The Story Of Our Manager Fidel Campuzano

Today’s Show

Today we want to share with you the story of a very special person at Lincoln-Goldfinch Law, he has a very interesting immigration story. We will be also talking about the Dreamers and the DACA-related process.

Our dear fellow countrymen who have DACA as is the case of our Fidel Campuzano, who is also our Firm Administrator, will be giving us very specific points of those who can also seek the opportunity to reach this immigration process.

Meet Fidel

Although many of us already know the story, it is very exciting and interesting to know, because it is just evidence of how things work out when you approach a legal professional, you may have the opportunity to move forward.

Even when we all have the “no” in life already assured, we can try to look for the “yes”, and in this way, we can have a different future and a different present.

We will discuss how Fidel developed his path here in the United States.

It is not only a benefit for him individually, but for those around him, this is what happens when you always try to adjust your migratory status with the right legal help along your side.

So our first question to Fidel was: “How do you get to the U.S.? Tell us about that part, like how do you get across to the other side?”

Our dear Fidel tells us: ”Well, this was not my decision, but that was not a bad thing, my parents were the ones who decided that there was no future for us in Mexico.

More than anything it was the commonality of wanting to come here to offer us, their seven children, to have a better future.

We could come here to study,  to have a better job, better opportunities in life.

They decided to come here.

We entered like most of the people at that time, we didn’t all come together because we are a huge family of nine, so they sent some of us first and then the rest of the family with the company strangers or coyotes, and then other siblings followed.

It was like that, it is an experience or adventure, you can say, in the family.”

Your Story Across The Border

We want to add something to this story, Fidel came from Luvianos, which is a small town in the state of Mexico, we understand that you and your brother were little by that time, that is, just children crossing the border alone, he was accompanied by coyotes, but their parents were not there with them.

It’s very interesting to hear from our dear attorney Kate, as an immigration attorney, what’s going on with these kids? Because it’s something that’s still going on at the time.

Kate tells us: ”Now it’s very different from before when Fidel’s family crossed, it was possible to cross over the bridge with a person who had papers or legal status in the U.S.. and there were children who were not his, in the back of the car, and now that kind of entry is not possible.

Now, what we see is that people who are here in the country, if the parents are already here in the United States, but if they are outside of the United States, they have to make a decision that is very difficult.

Sending their children alone across the river or across the border, they have to give up their children, such as placing them in the system for unaccompanied or parentless children.

And we’ve heard a lot of news of that group of kids alone since February of this year, where many were lost in the system.

Everything was very chaotic and very very difficult for the families, with no information about their children.

Now everything is a little faster, the children are processed through the system in a shelter, normally between 23 weeks is the processing time, and now in that time, that’s the only way where there are children that can pass, because today, there is still the policy for the children who are not with or do not have their parents.

They can come for protection; it is still not possible for people seeking asylum to cross as a whole family, nor can single adults cross.

Our administrator Fidel tells us: ”But that’s why this work that we do is very exciting because it’s very emotional when I was going through all that, I got to thinking if my family had decided that we would have been in these times that we are in now, I would have been one of those kids that maybe could have been lost in the system because it’s like that, you can start being separated from your family for a long time.

But we got to them in two weeks.

One week passed by and we were already together, and these kids took months to reunite with their parents, and I even imagine that maybe there are some who are still not finished in the process.”

And something very important that we tell all our clients when they call us that sometimes they have opportunities.

Before, the border was not as dangerous as it is now.

Now with all the organized crime that is happening, we have calls where the wife or husband is talking to us but they have their family member kidnapped.

On the other side, they don’t know anything, because organized crime is only asking for dollars, and they are like predators waiting for the people who are deported to get any possible advantage because they know that they cross to go to work, people cross to be able to make money for their family, so also in that part of the border is not the same as before.

Our attorney Kate shares with us about the non-profit organization called Vecina that has several programs to help, there are programs for immigrants as well.

Everything is now closed because of the policies, but that program helped 400 families cross the border.

Legally with Parole, this summer it was over 1,000 or 1,300 individual people, and 44% of those people were victims of kidnapping in Mexico, almost 50% is very much like now.”

The Vecina Program

Kate to the family that was helping, that we actually had the picture of the mom with her teenage girl, was she from Vecina or was she from another project?

Kate: ”Yes all those children are alone, it’s because of the Vecina program that is helping children in the system, who want to be reunited with their parents, and in fact, we have a client who has been separated from her children for over a year.

They crossed with several of their children, their mother’s and the youngest was less than two years old when they crossed alone and this week they will be reunited, I think about it, I’m very excited for her.

One question we have for Fidel: Once you are already in the United States planning on applying for DACA, were you already in high school, at what point do you apply for DACA?

Fidel: ”At the right time that I arrived, that it was my last year of high school. So that’s when I started to need the license,

You start to see the job opportunities, the opportunities to apply to college, all of that.

Then it was June 15. I took it as a birthday present, it was June 15, 2012, that it was announced.

I was going into my senior year of high school, and that’s when I heard it, my uncle called me.

I was mowing yards with my dad that summer, and I remember we were in the truck listening to the radio and nothing else.

Suddenly someone started talking about this program that President Obama had announced, and there I started to look it up to see what was needed, all the resources that started coming out from all the organizations, the lawyers, so when the program opened in August I was ready to apply, so I started to collect everything I needed to go to school, to the district to get my documents, all that stuff.

Get Advice From A Legal Professional

Many people who may be eligible to apply for programs like DACA definitely need legal advice, and our attorney Kate tells us, ”It depends on the case and it depends on the person.

There are many benefits of working with a professional, but if for example, there are certain people who already have permanent residency and they just want to renew their Green Card or they want to apply for citizenship and they have never worked outside the United States for a long time, they have no arrests, they had no fraud and in their case, they already know how to fill out the forms and how to prepare for the exam, and they feel like well I can do the same thing, it is correct that it is not necessary, it is not a requirement to have a lawyer and some people do well in their cases if everything is done right.

For those people, I will say that the value of having a professional, is to ensure that everything is done right and that you will not have delays in your application, such as a rejection of your package, an application that needs more evidence, or a missing document in your interview.

In the end, it may delay the ceremony to take the oath, for example, but it’s not necessary.

There are other people, like one person I talked to this week who is in the consular process for his dad, and his dad had an incident at the border, but it seems to me, it’s likely that that person who is arranging for a family member, for the consular process, probably has a fraud note or some fraud on his record.

At Lincoln-Goldfinch Law, we thrive to make sure your case is handled properly, that is why we ask for a copy of the file and prepare a pardon in case it is necessary to get to the interview.

In the end, everything is fully prepared and for those people who are, who have complications, who have arrests, who have incidents or interviews or interrogations with Border Patrol or any complications, especially people in deportation or consular processing.

They need a lawyer to know that they are not going to put themselves at risk of losing their status, of being put in deportation proceedings, so for some people, it’s to have peace of mind, for others it’s to protect themselves, so it depends a lot on the person, the case, and the reasons or the courage to hire a good lawyer.

Just to make it simple, it is necessary not to fail.

You run the risk that you are not writing it well, that you are not filling out the papers well, and, for example, to put on makeup, to get your hair done we go to a  professional, which is something very simple to get it perfectly done, much more documentation that puts at risk your future within a country.

Fidel Campuzano: ”They discount the peace of mind that you are talking about because I already had my application package ready, I already had a draft of the form that I was going to send, but still my family, my parents who supported me throughout the process and are always supporting me, decided to go find a lawyer and I’m really grateful that they did this because it was just working with the lawyer, taking him what I already had essentially.

So you know that he is going to send what it’s needed and that there is not going to be any mistake and thank God that was reflected in the work that the lawyer did.

When I received a copy of the file, even I was surprised.

They summarized my story, and it’s something that had never crossed my mind to do, and that’s how the work that they do and that we do, is worth that tranquility, and it was reflected because after four months I already had my work permit, so it was pretty fast, and you saw the product they made, it was of such quality that even I was surprised by it”.

Our attorney Kate says: ”And then when you have your DACA, aside from the fact that you already had the opportunity to go driving, because you already had a driver’s license, because other benefits come with that DACA for your life, and you have the work permit and how it starts to paint that different future compared to all around you who were still undocumented in this case as close to you as your own parents.”

Fidel: ”It’s the tranquility of returning to this tranquility of knowing that you already have a license.

You leave with the peace of mind that if you are stopped by a policeman you know how to speak English, you have your license, you have everything right.

So more than anything it’s the peace of mind of going out, knowing that you’re going to be fine, and if something happens, the insurance is also cheaper for people who have a license, that’s all those little things.

Also, the fact that you can work wherever you want and be able to apply.

There was one year in college that I worked eight different jobs, and I wouldn’t have been able to do that if I didn’t have that work permit, and without social security, it would have been harder for me to find jobs.

The biggest challenge I would say that you have to face in the United States, according to me, is starting your financial life here in this country because everything is on credit.

Already having that social security you start to do credit cards, which we know we have to manage well because we can go very bad with that, but you have this opportunity to start doing it, you will start to have cars, to open bank accounts, everything, and all these advantages and these new opportunities.

Taking advantage of what Fidel mentions about credit cards, if you already have credit cards and whether or not you have paperwork, we know that sometimes we do not control our spending, especially with Black Friday coming up, which by the way we as a firm are going to have surprises in that part.

We will be announcing in our networks the surprise so you can keep an eye out for it.

This gives you the opportunity to have payment facilities, to have a down payment, to have some discounts, if you wish, to hire immediately.

Then contact us so you can learn about the benefits and ways we have to handle your case.

Should I Apply For DACA?

This security, this economic tranquility is what we need because sometimes we can’t get papers if for example we have credit cards and sometimes the expenses have gone out of our hands because of some situation.

It is always better when a professional can help us in that area, and we can be rested and relieved financially.

Speaking especially with these dates coming up, may we not have a January gamble financially speaking, and well, communicate with us.

Also if you have an employment visa that is already in effect, and if you have a professional degree, you can contact, the line is completely secure and confidential to take your case, our great lawyer Kate.

Now we are at a time where you can start or you can apply for initial DACA, and the reasons are that there is a lawsuit in federal court, where the attorney general of our state of Texas, brought an argument saying that the program was illegal, and unfortunately, the judge who is anti-immigrant, agreed and paused the program for Initial DACA, but the DACA renewals are going forward for a long time, but what President Biden did was like this:

Announce a new rule covering the DACA program with the same requirements to apply, who entered before 2007, before they were 16, born after ’81, same requirements.

But what he is doing is following the law on how to announce a new rule.

The rule is going to be finalized I would imagine around January, so, for those who qualify for Initial DACA and have never applied, now would be a very good time to start your case and prepare your case, gathering your evidence, filling out the forms, because you’re going to be able to apply very soon and it’s almost 100% certain that we’re going to have the program back to business as usual.

Our dear Fidel tells us: ”Most of the people regret this.

In fact, when it was no longer possible to apply now in this period, almost everyone I know who is in this situation wishes they had applied when they had the opportunity to do so.”

Kate says, “You can prepare, and you can actually submit your application.

It would be a good idea to start now because when the rule is finalized, there will be thousands of people who are going to apply or start at that time, but those who are starting now are going to be in front of the line, which is when we have the proposed rule.

It’s almost certainly going to happen as it is.”

A question from our audience tells us: Do you think it will be possible in the future for a DACA person to become a resident on their own in the future? It seems like no one wants to give DACA people a chance.

How To Improve Your Finances With Lincoln-Goldfinch Law

Kate tells us: ”It’s a group of members of Congress, and they don’t want to give permanent status to the Dreamers.

Every proposed law that has this opportunity is blocked in the Congressional process, and in fact, we have a proposed law right now that goes to Parole, to the immigrant community.

Let’s see if it happens, I don’t have much hope but permanent residency for dreamers, it’s something that should happen.

It has to go through Congress, it’s not something the president can give because he doesn’t have the power to do it in the constitution.

Those who can vote, and the upcoming election for Congress next year will be very important to see who the new members will be.

To see if we can have immigration reform or at least permanent residency for the Dreamers, I hope so.

Fidel: ”And some of that point is to remind them that DACA didn’t pass because Obama wanted to give it.

The truth is that it happened because of the thousands of people who were fighting, who were marching, who were calling the congressmen.

If we have already gone through all these situations, nothing happened, it is evident that this is not something that they will give us, it is something that we fought for, so we have to remember that, we have to vote, we have to do what is right for those who can do that part, what we have to do is to support to receive this change for our community.

If you have additional questions about DACA programs for immigrants, your stability planning to come to the United States, or your specific case, you can contact us at (855) 502-0555. After a short 10 minute evaluation of your case via telephone we will let you know what options you have. You can also follow us on our social networks so you don’t miss our weekly broadcasts via Facebook, YouTube & Twitch.