Let me tell you about the man with a million immigration plans.
Hi. I'm Jim Hacking, immigration lawyer practicing law throughout the United States out of our office here in St. Louis, Missouri.
We had quite the consult last week. I met with a young man; I think he was either from Tunisia or Algeria. He had just arrived in Canada four days earlier and he was planning his imminent sneak into the United States from Canada. He wanted my help and he wanted my advice. And of course we can't give anyone any advice on how to sneak into the United States, but more importantly, I want to tell you about the way that the call went.
It was actually a Skype call and it was the strangest Skype call I think I've ever had. This guy kept coming up with a different immigration plan and it made me think, "Oh my gosh, this guy has a million immigration plans." In fact I said that to him. Every time I told him that one of his screwy plans wasn't going to work, he was up and ready for the next one.
His first plan was to sneak into the United States and ask for asylum. He has no basis to be in the United States, and I told him he'd probably be detained and held in custody until he could post the bond, that he might not be bond eligible and that his asylum claim, which he described to me, sounded very weak so it wasn't going to work. And under the current administration's approach, they're doing sound cases for the most recent arrivals first.
So we have a lot of cases that have been pending since 2015-2016, and they were going to do everything they can to either put him in jail and then release him or put him in jail and then deport him. So I told them that plan was very bad.
So then he said, "Well, could I come over and start a business?" "No, you can't come over and start a business. You can't sneak in and then try to ask for a visa. You can't sneak in and ask to get a student visa. That's not how those things work." But this guy was never fazed, he never got upset, he just kept coming up with more plans.
Then he said, "Well, what if I marry someone?" I said, "Well, who are you going to marry?" He said, "Well, I don't know, but there's a lot of people from my," ... Oh yeah, he was from Lebanon, now that I remember it ... "There are a lot of people from Lebanon in Dallas. I know some Lebanese people in Dallas. Maybe I can marry one of them."
And I said, "Sir, with all due respect, I want to end this call. You're the one who makes lives of me and other immigration lawyers very difficult. It's not a game where you can just sort of pick and choose your own adventure. You have to have an approach and it has to be valid and you have to follow the rules."
This guy did not want to follow the rules. I said, "Well, you're in Canada now and you think you have an asylum claim. Canada's much more beneficial or much more gracious and generous to asylum seekers than the United States is right now. Why do you need to apply for asylum there?" "Well, I want to be in the United States." "Okay, well you need to follow the rules." He didn't want to follow the rules and so I ended the consult somewhat frustratingly. It was a very unusual consult.
I make this video not to mock him or to make fun of him, but rather to teach you that when you deal with immigration, you have to have a very lasered approach. You don't have a shotgun approach where you're just throwing up whatever sticks. I've had multiple consults. I even made videos before about people who just want to keep throwing out ideas, keep trying different ways to stay in the United States and it doesn't work.
You need to talk to an immigration lawyer. You need to make sure that you're eligible for a benefit and then you need to do everything to file the strongest case possible. But sneaking into the United States without inspection and then surrendering yourself to immigration officials so that you get thrown into asylum or applying for some kind of benefit, that's all a bad idea and it's most likely not going to work. So before you do any of that, you should talk to an attorney.
If you're calling about something screwball like this, please don't call our office, but if you have a legitimate immigration case, give us a call at (314) 961-8200. You can email us at [email protected]. It's not our job to come up with ways for you to stay in the United States; it's our job to help you get your case approved, but you have to know your path and you can't just be guessing whatever it is that you want to do. You can't just be throwing ideas out there. It's okay to brainstorm, but they have to be based in reality.
I interrupted myself in the middle of my closing, but you know the phone number (314) 961-8200. You know the Facebook group; it's called Immigrant Home. Join us there and share and ask questions. We're always happy to see people in there. If you like this video, be sure to like it on YouTube, subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow me on LinkedIn so you get updates whenever we make videos just like this one. Thanks a lot. Have a great day.
