You are standing on Ellis island in 1908, standing in line waiting to be processed after a long terrifying journey. The hall is filled with people so breathing becomes a chore and suddenly the horrifying thought of that disgusting boat out at sea becomes that little more pleasurable.
You gaze around once more at the tired and dirty faces around you. The odour is so bad in the room, that many of the government officials have a scarf over their face. It occurs to you again, that you were the chosen in your family to go out alone and make a home in this paradise around you so that some day the rest of your clan may be able to join you.
That flash of insight almost makes you crack a smile given the poverty and almost war torn carnage that you know is around you. However it has been weeks since a happy thought has made you feel like smiling let alone laughing. The torture of this quest has surely taken many years off your life and all for what!
Now just as the queue of people seems to moving somewhat in a forward direction, you sense a well-dressed man with a tie heading in your direction carrying what appears to be some sort of case and a sheaf of papers. You turn around for a better glimpse and your initial sensation was correct and more to the point this man was smiling in your direction. It had been such a long time since that had happened to you, it occurs to you that you have forgotten an appropriate response.
What you later realize is this man who supposed to be your support, advocate and guide essentially is your bank vault where you have lost the code. As everything you earn will go to him and you will get little in return.
This story although 100 years old is not that dissimilar to what a foreigner coming to the US faces today. Families are broken up because of the horrendous regulations around trying to move to the US. The whole process takes so many years that you are essentially giving up your life just at the chance to accepted. Then in the end you are the whim of an officer who just can’t wait for his next cigarette break or watching the game that night with his buddies.
Finally if all that torture is not enough some nice guy in a suit demands thousands of dollars from you just to guide you through the process!
The truth is that lawyers only have the power because foreigners and immigrants had no way to get educated but now is the chance to fight back and not have to essentially bribe lawyers for you to live your life in America.
CJ helps Immigrants with their US Visa Questions so they can empower themselves as they move to and begin a life in the US.
Immigration Lawyer – Perm Residents & Undocumented Children
