¡Hablemos de Inmigración! – 08.06.2024

JUAN CAMILO:
Hello everyone, thank you for joining us. You are watching a replay of the Instagram Live from Actualidad Radio with attorney Martha Arias. This is an Instagram Live that we try to do every week to cover some of the most important topics in immigration.

So if you have any immigration questions, this is a great opportunity. Because, you can leave your questions and share your concerns in the comment box below. If you are in the middle of an immigration process and do not really know how to proceed, or if there are problems because of a detention, a marijuana possession, or any other irregularities that may arise during such a process… We will have a chance to talk with a lawyer, who can explain many of these issues, better than anyone else.

…and now we have with us, our lawyer Martha Arias. Attorney, thank you for joining us and welcome back.

Attorney MARTHA L. ARIAS, ESQ.:
Thank you, Juan Camilo. Greetings to you, and our entire audience here at Actualidad.Radio and on my Instagram. Excuse my messy hair, haha, but it has been a complicated day. But here we are.

JUAN CAMILO:
Many times, this is a space we have on Actualidad Radio with attorney Martha Arias, but it often becomes complicated because attorney Martha Arias is not an advisor or columnist. She is an expert immigration lawyer. So, many times she is running between one case and another. I have hearings, I have this and that. So, that is a good thing.

That is a guarantee that; we have a professional with us, who has a very busy schedule, and that is much better than the alternative. So thank you, attorney, for these minutes as always. We always appreciate it when you guide us on some immigration issues.

Attorney MARTHA L. ARIAS, ESQ.:
Thank you very much, Juan Camilo, for inviting us. And well, here we are to provide information about immigration, with pleasure.

JUAN CAMILO:
If you have any immigration questions, whatever they may be, related to TPS, an asylum application, a border issue, or any topic related to immigration… Take advantage, and leave your questions below in the comment space. Because; we are going to address them live, so that attorney Martha Arias can answer and try to resolve your concerns.

Also, we want to let you know that this Instagram Live will be published on the Actualidad Radio page and also on Attorney Martha Arias’ Instagram page. You can find the accounts above. It is actualidad.radio so you can follow the radio account and especially Martha Arias’ account, which is Martha_Arias98. Martha with an H in the middle. Martha_Arias98.

Thanks in advance to Lucía, Emilia, and Osvaldo for connecting. Elisabeth here sent us a question early on when we started. So thank you all for kicking off this Instagram Live.

Attorney, what can you tell us about the parole for Cubans, Venezuelans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans? What news is there about this, which is the biggest concern right now?

Attorney MARTHA L. ARIAS, ESQ.:
The biggest concern is; what is happening with this parole, Juan Camilo. Until last night when I went to bed, the parole for Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, and Nicaragua was suspended or had been suspended by the Department of Homeland Security. The reason for the suspension, we all know, they have already announced, is fraud that has been presented supposedly in the Affidavit of Support, the I-134 form that people have to fill out or process so that their relatives can enter with parole.

What is happening? Since last year when this program was announced, the United States Congress has not been very happy that President Biden approved this parole so that 30,000 people can enter the United States every month. The committee of the House of Representatives that deals with the Department of Homeland Security, its head or chief, who is Republican Mark Green from Tennessee, had asked immigration at the Department of Homeland Security to provide reports on this parole.

This apparently had been requested since last year, but the Department of Homeland Security had not provided, had not given all the reports completely. It seems they had given them in fragments. However, this year, I think it was in June, the reports were given in April.

The reports show that more than 500,000 people have entered the United States with this program, but in the I-134 applications or the Affidavit of Support, there have been suspicions of fraud. For example, they say, out of 100,948 forms, (100,948 forms that were submitted), about 3,218 show the same sponsor, that is, the same economic sponsor, the same person with the same social security number.

It is impossible, unless it is the owner -I don’t know- of Facebook or Amazon or one of those people, to sponsor 3,218 people. 24 applications constantly showed the same phone numbers, the same contact in certain people. And in about 100 applications, the same address appeared. And in other applications, 739 times. In 19,000 forms that were taken, 739 times, the same address and the same person appeared.

In other words, apparently, fraud was being presented with this because the same people were being used to sponsor those who were coming.

Here is where I come with the point and it is that these people could knowingly have committed that fraud, of course, but they can also be agents, notaries, paralegals, people who are passionate about what they don’t know, but who want to make money from what they don’t know, who do it and then said, “no, it doesn’t have a sponsor, I’ll get one.” So that maybe what is happening.

Now, the point is, how are they going to identify who filled out those applications for all these people? I don’t know how they are going to do it. Because if they were lawyers, it is easy for us. We have an entity and a license that regulates us. And then, well, one has to put their name there. They come to you, they ask for the records that you are required to keep for 5 years. And you have to provide the records. These people, in most cases, who do these papers out there, they don’t keep any records precisely to leave no trace. So that is one of the reasons why the program is suspended.

This morning I was going to an appointment in West Palm Beach very early in the morning. At six in the morning, I was already on my way to West Palm Beach and I heard on the radio, not on this station, on another station, that supposedly the government had said that “those who already had the parole authorization, could enter unless they had been revoked the parole.”

Notice that now, that I arrived in the afternoon at the office, I tried to find support for that information that I heard and I did not find the support.

So, at this moment, I still can’t confirm because I didn’t find anywhere the support that those who were already approved were going to be able to enter unless their parole had been revoked. I didn’t find that. My information is that at this moment; the parole is still suspended.

JUAN CAMILO:
I don’t know, attorney, if you, who are in the news there at Actualidad Radio, which we always have a reliable source, have heard that “it is true that those who were approved can enter.”

Attorney MARTHA L. ARIAS, ESQ.:
No, I have not been able to corroborate it.

JUAN CAMILO:
No, neither have we. At least I have not independently and with a reliable source. But that is precisely one of the characteristics that these kinds of things have. They lend themselves a lot to misinterpretations, to fake news, to create fears, to stir up issues, especially now that we are in such a difficult presidential election.

Here I have Alena, who says “she has a friend who entered on Saturday.” So, there are people who continue to enter. And I think the question, attorney, is, although it is true that there were many of these forms that were made fraudulently, there were also many people who were doing the procedure that the US government enabled, who filled out their papers, who got a sponsor. Are they going to be affected because the closure is for everyone?

Attorney MARTHA L. ARIAS, ESQ.:
That’s correct. The closure is for everyone. No, it is not that some countries yes and others no. What I also saw within the notification given by the Department of Homeland Security is that they were going to be more vigilant because another part of the fraud is that many people from these countries, these four countries that are eligible for humanitarian parole, were entering from third countries like Great Britain, Australia, Brazil, Egypt, Hong Kong, and Sweden. These people were entering these countries and one of the things that parole said was that “they could not arrive from a third country”, but from their own country. So this also demonstrates another fraud, and I don’t know if it is perhaps a lack of knowledge on the part of CBP people who saw that they were arriving from another third country and did not notice this.

But these people who are coming from these third countries, as I understand it, will definitely not be allowed to enter.

JUAN CAMILO:
It worries me a little, attorney. Because, what I understand is that; when these types of measures are approved, like the one approved at the time by the White House, they have to be approved with all the technological characteristics, support, specialties. And that they get something like this past the government, so that 3,218 people have the same sponsor. Which shows beyond criminals and scoundrels that; there was no control on the part of some federal government agencies that had to verify this information.

Attorney MARTHA L. ARIAS, ESQ.:
It could be, and one of the reasons is that the way this program was designed was to do everything electronically, supposedly to give agility. And by doing it electronically, we don’t know who were the officials in charge of verifying the data electronically as well. So this could be one of the reasons why the program did not have enough audit or control of the information or verification of the information. We don’t know that part.

The point is that because it was done electronically, although lawyers could participate, advising clients on that Affidavit of Support, most lawyers didn’t do much of this work, precisely because it was very cumbersome the way it was programmed electronically, and well, as a lawyer, it was neither intelligent from a time and money perspective to process this. So these were requests that really most people did with agents. And that is one of the reasons why perhaps so much fraud occurred because I think this was a type of request that was like, let’s say, August or Christmas for the agents because they were the ones who really benefited from this. Most lawyers, there were very, very few who did these applications, and I think the lawyer gives a filter to the information.

You bring me documentation, I will review it, I will make sure that I will not allow a person to come and give me the information to make an affidavit for 3,000 people. Obviously, one is not so naive as to think that this is legitimate, right? So, but there are people who don’t care because they are not putting their name there. But there is a point.

And it is that in the investigation they will be able to look at the IP address or the computer where it was done. If it is the same person doing it on the same computer, they will be able to identify it because you know that the computer’s address is like a person’s fingerprint.

JUAN CAMILO:
But it is also very, very complicated that they have begun to find solutions to the problem of all these people who are crossing the border. Who are risking their lives, who are putting their safety in danger to be robbed, to end up dead. And also criminals taking advantage of these programs to commit such fraud. Really worrying, attorney.

What can we tell people who are currently waiting for this parole, or people who are thinking of starting the parole process? Does this have any hope of being reinstated with better safeguards, or will it definitely be canceled?

Attorney MARTHA L. ARIAS, ESQ.:
We don’t really know, Juan Camilo. The only thing I can do is, speculate about the program like any other person. The program can continue, it may continue, but all that will depend on the pressure from Congress, Juan Camilo, that is what I think. As I said before, Congress, through the Homeland Security Committee and its chairmen, that is, those who lead those committees, have been asking for those parole reports from the government because they distrust or do not like this program. So, this program has not been well-received among many senators and representatives in the House.

If based on this evidence and their review and analysis, they may issue some prohibition or demand that the government end the program. It could be. It could be that they don’t, it could be that they don’t demand it, or if they demand it, the government refuses and says, well, the elections are coming, and I’m leaving, so let the program last until I leave. Possibly a new administration will end it.

At this moment; we will have to wait to see what pressure Congress, through the House Committee in charge of the Department of Homeland Security, will exert on the government to (if they consider it) end the program. I don’t know, we will see in the coming days, or it may continue. I don’t know, we don’t know if this will be mediatic.

Now we know that, they can start revoking those paroles that have already been approved. If it is determined that they are among those that were committed fraudulently with the Affidavit of Support, yes, I believe, Juan Camilo, I am almost sure that they will enter an investigation and they can do it.

JUAN CAMILO:
Hopefully, all the necessary investigations are done and the people responsible for taking advantage of these programs are found. Here we have Wendy Enma asking for a number to get advice on a concern. We do these programs because attorney Martha Arias is an expert in these immigration matters. The number you find in the comment below that is fixed is (305) 671-0018.

That is the best number you can call for advice because it is the office of an expert immigration attorney who can best guide you. If you have a doubt that “someone filled out the papers for you“, or “a family member told me this“, or “no, I saw this on TikTok“.

The best thing is to get advice from people who are experts in this, and the best way is to make an appointment and sit down with attorney Martha Arias to present your case and really resolve it professionally.

You can also find the website below, which is AriasVilla.com. There you can also find a lot of information and also make an appointment. You know, AriasVilla.com and you can also find her on Facebook as AriasVillaLaw.

Here the attorney also put it in one of the comments. Well, let’s also go here. Someone was asking “if this affected all nationalities equally or if this affects more Cubans, more Venezuelans. I imagine they refer to the news we are covering these days after the presidential election in Venezuela and how the dictatorship is stealing the election. Does this affect some communities more than others,” attorney?

Attorney MARTHA L. ARIAS, ESQ.:
This parole is only for those four nationalities of Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Venezuela. The report did not say what the demographic distribution of the fraud was, that is, if it was more of one nationality than another. The document issued by the Department of Homeland Security does not say so.

What I think, Juan Camilo, is that this will be part of the investigation because if most of the fraud was, for example, in South Florida, it may be that, here we have a way of seeing if the fraud was committed by notaries or paralegals in South Florida, surely that person offered the service to the four nationalities because in South Florida we have people from the four nationalities.

If it was in another state, perhaps the greatest number of clients or people who applied in that state can be seen. I don’t know, I think they will be able to determine that easily by looking at where these applications came from. And I repeat, they can do that because this is electronic, they will have to look at the IP address that was submitted. And I tell you that immigration has a way of seeing that because, for example, in consular cases, when one fills out the electronic application, the residency or tourist visa application, the consular system can identify the IP address of the computer that sends it. So, I imagine that immigration here in the United States also has that possibility of determining. Let’s see what the report gives us. For now, that information is not clear.

JUAN CAMILO:
If you have any questions about any of these topics or if there are many doubts that you have, the attorney told us. And this morning I heard on a radio station an information that sounded strange and we have not been able to find confirmation. So the best way is to confirm with experts. Call the phone number you see below, which is (305) 671-0018. It is Martha Arias’ phone number. There you can resolve the concerns you have about your immigration cases.

Attorney, someone here also asked if this will affect family reunification cases.

Attorney MARTHA L. ARIAS, ESQ.:
No, at least not as announced. And the reason is clear, family reunification cases work differently. Normally it is an American citizen or resident petitioner who made the petition for their family member, it was already approved, it goes to the National Visa Center, and the State Department notifies them that they qualify for the humanitarian parole for family reunification, and from there the consular process is done for the person to go to the consulate to receive that humanitarian parole.

There they also fill out form I-134, but there is already a petition filed by a petitioner. So it is easy to identify petitioner with beneficiary because the petition is very clear. In this case, we are talking about fraud; anyone could be the economic sponsor, it did not have to be a family member, it could be a family member, it could be a friend, it could be anyone, it could even be a citizen, it could be a resident, it could be someone who had DACA, it could be someone who had TPS. Those people who lent themselves to that and who were not American citizens, who were residents or had DACA or had TPS and who committed fraud, they can also get into trouble and lose their immigration status because this is fraud and it can have immigration consequences. In the case of humanitarian parole requests for family reunification, we are not talking about those cases.

JUAN CAMILO:
Here Elizabeth asks internally, who was the one asking the question at the beginning of this Instagram Live. “Can this affect people who are already in the United States and who had already applied for this parole from the beginning and have already arrived here, but only state evidence,” attorney?

Attorney MARTHA L. ARIAS, ESQ.:
Well, the Department of Homeland Security in the document I read said that “those who were here were not going to be affected by the suspension”, obviously because they are already here. But if this was not said by them, that is clearly something that could happen. And “if the person is already here and it can be proven that they came with fraud”, that is, that the I-134A filled out by their sponsor -was among those committed fraud-, obviously the person can be called into question.

How? Who was this person? How did you get this? And their parole can be revoked, but obviously, they will have to be given the opportunity to determine if that sponsorship was legitimate or fraudulent. But could it be revoked? Of course, if they find fraud.

That is another part of the investigation. That is why I tell you that I don’t know how long this can take because there is a lot that the government would have to investigate and remember that the fraud detection unit is a unit that has certain limitations as well, it’s not that there are thousands and thousands of officials available for this, they have a capacity in terms of the human factor they have a limitation, it’s not that they have so many people.

JUAN CAMILO:
If you have any questions about this, we were telling you that we have the phone number of attorney Martha Arias below, (305) 671-0018, on her website, which is AriasVilla.com. Someone asked about the hours, call from 9 to 5 like office hours, and you can make an appointment and sit down with attorney Martha Arias and resolve your concerns.

A listener, someone who is connected to this live asks; “With the I-130 approved, then introduce the I-485. How long can it take to get permanent residence?”

Attorney MARTHA L. ARIAS, ESQ.:
This varies depending on the city and state where you are. Because all immigration offices normally have different processing times. But I would say that, here in South Florida, the average this year and since the end of last year is between three to eight months. They are relatively going fast, but it is not uncommon for a petition to take up to a year today. It is not uncommon. It is within the average normal term.

JUAN CAMILO:
For any doubts, visit attorney Martha Arias’ website again, which is AriasVilla.com, and I recommend you visit her on Facebook. They have a page called AriasVillaLaw, because that is the name of the law firm, Arias Villa Law, because they also publish a lot of information related to immigration that is very interesting for you.

Here we have another person connected, Calo Peras, who says, “Good afternoon, my name is César, I filled out the application for a family member last year, they told me they received my application and I have not had any more news about the case.”

Attorney MARTHA L. ARIAS, ESQ.:
I imagine the application you filled out was the I-130. This takes time, it also depends on the preference or category you are in. I will give you an example:

If it is an American citizen who asks for their spouse, these petitions can take 12 to 14 months. If it is an American citizen who asks for a minor child or a parent, more or less this time too.

But if it is, for example, an American citizen who asks for a brother, as this is a fourth preference that can take up to 14 years for there to be a resident visa.

In these immigration petitions, it is not accelerated, they are not in a hurry to approve them. So it may be that they approve it in two, three, even four years, even five years. I have seen that they take to approve an I-130 for brothers, because there is no determined term.

Now, after the petition is submitted, whether it is for a spouse, parent, or minor child. It is true that immigration sends a first receipt, which is the one that says “The petition was received”. When the payment was received; that receipt is the first to arrive.

After that receipt, there is silence. Immigration is not sending. I tell clients to understand that this is a super large entity, which receives thousands and millions of petitions monthly. So, immigration if they take that processing, they sent you the receipt and they are processing it after two months, after three months, they will not be sending you an email saying, “look, we are already reviewing your petition, but give us more time”. And then a month later, “listen, don’t worry, we are reviewing your petition, but don’t worry.” Imagine, Juan Camilo, if you have a million petitions, you have to make a million calls every two months to tell people, “don’t worry, sir”, you will have total silence, you have to let those officials work until they have time to approve the petition.

When they sit down to work on your case, they will send you the approval or they will send you a request for evidence if they consider that more evidence is needed. And that is where you will receive that notification. So it is not that immigration has to be informing people every two months or every three months, “don’t worry, we are here.” No, let them work, the processing time is normal.

Now, if you submit a spouse’s petition, for example, and it is taking more than 15 months, well, that is a reasonable time. You can go to the USCIS page and there are processing times they have for each petition that tells you how long they are taking. That is what they can take and you can be sure that if they have not answered you and are within those processing times, it is because they are working on the case.

JUAN CAMILO:
For those who have any other questions about these particular cases or about your case and if they no longer answer you, if you have doubts about your immigration case in general, call the phone number you see below, attorney Martha Arias. (305) 671-0018.

Before we go, attorney -to radically change the subject- we know that the suspension of parole is what worries many people the most. But there is another issue, in particular, after the Chevron decision that I would like to address, and it is that a court would have ruled on a regulation related to the H-4; with the H-4 regulation for spouses. What exactly is that, and who does it affect?

Attorney MARTHA L. ARIAS, ESQ.:
What happens is that; the petitions for the H-4, the H-1B –so that people understand- is the work visa petition for a professional who has a four-year college degree, the spouses of the H-1B have the H-4.

Traditionally, the immigration statute does not allow the H-4 (that is, the spouse of the H-1B), to have a work permit. The US government in this administration presented a modification to the regulation, allowing H-4s to have work permits when the H-1B was already in the process of residency when the company was about to request that worker.

This was challenged and now in August of this year, 2024, the decision of an appeals court came out saying that

“Yes, the government has the authority to give work permits to H-4s”

Because those who challenged this said that “the government is not authorized to give a work permit to the spouses of H-1Bs.”

That is the news. This challenge was won and for now, we are going to wait to see if they will continue the fight to the Supreme Court, but nothing has been announced about this. They have 30 days, obviously, to know if they are going to take this to the Supreme Court. For now, then H-4s can have work permits. Obviously, I repeat, within the conditions that had been announced before and it is when they are already in a residency process through the H-1B.

JUAN CAMILO:
There are always more questions about immigration. Time is always short. Don’t worry. We will always return to do these Instagram Lives with attorney Martha Arias. If you have a concern about a particular case, call her at (305) 671-0018 or on her website AriasVilla.com. Also, this Instagram Live will be published on the Actualidad Radio account and Martha Arias‘ account. And follow her, you can find her above. It is Martha_Arias98, Martha_Arias98, Martha with an H in the middle, because they share a lot of information there, and share this video as well because surely there are many questions, many people asking about the humanitarian parole issue, and here they will find those answers.

Attorney, as always, what a pleasure to have you with us and thank you very much for this time.

Attorney MARTHA L. ARIAS, ESQ.:
Thank you, Juan Camilo, and to the entire Actualidad Radio team that allows us to do this Instagram on this platform. And remember my Instagram which is there, follow me there and repost or share these podcasts or these videos.

My Instagram is Martha_Arias98. We are also on YouTube as AriasVilla, search for me on YouTube @AriasVilla, there we also post these videos because there are people who do not have Instagram, so they want to see them on YouTube. And remember my website AriasVilla.com that Juan Camilo kindly posts here so you can remember and write it down. So, God willing, next Tuesday we can bring you more information through this platform.

JUAN CAMILO:
God willing. Thank you very much, attorney.

Attorney MARTHA L. ARIAS, ESQ.:
Thank you, Juan Camilo. Enjoy the rest of your day.