Marco and Gabriella are a young couple. She is a bright and well spoken American citizen, he is an undocumented immigrant without an accent. He came as baby to the USA.
A Scottsdale police in an unmarked vehicle one night stopped the car where Marco was a passenger. He and his citizen friend were carpooling to work.
Marco was asked for his I.D. and gave too much information during the street interrogation. (Marco could have been more prepared if he only had read CADENA's Know Your Rights brochure that you can download and print here. I supervise its content). The police officer let both of them go after getting Marco's job place information.
Weeks later, the same police officer stops by Marco's work place.
He gets accused of criminal impersonation for using a false Social Security Number.
Gabriella does what most will and puts all her trust on a criminal lawyer who unfortunately was not very informed on immigration law and suggest his client to plea bargain for a reduced sentence.
In Arizona it is very easy for immigrants to lose immigration opportunities due to a criminal record, since the passing of laws designing to criminalize undocumented workers charge them with the highest penalties possible, making them ineligible for deferred deportation.
Prosecutors at the Maricopa County Attorneys office tell Gabriella, point blank, they know what legal tools the federal administration has given the lawyers for releasing immigrants and that they know how to invalidate them. These legal tools come with the exercise of Prosecutorial Discretion (PD in legal lingo). This PD focuses on the deportation of the criminal element of our communities, not on workers with invented Social Security numbers or broken taillights.
While Marco spends months in detention for the "crime" he plead bargain for, awaiting immediate deportation after his release, Gabriella contacts me and seeks help, realizing the ignorance of their previous lawyer only made certain her husband's deportation.
First move I suggest: Get a competent immigration lawyer. I gave her three names of lawyers I trust for their knowledge and for keeping up-to date on latest immigration procedures. Also they are really good in working on several fronts: the legal and the advocacy side of the fight.
Second, I put her in contact with Genie Zavaleta who holds the key to our friends in Washington who can present cases in front of ICE for Prosecutorial Discretion to be implemented.
After long days of non-stop negotiations and back and forth, our Washington ICE connections gave up on Marco's case. The penalties Marco sign up during the plea bargain process were too steep for PD. I though Marco was a lost case.
Delia Salvatierra, the expert immigration lawyer Gabriella choose among the names I provided, pulls another legal recourse and after an agonizing day full of bad news, Gabriella announces her husband is being released with Deferred Action.
I was able to hear through the phone the joy and celebration at Marco and Gabriella's home as the family gathered. This was a great Christmas present for CADENA.
