> 00:33:21,420 Don't give up hope. 483 00:33:21,420 --> 00:33:28,740 I think that's the biggest thing to take away is these are consequences, but a lot of them 484 00:33:28,740 --> 00:33:34,620 we can find exceptions to, we can find waivers for, and I'm literally making fists with my 485 00:33:34,620 --> 00:33:37,420 hands because I'm like, and then we just got to go to battle. 486 00:33:37,420 --> 00:33:41,620 We got to have lawyer warrior mentality. 487 00:33:41,620 --> 00:33:42,620 Thanks so much for joining us. 488 00:33:42,620 --> 00:33:46,140 And I can't wait to see you again on the next episode. 489 00:33:46,140 --> 00:33:49,260 The immigration law made easy. 490 00:33:49,260 --> 00:33:51,820 My friend, I'm so glad you joined me today. 491 00:33:51,820 --> 00:33:56,660 If you have a friend or family member who may need some immigration law guidance or 492 00:33:56,660 --> 00:34:02,100 even just day to day encouragement, please send them a text or email or a DM on social 493 00:34:02,100 --> 00:34:06,500 media and say, Hey, I think this podcast is going to help you. 494 00:34:06,500 --> 00:34:10,540 I sure wish someone had given me the tips I'm sharing here years and years ago when 495 00:34:10,540 --> 00:34:13,300 I was starting out as an immigration lawyer. 496 00:34:13,300 --> 00:34:14,880 Thank you so much for being here. 497 00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:15,880 I'll see you next week. 498 00:34:15,880 --> 00:34:40,340 At the same time.