Latest / Here's to You / 050 - Building bridges in immigration w/ Sarah Balderas pt. 1

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050 - Building bridges in immigration w/ Sarah Balderas pt. 1 · Here's to You

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  Cheers. And welcome back to another
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  episode of Here's to You, the Podcast podcast podcast, the
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  podcast where we bring cool people to share their cool
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  stories with you. Sitting next to me, as always,
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  is the wonderful blue haired Fanister McAllister.
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  Yes, hello everyone. We're so excited because today
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  we are going to have oh, I see what you're talking about and
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  the finally came through. I see what you're saying.
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  I was wondering and also what you're talking about.
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  That's because we always start with music first.
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  Love it. Yes.
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  Yeah, hey, that was kind of cool though.
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  We. Had the lagging connection and I
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  totally even forgot that I hit play on that and there it goes.
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  That worked out very well. It did, It did.
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  It did. Hey, we switched spots today.
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  Yeah, maybe a little bit. Oh, man, I love it.
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  I love it, though, because we have a really special guest with
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  us today. She puts her heart into
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  everything that she does. She's a partner at a firm, yes.
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  But she's also spent a lot of years advocating for, you know,
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  for some really tough moments in people's lives.
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  But she sets herself apart because she brings a lot of
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  compassion into a system that's often cold and confusing and
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  overwhelming. Sarah is here with us today.
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  She's, she's not just an immigration lawyer, but she's
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  also someone who likes to read. She's also someone who likes to
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  look outside the window and see, like, when can I go out and
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  play? And she really focuses on
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  working hard, but playing hard as well, so.
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  Hell yeah, I like. That nice?
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  Yeah, it was off the cuff on something.
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  On something. Some things I did write down.
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  That was great. Yeah, yeah.
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  But you've also done a lot more, you know, like, I think, like,
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  for us, we do try to. It's really important to us that
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  we showcase the whole human and not just, like, a title or a
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  fancy thing. I mean, but you have done a lot.
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  I mean, you're an educator. You're a public speaker.
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  You're a Latina leader. You're a daughter of immigrants
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  as well, a golfer. And we know you like to golf,
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  but apparently you do. I see all of your workout
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  videos, too. You're also doing a podcast as
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  well. You're on radio shows.
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  Yeah. I mean like Home Girl really is
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  everywhere. I am, I am.
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  I love it. I love it, though I like to stay
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  busy. Yeah, yeah.
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  So kind of let's just kind of start a little bit about like I
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  want to, I want to understand maybe like why do you do the
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  work that you do? Like maybe tell us about a
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  client's story or a misconception that you've heard
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  or like what kind of got you into this?
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  So I grew up here in Wichita. I grew up a Catholic kid.
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  So in Catholic school, we are taught to volunteer.
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  It's always an expectation to volunteer.
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  And I fear, feel like that's where I got my advocating, you
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  know, skills from. That's where I got my, my
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  lifestyle of kind of going out of my way for other people.
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  And it 'cause it was an expectation you, you did not not
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  volunteer. And you did that since.
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  Since I was in grade school. OK, OK.
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  So you were a Catholic school since?
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  Grade school my whole life, yeah.
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  So when I got to Bishop Carroll, it was expected to get this many
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  volunteer hours every year and it just essentially was
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  instilled in my life. So I'm constantly seeking out
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  opportunities to help people. And that's why I'm so busy.
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  That's why I'm on so many boards.
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  That's why I'm doing so many things.
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  It's just because I'm always looking for the next opportunity
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  to help someone. And, and that was all the way
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  through Newman. When I was out in college, I got
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  a scholarship because of my volunteering.
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  So it was even more volunteer work that I was supposed to be
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  doing in order to keep my scholarship.
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  And then when I went to law school, I didn't have to
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  volunteer anymore. It wasn't an expectation, but I
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  still did it anyway. And so that's just carried on
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  because. It came, it became a part of
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  you. It wasn't really like an maybe
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  it started as an expectation, but then eventually it was like,
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  this is just kind of how I live my life.
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  Exactly. Yep.
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  Yeah. And so how do you balance the
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  'cause it's not a savior complex, but it started it,
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  right. You know, like in in some way,
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  maybe it started that way because of the expectation that
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  it held. You know, how do you balance
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  that? And then how do you also balance
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  to where you don't burn out or get even like empathy fatigue?
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  Yeah, and I understand that savior complex because I
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  actually see it in my job a lot. I have, you know, older white,
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  you know, men and women who are retired and they, and they want
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  to help someone. I, I have AI have a housekeeper
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  who I really want to keep in the US.
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  And, and they kind of get into a, a savior complex where I have
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  to kind of tell them to stand back a little bit and let the
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  person who needs the assistance to do it themselves.
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  In a way. I don't really care where the
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  money's coming from, but you know, I kind of have to keep
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  that client confidentiality between me and my client and not
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  with the people who are paying the bill.
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  So that's kind of what I see as far as as the savior complex.
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  But for me, it's just I've, I've come from very a very great
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  household. My dad has done very well for
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  himself. I have never struggled
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  whatsoever in my life. And so I've always just been
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  taught, you know, OK, I'm in a great position in my life.
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  Let's give back. Like let's give opportunities to
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  people who didn't have what I have.
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  That's kind of how I see it, is to be someone who I can and help
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  because I had a great upbringing and maybe they didn't.
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  How can I help them? Yeah, yeah.
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  And your parents were also are are also immigrants, right?
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  My dad, my dad's from Mexico and my mom's from here.
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  OK, OK. Are they like first Gen. or
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  like? My dad of my my grandpa, my
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  Abuelo came from to the United States from Mexico, then brought
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  the rest of my family over my dad and his siblings.
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  And so, but my dad is actually first generation college
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  educated. And then so he got the
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  opportunity to go to Newman University on a scholarship and
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  then did very well for himself after that in business.
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  And then so I was actually second generation college
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  student in my family. So it's pretty cool.
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  Yeah, yeah. And you were saying earlier, you
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  have two older siblings, right? Yeah, sister and a brother,
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  yeah. And you guys have pretty big
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  age? Yeah, pretty big age, age gap.
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  So my sister was pregnant with my nephew when I, my mom was
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  pregnant with me. So we're actually the same age.
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  Yeah, we're the same age, Yeah. So is, so is your.
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  Are you and your nephew really close?
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  Because of that, yeah, we grew up like siblings.
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  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Yeah. Oh, that's funny.
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  Yeah, it's pretty cool. So I'm curious though, like or
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  no, I'm awake. So OK.
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  So what draws you specifically to immigration, I imagine is
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  probably because. Of of our upbringing and our
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  family's history, of course, but.
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  Tell me a little bit about that. So, yeah, so my whole family
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  migrated here from Mexico and then.
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  But actually it's my cousin, the other attorney who I work with,
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  Angie Beldaris, who was doing immigration before I did.
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  She's been doing it 10 years longer than I've been doing
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  immigration. So she's actually the OG in the
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  immigration world. But if we're talking
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  reputations. And I started watching her do
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  her job and I was like, oh, I want to do this.
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  I love what she does. I got to see her lifestyle at
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  the office, outside the office. The entire aspect of helping
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  other people and also being able to make a living for yourself is
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  just amazing. And so I watched her do her
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  thing. And then when I went to law
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  school, I wasn't for sure that I was going to do immigration.
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  But by the time I took the class, did the internships, and
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  I was ready to graduate, I I knew that that's what I was
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  going to do. So yeah.
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  How so? How'd you get exposed to Angie
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  though? There's a 10 year gap.
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  Like how'd you get exposed to? Her So my cousin, my cousin
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  Angie, she they're all older than She's our cousin.
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  Yeah, I know you're good, you're good.
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  She's but they're maybe. We didn't switch spots.
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  Maybe I am the high one. I'm naturally high.
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  I'm naturally a drunk person. Like I don't even need a drink.
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  This is who I am. Same.
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  I'm I don't need alcohol to have a good time, I can tell you
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  that. But I like it but.
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  The the high aspect I can't comment on no because I, my
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  mouth gets really dry and I just don't like it.
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  But I love the smell. I I love the smell.
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  You love the smell. I love the smell, but I, but I
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  can't smoke it because it just, it makes me my mouth really dry
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  and that's super annoying. Yeah, so, but I'll just sit
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  there and smell it from afar second hand.
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  I love it. I love it.
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  OK, so Andrew's your cousin and that's how you you see her doing
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  this stuff. Is this ever, is there ever a
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  time in your life where you're like, I don't really know what I
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  want to do? Did you always know you wanted
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  to be a lawyer? Like what?
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  I originally wanted to be a teacher and a coach.
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  I, I was the kid who had a school like in my basement, like
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  I had a desk and I had other desks and all my friends would
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  come over and we'd play school and I always wanted to be the
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  teacher. And when I was going to college,
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  I, I was taking, I was an English major.
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  So I was still keeping the option open.
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  And then I've been an athlete my entire life.
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  So the coaching aspect was just going to go with teaching,
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  obviously. OK.
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  Yeah. Yeah.
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  So when I finally got to my senior year of college, I had
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  already taken the LSAT because I was, I was, you know, up in the
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  air law school, teaching, master's, whatever.
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  That's that's a lot though. Yeah, I mean, right.
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  Because to to be able. So you just did it because you
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  were up in the air, but you weren't sure.
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  That's a lot of dedication to study for the LSAT.
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  And then also think, am I going to go into masters for English
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  and stuff? And I was in season, so I was a
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  softball player. So I was.
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  It was during season. We'd be driving to, like, El
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  Paso and I'd be studying for the LSAT, Yeah.
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  I mean, like I, I think like I just want, really want to
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  highlight that. And because like you're saying
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  this like, whatever, but it's not whatever.
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  Yeah, like that's a lot of shit to carry.
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  How old were you? Well, call it 21 night 20. 21
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  that's that's a lot to. Carry Yeah, yeah, it was fun,
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  though. It was fun.
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  Everything. Everything I do is is is.
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  If you have 0 trauma. Girl, that's a whole nother
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  podcast if we want to talk about trauma, my dear you.
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  Got some trauma? OK, good.
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  Oh yeah, I feel. Better.
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  I feel better. That's hilarious, yeah.
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  No, I was about to be like how the.
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  No, I everything. I mean, I'll tell people all the
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  time, law school is the best three years of my life.
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  What the fuck? Study.
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  No, I know. No, that's exactly what that's
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  what the kids in high school wanted to say when I was talking
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  to high schoolers last week. They literally wanted to be
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  like, what the fuck? And I was like, no, I'm serious.
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  Best three years of my life. Loved it.
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  Yeah. Law school.
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  Three years. Yeah.
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  It's not typically 3, is it? Yeah.
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  Oh, OK, OK. I feel OK, maybe I should go
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  into law. Imagine me in law guys.
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  OK, sorry. I can imagine you being an
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  attorney, yeah. Yeah, I always wanted to
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  actually. Of course.
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  I I was in debate four years in high school and that's when I
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  get really nerdy and into policy and I like learn a lot of shit.
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  And I'm like, Oh my God. So everything leads to war.
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  Oh my God. No, but because like I did
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  policy debates, so then like the cases where I mean, if you were
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  negative, they were always like if you're, if you implement this
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  new policy for transportation infrastructure, it's going to
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  lead to a nuclear war and. You're like, what the like, how
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  did we get there so fast? Yeah, like that.
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  That's kind of crazy, don't you think?
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  I did debate in high school too but I did not take it seriously.
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  I did it one year my senior year and me and my partner went up
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  there and completely bullshitted our entire argument and we were
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  just there to get the credit and get by.
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  So I was not AI, wasn't as much of A nerd as you were.
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  Apparently, no, Dude, I was hella nerdy.
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  Yeah, I mean, but also, like, I couldn't do sports.
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  Yeah. I couldn't do any
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  extracurricular activities because my mom, she drove, but
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  she didn't have papers, so we'd never really risked her driving.
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  Yeah, you know, And then, like my dad, he was the one who
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  worked all the time. And so it was really hard
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  because he is very, he's very ambitious in the sense of like,
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  he just always has a lot of shit going on.
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  That's typical Dad, man, Typical.
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  And you got, you're Mexican as well, right?
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  Yeah. Typical Mexican dad.
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  They work from sun up to sundown and you're like, do you ever sit
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  down? Do you ever take a break?
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  No, I mean, we did always have. And then I think like, so we,
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  they always did push into us that like, this is really
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  important, that you use your voice here in the US because
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  like here it's corrupt as well. But they're really good about
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  hiding shit. Yeah, it's because it's corrupt.
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  But they don't care that it's obvious.
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  Yeah, they don't care that. You know, yeah.
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  Here you have an opportunity to make a change.
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  So we would, like, grow up. Like, my dad was busy, but we
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  always had family dinner. That's awesome together.
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  And I mean, like, our conversations, we're about
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  everything. But like, especially when, like,
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  election year came around, like, we were talking about stuff.
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  And immigration was a big issue for us, obviously, with my mom
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  and my family. So I grew up around a lot of
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  immigration lawyers because we tried to get her.
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  Yeah, and I mean, we'll get into it, right?
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  Because it's really complicated. It is so complicated to have it
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  happen. But anyways, that's why I get
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  really nerdy. And that's the only thing that I
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  can really take serious as an extracurricular activity,
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  because I couldn't do anything else.
• 15:05
  But I always wanted to. I always wanted to like try a
• 15:08
  sport or like do something, but I couldn't do anything.
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  What was your sport? Yeah.
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  I was AI played volleyball, basketball and softball my
• 15:18
  entire life. Played those three sports at
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  Bishop Carroll. And then when I went to Newman,
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  I played softball. I, I got bored because I was so
• 15:28
  used to playing two sports at one time.
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  And so I went out I, I played volleyball and then I tore my
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  ACL my first season playing volleyball at Newman.
• 15:37
  I was like, wow, that sucks. So I was like, all right, I'm
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  just going to stay with. I'm just going to stay with
• 15:42
  softball. Less jumping.
• 15:44
  And then I tore my ACL again playing softball because.
• 15:49
  Like once you have done that, like it's susceptible to more.
• 15:52
  Yeah, yeah. So 2 ACL's later, I was like,
• 15:54
  all right, God, Sarah, focus on what really matters, which is
• 15:57
  not sports. It was, you know, obviously my
• 16:00
  education after college, so it was a little wake up call for
• 16:03
  me. But I did have, yeah, I played
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  softball at Newman. OK, gotcha.
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  And so you're again, you're saying that like you're doing
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  all these things at 21 and also you decide to go, what finally
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  was the wake up call that made made you go I'm going to do.
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  I just, I like specifically remember being in the living
• 16:24
  room with my dad because my dad's always been my, my mentor.
• 16:27
  He's always helping me make my decisions And well, this is what
• 16:30
  I would do. But if you want, if this is what
• 16:32
  you want to do, these are, you know, and so we, I remember
• 16:35
  being in the living room and he's like, all right, it's
• 16:36
  decision making time. What are you going to do?
• 16:39
  And I was like, I'm going to go to law school because looking
• 16:44
  back now, I don't know how I knew that In the past, I was
• 16:46
  like, maybe I could just do all three.
• 16:48
  And now I do all three. I teach, coach and practice law.
• 16:51
  So law school just opens up more doors for you in the future.
• 16:57
  If you have a law degree, you have more flexibility to do
• 16:59
  other stuff. So yeah.
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  Do OK, I mean, like, I guess I'm asking, do you know a lot of
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  lawyers who had their law degree but then decide not to use it?
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  Oh, yeah. And there's a lot of practicing
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  attorneys who no longer practice anymore, and they teach or they
• 17:15
  do policy work or they do advocating.
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  They start nonprofits. There's just so much you can do
• 17:21
  with that beautiful with that beautiful law degree.
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  It's very helpful. You're not being sarcastic when
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  you. Say beautiful.
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  Oh hell no, it's beautiful. It's just framed in my office.
• 17:30
  That shit's expensive. No.
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  Can I? Ask how?
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  How much was it? Man, I mean law school, I mean
• 17:39
  it's that, you know, some people are hundreds of thousands of
• 17:41
  dollars in debt from law school because they didn't have any
• 17:44
  help right with. Scholarships.
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  Me, I'm a different story. And as I said, my dad was very
• 17:50
  well off and he was able to help me pay for everything.
• 17:54
  Oh, good. So I did not have any debt.
• 17:56
  Wow. Yeah.
• 17:57
  He, he, they definitely planned for my future.
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  And as you know, I came later than my other siblings, so their
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  lifestyle was a little different when they were raising me.
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  And yeah, I'm lucky. I'm lucky as hell.
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  And I think that's why I put so much work into what I do,
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  because I know how lucky I am. You know, not a lot.
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  No one has. Not a lot of people have what I
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  had growing up. So yeah, I'm very aware.
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  Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, seriously.
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  Yeah. So on what?
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  I don't remember what I was going to ask you about the law
• 18:35
  degree, but you eventually figure out that you want to go
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  into immigration and you want to focus on that.
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  Was there any other type of law that you were wanting to focus
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  on? Originally, I wanted to be a
• 18:46
  public defender to, I really, I watched all the shows growing up
• 18:51
  and so I wanted to be a public defender like Law and Order and
• 18:54
  all those shows. And then I took immigration.
• 18:57
  I took the immigration class in law school, which is the one
• 18:59
  that I teach now, which is pretty cool.
• 19:02
  And my teacher, my professor, was the deputy chief counsel for
• 19:10
  ICE, for DHS, and she taught our class.
• 19:15
  What year was this? This was 2014, around there,
• 19:21
  20/14/20 No, yeah, no, that's when I was in college.
• 19:25
  This is around. Obama time which he is the one
• 19:27
  who has deported more more people.
• 19:29
  No, that was, well, no, you're I'm wrong.
• 19:31
  I'm wrong. You're right.
• 19:32
  So I was in law school in 20/20/15 to 2018.
• 19:37
  I'm thinking Newman days. So around 20/16/2017 is when I
• 19:41
  took immigration law, which was the first Trump administration.
• 19:48
  Yeah. Right.
• 19:48
  Yes, yes, I think so. So yeah, yeah.
• 19:51
  Because then the I. Remember that exact moment?
• 19:55
  Yeah, I can remember. Yeah.
• 19:56
  Because then the summer after, yeah, because Trump was elected
• 19:59
  president when I was in law school, and that summer after I
• 20:03
  took immigration laws when I did my internship at DHS.
• 20:07
  So that was under the first Trump administration.
• 20:10
  And I told you my family's liberal.
• 20:11
  So some people did not like that.
• 20:13
  Some people did not want me to do that, but I was like, no, I'm
• 20:17
  doing it. What made you?
• 20:18
  Yeah, what made you to just be like fuck it?
• 20:20
  I wanted to learn the other side because I, I had a feeling
• 20:23
  that's what I was going to end up doing was what Angie was
• 20:25
  doing. And I was like, I got to learn
• 20:27
  both sides. And then if it doesn't work out,
• 20:30
  you know, me working with my cousin in the future, which a
• 20:32
  lot of people are like, don't work with family, right?
• 20:35
  I thought about potentially working for the government.
• 20:37
  So I thought it was a great opportunity.
• 20:39
  Who, I mean, who turns down an opportunity to work for the US
• 20:42
  government? I mean, I think it was just
• 20:44
  something very prestigious and something that I wanted to do no
• 20:47
  matter who was president. But I wanted to learn the
• 20:50
  insurance and outs of what they do and what who the people I go
• 20:54
  up against now are all the people I used to work with,
• 20:57
  Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 20:59
  You were like an insider. I sure was.
• 21:02
  Yeah. I was an insider.
• 21:04
  You're. Playing chess, Everybody else is
• 21:06
  playing checkers. Exactly, exactly.
• 21:09
  I mean, I still have my notebooks.
• 21:10
  I have my notebooks in my office of all the notes that I took,
• 21:14
  what to do, what not to do in front of the judge, what to say,
• 21:17
  what not to say, how to go about doing this.
• 21:19
  So when I first started practicing in immigration court,
• 21:22
  I already knew the etiquette. I knew what the judges expected.
• 21:25
  I knew what DHS was gonna say cuz I used to work for him, you
• 21:28
  know so. Yeah, I used to work at a
• 21:31
  nonprofit and the leader of that nonprofit or the founder would
• 21:35
  always say I will partner with anyone to do good and I will
• 21:39
  partner with nobody to do evil. Yeah, that's a very good motto.
• 21:42
  You know, and so it's like even like someone who is really bad
• 21:47
  or has all this stuff, it's like, or I don't know what is,
• 21:51
  what is the definition of that right there?
• 21:53
  There is some right. Like, I guess like, I don't
• 21:55
  know, like there are things that are for sure.
• 21:58
  I'm like, hell no, yeah, I'm not working with you on nothing.
• 22:01
  Yeah. But then there are the system is
• 22:06
  so nuanced, so let's get into that.
• 22:08
  That's why you see my face everywhere is because I'm trying
• 22:11
  to educate the people on why we're in the situation that
• 22:14
  we're in right now. Yeah, it's so nuanced.
• 22:16
  OK, so like immigration one O 1. Tell us a little bit about, you
• 22:24
  know, we've talked about this. We talked about this at our
• 22:26
  meeting. Just, you know, I'm gonna just
• 22:29
  let you say what you what do we need to really know about
• 22:32
  immigration? That's like a myth that we grew
• 22:34
  up with that we need to understand that we didn't know.
• 22:37
  Yeah, so Long story short, our, our country's a mess right now
• 22:42
  with regarding immigration. And to understand why, you have
• 22:47
  to go back to why immigration laws were created.
• 22:52
  Immigration laws were created to exclude people from the United
• 22:56
  States, not to include. So they're very.
• 22:59
  Exclusive and say that louder. Immigration laws were created to
• 23:03
  exclude people from the United States, not to include them.
• 23:07
  And that's why they hate us. No, but no.
• 23:09
  But it's it's helpful to know. This, that's why we're in the
• 23:12
  situation that we're in. Yeah, yeah.
• 23:13
  Is because essentially the way I describe it when I do talks and
• 23:18
  crap all over the place. There's, if you're at the border
• 23:22
  and you're, and you're in Mexico and you're looking at the United
• 23:24
  States, there's, there's a certain number of doors that you
• 23:29
  can go through. And if you can go through that
• 23:32
  door, there's only a certain amount of people who can go
• 23:34
  through that door per year. So if none of those doors apply
• 23:40
  to you, you have no opportunity to come to the United States.
• 23:46
  So the problem that we're in right now is the immigration
• 23:51
  laws are so old that it's not, it's not, you know, we're not
• 23:56
  able to have more people apply for things.
• 24:01
  And I always give the example of parents of U.S. citizens, both
• 24:06
  parents entered illegally. They have AUS citizen child
• 24:09
  who's able to apply for them, but they're not eligible for
• 24:13
  Part 2, which is a waiver or a better done or a pardon.
• 24:17
  And so because they're not eligible for that, they will
• 24:21
  never be able to reside here lawfully.
• 24:26
  So it's just, it's, it's because of the way the immigration laws
• 24:29
  are and they're very exclusionary that when people
• 24:33
  say, why can't everybody just become U.S. citizens?
• 24:36
  Well, that's the reason why is because not everybody is
• 24:39
  eligible to even become a lawful permanent resident, which is
• 24:43
  Step 1 is a green card. If you don't have a green card,
• 24:47
  you can't become AUS citizen. So there's your answer.
• 24:51
  There's there's too many laws prohibiting people from becoming
• 24:54
  lawful permanent residents, people who are actually
• 24:56
  deserving of becoming lawful permanent residents that would
• 25:00
  love the opportunity to be here lawfully, but they'll never get
• 25:02
  that opportunity because of the way the laws are.
• 25:05
  And so like breakdown eligibility, I think like we
• 25:07
  hear a lot of people always say, well.
• 25:11
  Criminals. Yeah, yeah.
• 25:13
  Which is number one on the you know list.
• 25:15
  Yeah, and then also like, let's define criminal.
• 25:18
  Like just similarly when we were talking about bad defining that,
• 25:22
  right? Yeah, because people can be
• 25:23
  like, OK, you got pulled over because you were drunk driving,
• 25:26
  now you're a criminal. How many people do not drink?
• 25:28
  How many? I mean, we have a whole fucking
• 25:30
  podcast about making a signature drink for people like 1 bad just
• 25:35
  decision. Yeah, brands do really bad.
• 25:38
  So like let's break down what that what some of the
• 25:40
  eligibility means. So we call them inadmissibility
• 25:44
  and removability laws. And essentially the first one is
• 25:49
  crime related incidences. So crimes involving moral
• 25:54
  turpitude. You've done something so bad
• 25:56
  that the public is like, Oh my God, we can't have you stay here
• 26:01
  or we can't have you come to the US because of it.
• 26:05
  Aggravated felonies. If you've been of convicted and,
• 26:08
  and in the immigration world, you don't even have to be
• 26:10
  convicted. Sometimes simply being arrested
• 26:13
  is enough. So aggravated felonies, you are
• 26:18
  in the wrong place at the wrong time.
• 26:19
  You're, you make the wrong decision, you're with the wrong
• 26:21
  girl, you're with the wrong guy. And I have a client who was
• 26:24
  convicted of aggravated domestic battery.
• 26:28
  He's he's, he got deported because there's no forgiveness
• 26:32
  for aggravated felonies, stuff like that.
• 26:35
  Now one DUI that might make that might not make you removable
• 26:40
  from the country or it might not keep you from coming to the US,
• 26:43
  but certainly it's going to be a hurdle to stay here or to come.
• 26:47
  So it's very, very complicated. It is, yeah.
• 26:51
  I think in like, you know, for a lot of immigrants, whether
• 26:55
  you're first Gen. second Gen. or no, I mean, at this point it
• 26:58
  depends, right? Like it doesn't, doesn't matter
• 27:00
  whether you're first, second, whatever.
• 27:01
  Cuz it, it, a lot of it comes down to your legal status,
• 27:04
  right? So I think like people who have
• 27:09
  a background in that sometimes have that pressure to perform
• 27:14
  like, I cannot ever do anything, yeah.
• 27:16
  Or just yeah, because any anything I do could potentially
• 27:23
  make me lose something. Exactly.
• 27:25
  Yeah. I mean, going back to, you know,
• 27:27
  the those doors that I was talking about, why do you think
• 27:31
  so many people come to the United States unlawfully is
• 27:35
  because there's no door to enter through and that's their only
• 27:38
  option. But entering illegally is a
• 27:41
  crime. It's a federal crime.
• 27:43
  And there's no pardon for that. There, there is and there isn't.
• 27:47
  So that pardon, that waiver, that's the pardon, yeah, for the
• 27:50
  unlawful entry in the time that you've been here unlawfully.
• 27:53
  Well, I think that there I so my mom, she 'cause we had talked to
• 27:58
  Hella, like I grew up around it all the time, 'cause my dad was
• 28:01
  always trying to get her to, obviously.
• 28:03
  I mean, she wanted to everybody. We all wanted to.
• 28:06
  I mean, you want to be able to drive a car and not be afraid
• 28:08
  for your life. Yeah, basic safety stuff, you
• 28:13
  know, like you want to be able to like be in a community place
• 28:17
  and see a cop and not be afraid. Yeah, exactly.
• 28:21
  But she there was a point where she tried to cross and she well,
• 28:29
  you know, got caught and then that.
• 28:33
  And I feel like I can actually talk about a lot of this stuff
• 28:35
  now that she's passed because I'm like, she's safe, you know,
• 28:39
  like no one is ever going to take her away.
• 28:41
  I get it. But it's like, which my family
• 28:44
  would probably be mad at me, but I think it's like, hey, but
• 28:47
  she's safe, guys. She's she's not going to get
• 28:49
  taken from us. That's terrible.
• 28:51
  It is, it is. It's so sad.
• 28:53
  It is. But we she had crossed illegally
• 28:59
  and she got caught and then and I think it was with the legal
• 29:03
  papers and I think that's where you don't have pardon.
• 29:06
  It's in that moment. If you if you claim to be AUS
• 29:09
  citizen or you have someone else's documents, yes.
• 29:11
  It's also something that can keep you from from obtaining
• 29:15
  status. And I remember like, we did
• 29:17
  like, a lot. I remember just like growing up
• 29:20
  going always to different lawyers all the time.
• 29:23
  And then I think it was finally in middle school when, like, one
• 29:25
  lawyer tells us, like, OK, if you move any more of her stuff,
• 29:29
  like you are causing like, this magnifying glass on her and
• 29:35
  like, you need to stop moving things now.
• 29:38
  And the only time that I can actually help you is if she were
• 29:42
  to get caught, arrested, and then I can go and advocate for
• 29:47
  her at that moment. Of course there could be bad,
• 29:50
  there could be another result, but that's when I can go help.
• 29:54
  Isn't that terrible? It was the worst.
• 29:56
  Like, I remember, like, we went all the way to Albuquerque, NM,
• 29:59
  and we had like a really good, like we had found like a really
• 30:02
  good lawyer. And I remember like, oh, man,
• 30:05
  there were so many. Like we were in New Mexico and
• 30:07
  El Paso. I mean, we were everywhere.
• 30:08
  Like I remember just like, oh, like my dad always trying to
• 30:10
  find it. Yeah.
• 30:12
  And I remember that like, yeah, we were there.
• 30:14
  And when she told us that, I think like we were all just
• 30:17
  like, wow. Yeah, you know.
• 30:20
  Yeah, and that, that's literally what I'm talking about it.
• 30:23
  It's there's no way for everybody to apply for
• 30:26
  something. It I can help you.
• 30:29
  A lot of people will say, yeah, but I've been here for over 10
• 30:32
  years. I pay my taxes.
• 30:34
  I'm I've never gotten arrested. Cool.
• 30:37
  Doesn't matter. The only time I can help you
• 30:39
  could only be if you get detained so you'll see people
• 30:43
  walking into immigration. I would never tell someone to
• 30:45
  turn themselves into ICE just for me to get them status
• 30:48
  because you can't guarantee anything in the immigration
• 30:50
  world. You could have a textbook case.
• 30:52
  You could still get denied. So it's, it's just not, it's not
• 30:56
  something I would wish upon anyone.
• 30:58
  So if like if I was the attorney, I would say don't do
• 31:00
  not go turn yourself in just so I can represent you in removal
• 31:04
  proceedings and get you status. Like that's something that I
• 31:06
  would not wish upon anyone to be placed in removal proceedings
• 31:10
  just to get status. You know what I mean?
• 31:12
  But it every, the thing about it is every case is different.
• 31:17
  And so a lot of people will compare their cases to each
• 31:20
  other. And I'm, and I, I'm like, no,
• 31:22
  it's not how it is for this person.
• 31:24
  It could be like that for this person.
• 31:25
  It's very case by case basis. And and also it's just very,
• 31:30
  like you said, nuanced. It's very complicated and I
• 31:33
  can't, I can't get everybody status.
• 31:36
  It's just not possible. It's terrible.
• 31:39
  What so I think like you said something here, you said like,
• 31:42
  hey, this person pays taxes. Isn't that like a myth?
• 31:46
  I I feel. Like that's a good.
• 31:47
  One, I think I'm gonna get pissed off on this.
• 31:49
  Episode. That's a good one.
• 31:50
  That's a good one. That is a huge myth I'm about.
• 31:52
  To get pissed. Yeah, that's a huge myth that
• 31:55
  people come to the US and they don't pay taxes.
• 31:58
  That's not true. There's the US government
• 32:01
  provides a way for people with no legal status to pay taxes.
• 32:06
  It's called an I-10 number. ITIN individual taxpayer
• 32:10
  identification number in the US government says, hey, I know
• 32:13
  you're here unlawfully. That's cool.
• 32:16
  Go ahead and pay your taxes though, with this number,
• 32:18
  because I know you're bringing an income and and that's just,
• 32:20
  you know, but all my clients pay their taxes.
• 32:22
  Yeah, Uncle Sam just wants the money.
• 32:24
  Yeah, they don't give a fuck if you don't have status.
• 32:26
  Yeah, that's why they created the Individual Taxpayer
• 32:28
  Identification number, because they don't have Social Security
• 32:30
  numbers. Yeah.
• 32:31
  And then like, but they will detain you and they will deport
• 32:34
  you. Yeah, it's a.
• 32:36
  That's the new one. Cruel world.
• 32:37
  That's the new one. Yeah, yeah.
• 32:39
  So that's a good, that's a good myth, yeah.
• 32:41
  What are other myths? Immigrants are only coming here
• 32:46
  to get welfare, to take all the public benefits.
• 32:51
  They're not even eligible for it.
• 32:54
  So the only time that people in the United States who don't have
• 32:58
  status are using public benefits is for their U.S. citizen
• 33:02
  children. There's they're not.
• 33:06
  They're not doing anything to the system, to the welfare
• 33:08
  system. They they're not even eligible
• 33:10
  to apply. So that's another good one.
• 33:12
  Yeah, And then just the whole, like we said earlier, the whole
• 33:16
  why can't everyone just become U.S. citizens?
• 33:18
  They're so lazy. Why aren't they trying to get
• 33:20
  status? They're just entering illegally
• 33:23
  and doing whatever they want. And they don't.
• 33:24
  They're not trying, homie. You can't.
• 33:28
  There's nothing to apply for for certain people.
• 33:31
  There's nothing I can do for some people.
• 33:34
  And the only way that they're able to come here is unlawfully.
• 33:37
  Do you think they want to put their lives at risk and enter
• 33:41
  unlawfully and potentially die? Do you know how dangerous the
• 33:46
  border is? Yeah, crossing.
• 33:48
  Oh my God. It's insane.
• 33:50
  If you've ever read the book American Dirt, it's a very, very
• 33:53
  good representation of what happens at the border.
• 33:56
  And I hear it from my clients every day, what they went
• 33:59
  through to come to come to the United States.
• 34:00
  Do you think people want to do that shit?
• 34:03
  Do you think they want to swim through the Rio Grande hoping
• 34:05
  they're not going to get shot or raped or killed?
• 34:08
  Especially. Yeah, if they if there was
• 34:10
  another way, they would do it. But there's not another way,
• 34:14
  unless our immigration laws change.
• 34:16
  Yeah, I asked my mom once what it was like for her to cross.
• 34:20
  Oh Lord. And I remember like asking her
• 34:23
  and she just was. So she was just really strong
• 34:29
  person, like like I remember how to be.
• 34:32
  Yeah, I just remember asking her and she just like she she said
• 34:35
  it kind of like whatever, you know, she's telling me the story
• 34:39
  and I'm just like, and I don't want to get it wrong because
• 34:41
  like I think like I was just like just thinking about what
• 34:44
  she had to go through and I couldn't like fathom it that I I
• 34:47
  have blocked some of. It I'm sure it's very traumatic
• 34:51
  people don't. And then you have the Hispanic
• 34:53
  community not, not thinking that, you know, mental health,
• 34:57
  it's just a normal thing that mental health isn't a big deal.
• 35:01
  That's why I wondered my mom would go to therapy.
• 35:02
  Yeah. And then that's why she yelled
• 35:04
  at me to go to therapy instead. And I'm like, you're right.
• 35:06
  I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go figure.
• 35:07
  Out. See how she flipped that on you?
• 35:09
  Yeah, she flipped it on. She got you.
• 35:10
  She did. But then I flipped it on the
• 35:12
  rest of my family, my whole family goes to therapy.
• 35:14
  Oh. Good.
• 35:15
  That's amazing. That's fine.
• 35:16
  Yeah, but that's hilarious. Yeah.
• 35:19
  She was like, Nah, you need it. You need therapy.
• 35:21
  Yeah, yeah. And I'm like, honestly, I don't
• 35:23
  know how you have made it through life, through all these
• 35:26
  hardships and not cracked. Yet you got to do what you got
• 35:30
  to do. That's hilarious.
• 35:32
  Yeah, but yeah, no, I remember that.
• 35:34
  I asked her and she's telling me about like my older sister
• 35:38
  remembers more. I don't remember much.
• 35:40
  I just remember that when we had to come from because my siblings
• 35:45
  and I, we are citizens. So we did, you know, like my
• 35:49
  dad's over here at this time and he comes in pick, picks us up at
• 35:54
  the border, meets us at the border, and then we're waiting
• 35:56
  in Phoenix because that's where I have family to, to see some.
• 36:02
  Well, my mom crosses, you know, and it wasn't I I was like 5 at
• 36:07
  this time. We're about to be 5 S in my
• 36:09
  little kid brain. I remember it as it was a really
• 36:12
  long time. Yeah.
• 36:14
  Like it was a long time without my mom.
• 36:16
  Like I just remember like crying a lot.
• 36:18
  I just remember feeling like, why is she not with me?
• 36:22
  And because at this point, like my dad's over here working a
• 36:25
  lot. I mean, he come and he goes to
• 36:27
  Mexico all the time too, but he like is back and forth.
• 36:30
  Yeah. So I'm with my mom 24/7, right.
• 36:33
  And I just remember like in my little kid brain, like it felt
• 36:36
  like weeks and then my older sister's like, no, it was only
• 36:41
  like a handful of dates or not even that long.
• 36:43
  Like I don't even remember. She'll hear this and she'll be
• 36:46
  like you said that wrong. I was like my bad but.
• 36:50
  Trauma. Trauma, yeah.
• 36:51
  Yeah. Cuz I remember it as this.
• 36:53
  But anyways, when I had asked my mom about it and later on tell
• 36:56
  my sister, my older sister, she's like, I remember her
• 37:00
  having so many blisters on her feet and like wanting to help
• 37:03
  her. Yeah.
• 37:04
  And then thankfully one of my cousins came with my mom.
• 37:10
  He came illegally at that time, but they were.
• 37:15
  So she wasn't alone. Yeah, thankfully, thank God.
• 37:18
  But there were a lot of scary moments.
• 37:20
  Like she would, she was like, but then at the same time, like
• 37:23
  when she's telling me the story, she's like, but I had it easy.
• 37:26
  She's like compare. She's like comparably to other
• 37:28
  people. Like there I saw some really bad
• 37:30
  stuff and like, I had it easier. Yeah.
• 37:33
  You know, I wasn't alone in the sense of like, I did it cross by
• 37:36
  myself. But there were like other things
• 37:39
  that she's telling me about. Like, you know, obviously you're
• 37:41
  seeing snakes and you're almost going to like, you know,
• 37:43
  potentially die. Oh, my God, yes.
• 37:45
  What are you talking about? You think?
• 37:46
  People want to put themselves through that.
• 37:48
  No, they don't want to put themselves through it.
• 37:51
  Yeah, that's insane. Yeah, They get taken advantage
• 37:53
  of every day. I mean, the the price for Coyote
• 37:56
  right now, yeah, it's over 10K, over 20K.
• 37:59
  It's expensive, Yeah. Coyotes are expensive as I mean,
• 38:02
  and that's the side from Mexico. I mean, like, you're a different
• 38:05
  side. I mean, 'cause you guys, 'cause
• 38:10
  I, you know, I start to have more Asian friends and when I
• 38:13
  come here and then to Wichita and I didn't even know like you
• 38:17
  could do sponsorship. Oh yeah.
• 38:18
  So kind of explain that part too.
• 38:21
  It just depends. It depends on what you're
• 38:23
  eligible for. So if you're eligible for a
• 38:24
  temporary visa to come to the US, maybe through an employer,
• 38:28
  future employer, or you're coming here to do a specific
• 38:31
  thing, you can come here on a visa.
• 38:34
  And that's typically what countries on the other side of
• 38:38
  the world will do, because they don't have that direct access to
• 38:42
  the United States. So you got to have some sort of
• 38:44
  lawful way to enter the country or a lot of people during the
• 38:49
  when, when the United States left Afghanistan and the Taliban
• 38:53
  took over, a lot of Afghans were coming to the US, but they were
• 38:59
  flying to South America and they made their way up to the US,
• 39:04
  traveling by themselves all the way, and then crossed illegally
• 39:07
  from Mexico. So if you want to get here,
• 39:10
  you'll get here. Just depends on how and if what
• 39:13
  you're eligible for. So I would say a lot of my
• 39:16
  clients from the Asian countries are, you know, coming here on
• 39:19
  visas, fiance visas, tourist visas, employment visas, stuff
• 39:24
  like that. Yeah.
• 39:26
  Is there like an easier route or like does this kind of go back
• 39:30
  to the eligibility doors that you were saying, you know, like
• 39:32
  where it's like, like how, how could someone from a different
• 39:38
  country do a sponsorship like that?
• 39:40
  Or they can't, you know, 'cause I feel like, at least from my
• 39:44
  side, like I've never heard about sponsorships until like,
• 39:47
  you know what I mean, Emily and you guys.
• 39:48
  And then I'm like, what? Some countries are special, some
• 39:51
  countries are special. There's this thing called ESTA
• 39:54
  and I don't, I'm not very familiar with that, but they're
• 39:57
  just their visas to come to the US to visit maybe I'm not sure
• 40:01
  Esta's a thing and then. There's a diversity lottery, a
• 40:05
  visa, a visa lottery, and so if you're from certain countries,
• 40:08
  you can apply for the lottery to get a visa to come to the US,
• 40:12
  But I'm not really familiar with those.
• 40:14
  My clientele's mainly Mexico and Central America.
• 40:17
  Yeah. Gotcha.
• 40:18
  Yeah. So what has been like maybe a
• 40:24
  story that kind of stuck to you that made made you realize like,
• 40:27
  damn, it is not as easy as I read it in a textbook.
• 40:30
  Oh God. I think it's when people get
• 40:32
  detained and you have to tell them that there's nothing that I
• 40:35
  can do for them. Like that guy who had an
• 40:38
  aggravated felony, there's nothing I can do for him.
• 40:41
  He's not eligible for anything. And he's pissed because he
• 40:46
  didn't do anything. He was convicted of something
• 40:50
  that he didn't do. And I'm like, that's, that's the
• 40:54
  criminal side. And that's when your actions and
• 40:58
  or your non action can affect your criminal case.
• 41:03
  And you have attorneys, criminal attorneys who will plead to
• 41:06
  things and they're not familiar with the immigration system.
• 41:10
  And unfortunately a lot of people are screwed because
• 41:13
  they've they've either done something or didn't do
• 41:16
  something. They get convicted of something
• 41:18
  and then I can't help them. It's too late.
• 41:21
  So that's, that's probably a big thing that it's just, it just
• 41:24
  sucks when someone's detained and then I just have to say
• 41:26
  you're, you're going to get removed.
• 41:27
  There's nothing I can do. And it's happening a lot more
• 41:30
  lately because I, everybody's getting detained right now.
• 41:33
  It feels like unfortunately. So I we're get calls every
• 41:37
  single day of family from family members of people who have been
• 41:40
  detained. So that's probably the shitty
• 41:42
  part is when I can't do anything for someone who's detained.
• 41:46
  Yeah. How do you navigate that?
• 41:49
  Or like, 'cause you're also a very funny person.
• 41:52
  Thank you. Thank you.
• 41:54
  You know, like, I don't know about you, but I I laughed
• 41:56
  through the trauma. Oh, yeah, yeah.
• 41:58
  I mean, and I've, I've been doing this for 7-8 years now.
• 42:01
  So I'm, I'm pretty, I've, I've been able to learn how to handle
• 42:05
  it better. And I was actually telling this
• 42:07
  to a little, a high schooler who was asking me how I handle this.
• 42:10
  And I was like, I could literally have a client.
• 42:15
  I could lose a case. I could lose a case in
• 42:17
  immigration court. My clients, you know, obviously
• 42:20
  not happy and you know, I'm not happy, but I know that I did my
• 42:24
  best. An hour later, I could be at
• 42:27
  Newport with my family, drinking, having a good time.
• 42:31
  It sounds shitty, but that's life.
• 42:34
  Like I can't let I can't let something like that affect me
• 42:38
  into my evening and let it affect the rest of my family, my
• 42:41
  husband. And so you just learn how to
• 42:46
  tuck it away. As long as I know I did my best,
• 42:48
  of course, that's all I can do. Now, if I didn't do a good job
• 42:51
  and I know I didn't do a good job, then I'm going to kick
• 42:53
  myself because I should have done better.
• 42:55
  But if you've known you've done everything and it just didn't
• 42:58
  work out, then you just have to keep on moving because tomorrow
• 43:01
  you have another hearing with another client, you know so.
• 43:04
  And you can't let that trickle in there, too.
• 43:06
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's so it's a balance and
• 43:08
  I've learned over the years how to not let it affect me or let
• 43:12
  it affect me in the appropriate way.
• 43:13
  Yeah, for sure. Yeah.
• 43:16
  Let's cheers to that. No, I was wondering.
• 43:20
  We're gonna bust out the alcohol.
• 43:22
  Let's. Go, yeah, let's go, let's go.
• 43:24
  We got we got real deep and doesn't.
• 43:26
  Dusty didn't bring the clock so I could see God.
• 43:28
  Damn it, Dusty. Yeah.
• 43:30
  I know, so I didn't. I didn't even know how far we
• 43:33
  were in. I was like.
• 43:33
  Fuck me either. We could be here all day, man, I
• 43:35
  I could talk about this shit all day.
• 43:37
  We could. OK, let's break.
• 43:38
  Yay. And this is a for real break 2.