Silicon Valley Immigration Lawyer Blog

Before you head off to your San Francisco or San Jose USCIS immigration interview take a quick look at the document below. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service recently provided a real gem. Their immigration Fraud Referral Sheet was submitted into evidence during a removal hearing. This sheet is a checklist of possible fraud triggers, applicable to various types of immigration benefits. It appears that if a USCIS adjudicator suspects fraud in an immigration application, they would check the appropriate boxes and forward the sheet to the Fraud Detection and National Security Unit for follow up.

As an immigration lawyer, I was delighted to find this sheet posted on the American Immigration Lawyers Association infonet. We know the obvious issues that could indicate potential fraud (i.e. large age difference in a marriage case, a low-income earning, high-school educated male petitioner marrying a college-educated professional woman). However it's always a bonus to obtain a copy of the document that the USCIS actually uses.

Some of the possible fraud triggers listed are rather surprising, in that I do not know why they would indicate possible fraud. For instance, the first section applies to in-person interviews. Interviews at the local USCIS office are required for marriage-based green card cases, asylum cases, and for some employment-based green card cases. "Late for interview" is one of the listed factors. An applicant should certainly plan for contingencies and make every effort to be at a USCIS interview on time, but I have stood in very slow lines to enter the USCIS office in San Francisco as only a few people are allowed to enter the building at a time and everyone is required to put everything through security. If an applicant was late for an interview at the San Francisco USCIS, a more realistic assumption is that they did not know where to park or did not plan on waiting in line to enter the building.

"Eye contact" is another factor. I assume this means lack of eye contact when answering questions during the interview. It should be commonly understood among USCIS adjudicators that people from some cultures will not make eye contact when asked questions by someone with greater authority, when asked questions by a government official, or for some women - when asked questions by men. Lack of eye contact should not necessarily trigger a fraud alert, especially for people from cultures where making eye contact is seen as aggressive or as disrespectful. Of course, many people who are just nervous fail to make eye contact, and being questioned by a USCIS official is likely to make many honest people somewhat nervous.

"Answers prompted by attorney or other" is another factor for which I disagree. As an immigration attorney, I have attended many interviews where I have "prompted" my client. This was not an attempt to answer for them or to suggest the answer to them. It usually arose when my client did not understand the adjudicator or their question. I would rephrase the question for my client, or actually remind my client about something they had already told me. I've also watched clients sit frozen, and not pull out the stacks of documents they've brought to the interview that would provide important evidence to their case. In those instances, I've spoken up and suggested that the client pull out particular documents to show the adjudicator. I consider this being an advocate, and don't see it as a fraud trigger.

Several of the fraud triggers on the sheet below certainly do make sense, such as "lack of knowledge of basic questions", and "children born during marriage to other parent". Hopefully this is simply used as a guideline for USCIS officers, and that it does not replace their experienced judgment in evaluating cases.

USCIS Fraud Sheet (1!27!10)

Angel Island Immgration Station

Today's San Francisco Chronicle profiles the complex history of Angel Island, an immigration station opened 100 years ago to process new immigrants into the United States. The article quotes a retired professor of American studies who is writing a book on the immigration status as declaring "Angel Island is a symbol of both inclusion and exclusion." More than 500,000 people passed through Angel Island between 1910 and 1940. Almost one third of them were Asian, and the immigration laws at that time were designed to limit Asian immigration. The Chinese Exclusion Act, in effect until 1943, allowed only certain classes of Chinese immigrants to be admitted - scholars, clergy, merchants, and the children of American citizens. Thousands of Chinese, as well as other Asian immigrants, and Russian refugees from the Bolshevik Revolution, were detained on Angel Island for up to a year at a time while their case was evaluated.

Many Chinese immigrants passing through Angel Island had false papers claiming to be a child of Chinese American citizens so that they would be able to enter the U.S. The article reports that these "paper sons" spent a great deal of time studying the background of their supposed ancestors, and immigration officers tried to ferret out these "paper sons" through extensive interrogation. If caught, they were shipped back to China, but if they succeeded they were admitted to American. Many Chinese American families have this unique legacy of descending from "paper sons".

The government first opened the immigration station on Angel Island, in the San Francisco Bay, on Jan. 21, 1910, and immigrants were taken there from San Francisco by small steamers. The immigration station was closed after a fire in 1940. Angel Island is now a state park, and the immigration station buildings have been restored. Many of them have poems written on the walls by immigrants detained there.

A self-proclaimed "wiser" Lou Dobbs appeared on Bill O'Reilly's program last week to discuss immigration reform. "Wiser" means acknowledging that this country needs immigration reform legislation that goes beyond enhanced border security, and that meets the needs of the undocumented people already living here. The answer is not mass deportations. Mr. Dobbs' suggestions are consistent with prior proposed legislation, including allowing undocumented people to pay a fine, learn English, and get on the path towards U.S. citizenship. He also suggested a separate guest-worker program to help reduce continued illegal entries from Mexico. A key issue of any immigration reform providing legalization will be to dramatically increase the size of the USCIS. Whatever his reasoning for "wisening up", we say better late than never.

Modern-day slavery takes place every day across the U.S., including the Bay area, in the form of human trafficking. It is not exclusive to impoverished, third-world countries. San Francisco, San Jose, and the communities in between include people living in modern-day slavery. The United States, including the Bay area, is a destination for thousands of people illegally trafficked into the U.S. from Mexico, East Asia, South Asia, Central America, Africa, and Europe. Trafficking includes prostitution, domestic servitude, and other forced labor. But it also includes people who we would not necessarily think are trafficking victims, such as nail salon workers, and live-in domestic help.

Raising awareness is key to combating human trafficking in the U.S. If we understand what trafficking looks like, we can report it to police or federal authorities. Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) is the lead U.S. Federal agency for investigating and dismantling human trafficking organizations. Last year ICE launched their "Hidden in Plain Sight" billboard campaign in cities across the U.S. to educate Americans and to provide anonymous tip lines. During 2009 ICE initiated 566 human trafficking investigations, leading to 388 arrests, 148 indictments and 165 convictions. The ICE website includes examples of criminal prosecutions, such as the family convicted on multiple grounds for smuggling young African women into the U.S. , and forcing them to work in hair-braiding salons in the Newark, N.J., area. The women worked six to seven days a week, eight to 12 hours per day. They were not allowed to keep the money they earned. Some of the victims were also subjected to physical and sexual abuse, and were held in servitude for more than five years.

Since 2000, U.S. immigration law provides an avenue to legal immigration status for victims of trafficking. Most foreign trafficking victims are in the U.S. illegally, having been smuggled in or with false visas and passports. Trafficking victims may be eligible for a "T" nonimmigrant visa, and if they obtain a "T" visa they could ultimately apply for U.S. permanent residence. Eligibility requires showing that the applicant has been a victim of a severe form of trafficking, is physically present in the U.S. or at a port of entry on account of trafficking, has complied with any reasonable request for assistance in investigating or prosecuting trafficking, and would suffer extreme hardship if removed (deported) from the U.S.

Monday, January 11th will be National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, and earlier this week President Obama proclaimed January 2010 to be National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. In the Bay Area, the San Francisco Collaborative to End Human Trafficking will sponsor several events throughout January geared towards raising awareness and advocating for tougher laws. Follow the links below, and at a minimum increase your awareness of modern-day slavery in our own cities: U.S. Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report 2009, Polaris Project .