02/28/2025

Today’s blog

Lynn Murphy Mark

Two for the good guys

On my caseload at work are at least 10 people with citizenship applications. They are not necessarily straight forward, easy cases. Applying for citizenship can be fairly easy to manage for an individual who has internet connection and can follow sometimes confusing directions. Sometimes, though, it is good to have help. My cases usually have  complicating factors or two that are not insurmountable, but it’s good to have some experience in these things.

Yesterday I was at the USCIS office with a client who was scheduled for a naturalization interview. I met him in the waiting room and when we shook hands he apologized for his sweaty palms, signs of the anxiety that he was feeling. I have worked with him for over a year and spent a fair amount of time via phone and email assuring him that we will work through the problem that most concerns him and that he is definitely eligible to apply for citizenship.

My client came here as a young man on a tourist’s visa. So, he entered the USA legally and was examined at the border and allowed to enter. He did stay on after his visa expired because a family member was filing for a green card for him. However, one day he was stopped for a broken tail light. When he couldn’t provide proof that he was a citizen or had his green card, he was arrested and taken before an immigration judge. He was quickly deported back to Mexico and told he would have to wait three years before he could enter again.

As a teenager, then, he waited in Ciudad Juarez for three years while his family here pursued his green card application. After three years he went to the consulate and was granted permission to re-enter and got his green card. From that time on he has been terrified that he will be deported again. He has lived a “clean” life, working and sending money home to Mexico. He has been at his job for over 12 years. Finally he decided to apply to be a citizen which is why we have a relationship. Long story short, he did well at the interview, we answered all of the officer’s questions about his deportation, and she approved him for an Oath Ceremony in the near future. My client could not help himself – he kept thanking me and giving me hugs. And off to work he went. I think I’ll probably get him back as a client when he applies for his wife and children to migrate to the USA.

My other case is a teenager who was adopted from Lesotho, Africa. The adoptive parents gamed the system and did not follow protocol. Nevertheless they were allowed to adopt him, but instead of being granted citizenship when he arrived he was given a Green Card.

His childhood was troubled because the adoptive parents should never have used the word, “parent”. He eventually was placed in foster care. 

When his green card needed to be renewed, I got his case. It took over a year and a half to get his renewal. Last October he turned 18 and eligible to apply for citizenship. His case manager called me and asked if I would help him do this. It’s taken another year to get to the interview stage. His interview was rocky because the officer insisted that he had to already be a citizen and would not approve him for an oath ceremony, even though he flew through the interview and passed all the tests. She would not accept the explanation about why he only has a green card. She insisted she was right and we left the interview advised that we would get a letter with options – options that she would not share with us at the time. I sent in a long letter pleading our case and asking that the decision be reconsidered.

Weeks later I kept checking the internet “Case Status” site. Finally a letter came through that he was denied citizenship and that a follow up letter would be coming. Weeks later, no letter. Yesterday before I left for my appointment at USCIS I decided to check the status site again. Through some miracle – really, it’s a miracle – the new status report says he will be scheduled for an oath ceremony in the near future. Someone had finally reviewed the case, realized the mistake that the officer made, and created a positive ending.

There you have it. We will soon receive two young men into our midst as full-fledged citizens of the United States. I hope I’m able to attend their ceremonies.