
My Family Came to This Country Legally, but Were Almost Deported - gedrap
https://medium.com/@benhuh/my-family-came-to-this-country-legally-but-we-were-almost-deported-9c7de6e80083#.pxudvbnif
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pandemicsyn
Meh, they started proceedings to deport me over a year _after_ I got my
citizenship. tl;dr I moved a few months after getting my citizenship and the
INS didn't realize I had become a citizen and got irritated that I didn't
notify them of the move.

The INS/DHS is hopeless.

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refurb
How did they know you moved?

I moved a couple times and forgot to submit the change of address form. I did
it retroactively, but nothing came of it.

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pandemicsyn
I'm guessing it was when I filed my taxes the following year since that
included my updated address.

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nether
I don't understand how people like my roommate got into the US with minimal
funds and no degree. He's from a village in Russia and just came here on his
own, and works as a barista about 30 hrs/week. No lawyers or anything. He's
been here for eight years. He said he worked at a national park first, but
overall said the process of getting here (and staying) was pretty easy.

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mikepavone
Perhaps he came here through the Diversity Immigrant Visa program (aka the
green card lottery)? If you're a resident of one of the eligible countries
it's just a matter of filling out a form and getting lucky.

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dudul
Disgusting. I had to deal with the INS myself to get a visa, and later a green
card. Thank God I didn't experience a tenth of what the author describes and I
can still say that this "machinery" is incredibly dysfunctional.

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shalmanese
The INS is what the IRS would look like if taxpayers couldn't vote.

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pkaye
I don't understand the $45K for the 3 green cards. Right now it costs maybe
$1500 to process one green card application with the complexity of tax form.
You can definitely do it yourself though a lawyer may add another $2000 to
help you out. Back 10-20 years ago everything was probably half the amount.
Also as I understand, H1B based green cards are sponsored by the employer?

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jquery
If you read between the lines, it appears the author's father was bribing an
INS official, albeit he claims his father did it unknowingly.

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johnloeber
Since when does "if you read between the lines" mean "infer the exact opposite
of what the author stated"? The author wrote that his father ended up being a
key witness to convict Daniel Lee.

The story clearly states that the green cards were legally obtained through
the father's work (see fourth paragraph).

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jquery
Sounds like his father had a lot of interaction with Daniel Lee.

"Everyone in here is innocent, you know that?" \- Red, The Shawshank
Redemption

EDIT: Can't reply to the child comment. But we only have one side of the story
here. At best it seems his father was a fool and it's hard to trust the word
of a fool.

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jacobolus
New immigrants who don’t know how to navigate a complex and hostile legal
system are a pretty ripe customer base for fraudsters.

Just because a scheme seems to a knowledgeable observer to be too good to be
true doesn’t make it okay to blame the victims of such frauds.

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jquery
Victim of fraud or not, how should the INS have handled it differently? If
someone at your company is found trading job offers to unqualified people for
money, should those unqualified people keep the jobs? Of course not. What if
those unqualified people used an intermediary to proffer the bribe? Doesn't
change anything. Sad story all around for the victim of fraud. That's why they
are called a victim. Being a victim sucks and is nothing to be proud of.

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jquery
I take issue with the title. His father bribed an INS official. __Maybe
__unknowingly, but the author 's excuses for his father don't completely wash.
$45k for an "expedited" green card, in 1995? Come on, you know something shady
is happening at that point. That's $70k+ in today's dollars.

IANAL, but I think immigration generally operates under strict liability, not
mens rea. So regardless of whether his father knew he fucked up, his father
was at fault. Same way a chemical plant has to pay damages if it poisons the
community, whether or not they intended to hurt anyone.

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EdwardDiego
> His father bribed an INS official

Did you even read the article mate?

> To get our green cards expedited, we paid $45,000 for legal services, fees,
> and documentation for the three of us to an immigration brokerage service.
> It was a herculean sum of money for poor immigrants like us, but the
> American immigration system was hopelessly complicated and confusing. This
> was my first experience with how expensive lawyers could be.

His _broker_ may have bribed the official, but his father most certainly did
not.

> 45k for an "expedited" green card, in 1995?

3 expedited green cards.

> Come on, you know something shady is happening at that point.

Based on what, his extensive experience of the US immigration system that he
obtained in South Korea?

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jquery
> Did you even read the article mate?

Do you take everything at face value?

> His broker may have bribed the official, but his father most certainly did
> not.

Immigration is strict liability, so from the perspective of liability, his
father did.

> 45k for an "expedited" green card, in 1995?

Good catch. I missed that. Makes me somewhat believe his father was just a
fuck-up and not outright bribing.

> Based on what, his extensive experience of the US immigration system that he
> obtained in South Korea?

I don't know, based on maybe getting a second opinion before spending $45,000.
Maybe based on the fact he'd spent years in Hong Kong and on H1-B. You don't
need to know much about stereos to know you shouldn't buy them out of the back
of a van. The author is quick to label his father an imbecile rather than a
in-cahoots. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

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treeonion
My family came here legally as well, I was 10. Got stuck on I829, been
renewing my permanent residency status every year for almost 18 years. Based
on my home country's government records I'm not its citizen. I applied for
U.S. military some time ago, but got denied due to depression I went through
in college years. I'm a citizen of no country, and yet I love the U.S., I
would die for no other country.

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PebblesHD
That is a very interesting situation to be in, do you have any concerns should
your resident status get changed? What would you do if you were required to
leave the US?

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treeonion
Every year we visit USCIS to get our status renewed for another year, and it
worries us every time we do so. There are times when inexperienced USCIS
agents (who don't understand our status) refuse to renew our status, in such
circumstances we have to make another appointment and simply hope to run into
one who've seen us for years.

After the disappearance of our lawyer (over a decade ago), we had no way of
getting our hands on any case files, I wouldn't know how to fight it in court
if we were required to leave the US.

After my father's real-estate developer business went bankrupt in the early
2000s we were in a financial downward slope, pretty much to the point where we
had to beg our family friends for money. Nothing was left after my father's
passing, well by that time my brother and I had jobs, which was fortunate,
although the school loans do hurt, I may have to save up some for the lawyer
costs if it ever comes to that.

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PebblesHD
Wow, that is indeed very precarious, my best wishes and i really do hope it
never comes to you needing a lawyer. That sounds incredibly stressful
especially when going to uni/college while dealing with it.

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treeonion
Thanks. It hit me pretty hard, but I'm just glad I had the opportunity to
study at the university (Physics) and get a job. Although I may not have
joined the military, I'd like to believe even as a software engineer at a
small company, I'm contributing for ever more brighter future of this country.
I revere the people who are working in US digital services agencies.

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csours
Perhaps I'm overly critical but, if

> ... [T]he stench of stale coffee and rancid soda cans that I collected from
> office trash cans to help make ends meet.

was the worst he had to deal with in a cleaning job, he had a very nice office
to clean. I've cleaned up much worse in my office, and I do IT for a living.

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viraptor
Wouldn't it cost more to go through with deportation (and risk people going
into hiding instead), rather than just process them with priority again? Then
again, maybe it's too reasonable for strictly applied law?

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tn13
He believed that by “doing the right thing” to help the Department of Justice.

Very common mistake Asians (and non Americans) make to mistake government
officials/agencies for the good guy. From little experience I have with USA,
law enforcement and tax people are just another scums on the contrary they
might be worse than someone who tries to bribe you in a dark alley.

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erikb
To some degree of people who have fought through this and came out alive. In a
competitive situation with someone who got through that a lazy normal person
like me would have no chance of survival.

