Extra December Blog- 1,600 Pages of Purgatory

Ever feel...stuck in the middle? As teenagers we often feel this way. Stuck in-between the craving of the adulthood freedom and childhood reality we seem to live in. I like to think of the United States of America as awfully similar. We want to all of these adult things... to spend money on fast trains (the high speed bullet train proposed by Jerry Brown) and we want better technological advancements now that we are capable of making them. The problem is, we are stuck in the world of sad middle like ground I call Purgatory. Our government is currently working on getting us out of this type of Purgatory by doing what all teens anxious for cash will do...give them a budget.

A sixteen hundred page budget of 1 trillion dollars was released by congress (someone must have some really cramped fingers right now). So what exactly is this budget comprised of (as in, who is the money going to?) and how does it relate to immigration? Those are the questions I intend to focus on. $490 Billion dollars is going towards fighting the islamic state with whom we have our major defense system being the Pentagon, so that building will receive a little more than half of the whole budget (which in my opinion is ridiculous that more than half of AMERICA'S budget is going towards destroying another place in the world, but...hey. Go congress...) I'm pretty sure they think they must be pretty darn important considering they made it a fact that $21 Million dollars to reconstructing the capital dome. The restoration of an important building is $21 Million dollars that I'm positive they shouldn't have spent, oh I don't know, lowering the number of our 3.5 million homeless people in this country or perhaps helping out with the 50.1 million Americans who will go hungry tonight because it is a struggle to supply food. Nah, make sure that building is ON POINT!

Now here is another place that our money is going that will be put to some good use... Immigration! $948 Million dollars is going towards the Unaccompanied Children Program to help at the US/Mexican border. Let me make it clear that congress and the white house may not go into battle with guns a'blazing but there will be a war. Congress considers the money given for the immigration program as more than generous even though reportedly Obama feels otherwise. The money is 'as is',  and there is nothing more people can do to than to work with what Congress has assured us for the budget. Most teens would complain, we should have a little bit more for the budget than just that, life isn't fair, I hate the world...that kind of thing... but President Obama took it like a man, a very un-teenage boyish man, and will work with what was given. As will our Immigration business.

Extra November Blog- Dear Mr. President...

President Obama has many, many people thanking him as of November 26th, 2014.

When President Obama was sworn into presidency, one thing he promised was some type of immigration reform. Whether that be to the immigrants benefit was not mentioned, but either way the long awaited move on the Presidents side has finally happened. It is called: The Common Sense Proposal. It has been in the works now for many years, but recently Congress has put enormous pressure on the President to make a move, and they have made it clear that any move the President makes, Congress will surely be against it. This type of retaliation (more like a long time feud) from Congress is hurting America because our government isn't doing what is right for the people anymore, they are just doing what is right for themselves.

Obama's Common Sense Proposal has four main aspects to it:
1. Continuing to Strengthen Boarder Security
2. Streamlining Legal Immigration
3. Earned Citizenship
4. Cracking Down on Employers Hiring Illegal Immigrants

Not a bad plan right?

Those four points are to be the basis of this new plan to better solve America's immigration "problem". The first point is pretty self explanatory. In the stream of Mr. Obama giving his formal address to the country discussing this new plan, he mentioned that our security has never been more impacted at our boarders until he stepped into office. This will continue because obviously it is the most proactive move we can make that will be effective for sure, as it has in our past.

The second point addressed is to Streamline Legal Immigration. This has confused a lot of people, and by "this" I mean the title. This aspect of the proposal is simply stating a few things. The president wants to keep the most intelligently gifted math and science people here in the U.S. so that they can help fix our problems. He wants gifted individuals with new ideas and new businesses to come to America from foreign countries. Lastly, he wants to keep people from America together, despite immigration status. Families deserve the right to stay united.

The third point he makes is the most important to illegal immigrants currently living in the U.S. There are 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. and this is the part where Mr. Obama has finally decided what to do with them. Undocumented Immigrants will be able to attain provisional status in the U.S. IF they meet certain standards such as: they must pass a background check, pay their taxes from all of their undocumented time living here, learn English and U.S. Civics and pay any penalties they might have accumulated during their residency here. Once they gain provisional residency, immigrants are not allowed to have any type of welfare or federal benefits of the sort. Illegally resided children may also seek visas because it is not their fault they came here illegally.

Lastly, the fourth point is also pretty basic to understand. Mr. Obama wants to protect workers rights. People who have been hiring illegal immigrants and using them for their own personal gain and to their advantage will be punished. The penalties have been said to have significantly increased due to the President's new proposal. Why have they increased you ask? Remember as a child when your parents told you not to do something but you did it anyways, and got punished? Remember how the punishment was so much worse when you did it the second time? I believe the penalties have increased because this is basically the second warning. People hiring already have been told that this was wrong and that there would be consequences, but they did it anyways. If they continue, even after the President's warning now, then yes the punishment will be worse.


 Well hey, thewhitehouse.gov calls it "smart" and "effective"... then again they are the ones who originally came up with this idea...

Blog 10: EQ

1. I reviewed the rule of three for writing an E.Q.

2.
a. Yes, this E.Q. meets the rule of three. It is not a yes or no question, but requires significant reflective thought upon the individual answering the question to narrow down all of the possible answers to just one.
b. Yes, this E.Q. meets the rule of three. It has very formal wording which is a great thing. It also is a very broad question that could mean a few different things which makes it all the more intriguing.
c. No, I do not feel like this meets the rule of three. Although it is very close, the word "satisfies" makes me feel like the difference in opinion from responders could create some definite friction with the presentation.
d. Yes, this meets the rule of three. I found the wording simple and direct, yet still open to many answers because the person is pertaining to a specific type of pain.

3. What is the most significant factor in making a client feel confident you will win their immigration case?

Blog 9: Lesson 1 Reflection

Content:

1. Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your Lesson 1 Presentation and why?

     I am most proud of the fact that I actually managed to get all of my points out of my notecards and into my mouth. Thank goodness I didn't pass out half way through. Also, I'm not sure if people were laughing at me or with me because I heard a few chuckles but I wasn't exactly making jokes on purpose. :)

2. Questions to Consider
     a. What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 1 Presentation (Self-Assessment)
I would give myself a: AE.

     b. Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the Lesson 1 component contract. 
I would give myself a AE because I hit all of the requirements on the rubric, and ALSO I spoke in depth about my topic, mentorship and how my Essential Question mends perfectly into both. I spoke professionally and dressed professionally as well. I gave specific examples of my mentorship without revealing identities and spoke well about my sources and how they influenced my presentation. There was no problem with volume/enunciation, body language/eye contact, or an engaged audience/content clarity.

There was also a justification with my foundation as I often mentioned my mentorship as my main resource. I sited all of my sources and referenced to them throughout the presentation. Instead of mentioning one published source, I listed three, and my application of that evidence was demonstrated throughout my presentation.

3. What worked for you in your Lesson 1?
What worked for me in my Lesson 1 was the the way my presentation flowed. What most people didn't know is that I used the methods I learned about in my Public Address class in that presentation. I signposted and used points I created to flow in a logical way throughout the presentation which I found worked really well.

4. What didn't work?
What did not work was my intro or hook activity because I messed up and said 7% when really I should have sent .07% so that was a mix up...other than that, everything worked really well!

Ebola and Immigration

Ebola was first encountered in Arica in 1967. Ebola, all four subtypes of it, have recently resurfaced this March and is now causing a threat to the United States of America. What does this have to do with my senior project? Let me explain...

Illegal Immigration is my topic, and although Ebola patients from Africa may not be coming into America illegally, they are still coming in, and that in itself is immigration. The problem with Ebola right now is that it has killed 4,922 people in West Africa, there are over 10,000 cases being reported, and we are afraid that if people begin to migrate to the U.S., we will begin to accumulate our own horrible statistics.  

According to a released CNN video aired just today, in New York and New Jersey, quarantine guidelines have newly been released and leaders are taking active measures to ensure the tranquility of the public...even if that means putting some people in quarantine even if they don't have the virus, just to make sure because they could have been potentially exposed. 

Immigration plays a large part in this major scenario because if we cut off America's borders to the rest of the world, we are just encouraging people to sneak in and if they sneak in, there is a bigger chance that they will not be securely checked and inspected of the virus. If we keep our borders open, that means we need to enhance security measures in case of any possible virus carriers seeking residence in the U.S. What does this mean for people who are wanting to live in America? If they are not escaping the virus in Africa and they don't have any potential harm, are they more likely to just be let in than people from Africa? Do we get to play Big Brother in the deciding of who gets to come in who doesn't? But then how would it look to other countries if we triple checked every African American who want to come in to our country, and only checked once if their skin was as pale as sun rays. Could our security be dismissed as discrimination? What border lines are we really crossing here?

Blog 8- Research and Working EQ

1. My working EQ is:

What is the best way to make a client feel confident enough that you will win their immigration case?

2. My EQ: What is the best way to make a client feel confident enough that you will win their immigration case?

• Undocumented immigrants should feel confident in the winning of their case if they are kept well informed
• Undocumented immigrants are most likely to feel successful in the battle of their case if they are involved in the process. 

3. The most important source I have come across would most likely be personal experience in working with numerous anxious and emotion driven clients.

4. I am doing my mentorship at a law office in which I receive first hand experience with actual current clients who are dealing with their current illegal status. My helping in the winning of each of their cases is what is helping me answer my EQ. By testing out different techniques, I can find out which would be most effective. 

Blog 7: Independent Component 1 Approval

Independent Component-

1. For the next 30 hours of work, this is what I plan to do:

     I plan to file a DACA. That stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. For my Senior Project, I will focus all of my efforts on winning one individual case. The case that I chose to work on, includes several components to completely receive immigration status for the client. For my individual component, I chose something that I could do mostly by myself, but is important enough to require the supervision and guidance of my mentor. Preparing a DACA is very time consuming. It is one of the first steps of the legal process for my client. The DACA can reach to be a little over 100 pages in length.

     For the 30 hours, that time will consist of writing the necessary portions to fulfill the document requirements, filling in the forms with my client, and actually going myself to retrieve every item to complete the DACA.

2. I will be demonstrating evidence by taking pictures of my DACA's status, so for example, I could take a picture of it every ten pages. Not of the actual words, but with just enough blur to see that the work has been completed without giving away the privacy of the client. Also, every friday or every three days, I could make it a requirement to have gotten another component of the DACA completed.

3. The DACA is one of the first requirements of the process for legalization. It will definitely help me go more in depth with the project because by retrieving the information with the clients consent, I will be learning more about my client as well as the professional process of obtaining documents from legal businesses and court houses.

Emma Watson- UN Address

          I feel that Emma Watson has captured the essence of what equality represents. She recently delivered a speech on gender equality at a United Nations meeting advertising her newest feminist campaign called HeForShe. Her speech, I'm going to be honest, made me cry. The issue wasn't extremely close to home for me because I have not personally had an experience in which I was discriminated against, and the topic of gender equality isn't the most fragile or sincere, but the way her speech was delivered made an enormous impact on the crowd, as well as myself. Her one speech, made me want to revisit my views on how I rank gender equality. You would expect that as a woman, it would be ranked #2 or #3 at least, but I have recently found myself drawn to other issues. Because of Ms. Watson's speech, that issue has just become ten times more important to me, and it made me want to research more. It not only empowered me, but left me feeling fulfilled, as if all this time I had been looking for something and she had finally shown me the light. I would have never thought I would become such an advocate for women equality everywhere, but after that delivery, I would have to rethink my stance.

          I am currently enrolled in a Public Address class at Citrus College, and this speech has become my inspiration. I intend to work towards being as persuasive, confident and dignified as Emma Watson in her delivery.

          This relates to my Senior Project because as an attorney, determined by the type of the law one is involved in, one could present as often as 5 times a week in front of a courtroom crowd. Often being seated somewhere in the back, I know that those courtroom seats could hold a maximum of around 40 people in the smallest of rooms. Presentation skills are mandatory and extremely important in determining the success of your case because each time the attorney stands up and speaks, he is pleading for his client, and if he/she cannot improvise quickly enough to do impromptu speeches or fast, clever remarks, then failure in inevitable.

          I hope you enjoy this as much as I did- Emma's Speech

Blog 6 - Second Interview Preparation

1. Who is your mentor and where do they work?

My mentor is immigration attorney Jaime Jasso, who works at Law Office of Jaime Jasso in Pomona, California.

2. What 5 questions will you ask them about their background?


*************************************************************************


1. What made you want to become an immigration attorney?

2. How many years did it take to become an immigration attorney & what were the basic necessities of schooling in terms of the numerous universities?

3. What makes you an expert in your field?

4. Why did you decide to start your own office?

5. What things do you do to keep current in your profession?

Blog 5 - Mentorship Reflection

1. Mentorship Question: Describe your experience in how how you found your mentorship? If you haven't found one yet, describe your experience so far in the search of a mentor.

From the beginning, (of this senior year... not of time) I knew I wanted to do something in regards to law. My father, an attorney, has instilled in me a passion for government and I have looked forward to doing this project since sophomore year. Finding a mentor was difficult at first because I did not want my father to be my mentor, but as the deadline approached for finding a mentor, I found my contacts limited and my father to be my only reliable source. I wanted his help to find myself a mentor who would be a friend of his, but who would have known that the lawyers and judges of America don't have the time or will take a passionate youngster underneath their all knowledgeable, and frankly rude wing.

It was a difficult choice that I fretted about for several weeks because I wanted to do this without his assistance. I craved independence, but I realized that I wasn't going anywhere without help and I have the biggest resource I could have possibly imagine one door over and I was just going to ignore it for reasons of pride? No. So there I was at 2am knocking on my parents door... "Alright! I have come to a decision. You can be my mentor dad!" At that point, I don't think he cared much what I thought. In fact I'm pretty sure at the moment, what he was thinking was pretty darn rude, but he went along with it anyway and for that, I am grateful.

2.  Research Question: What has been your most important article you have read so far and why?

So far the most important article I have read was "My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant" by Jose Antonio Vargas. Although it was published in 2011, its events are still considered current despite the fact it doesn't include some of the most recent developments in immigration law. That article basically consisted of the story of one man, who wrote about his own life story of pain, deprivation and truth. I would like to say it was a heartwarming and touching story, but the truth is that it was horrific. His life was unfair and though he tried all his life to beat the system, the government eventually won and he came clean in a confession through the form of that article. If anything, it was inspiring and awakening. All my life I have grown up in a law office where I saw people just like me, but in so much worse conditions, simply due to fate. Due to the fact that they were born in another country, their life was bound by restrictions mine was not. It pains me to this day that our system works like that, but the simple fact is: it works. So there won't really be a change. That's the truth and thats the basis of the article.

If this introduction was intriguing and you would like to read the full 12 page article, click here.








   

Extra Blog- Facebook Edition

Social media plays a vital role in today's society. Sites such as Twitter, Instagram and especially Facebook are immensely important in advertisement for businesses. While working at the law office, I asked my mentor how he advertises, and he responded that most of his clients came in by recommendation. Word of mouth plays a large roll in whether a business succeeds or fails. I asked him why social media isn't a large part of his advertisement method, and he responded curtly, "Who's knows how to do that?"I felt like the manner in which he said that, reflected his attitude towards social media, but the reasoning behind his dislike for it is simply because it is unfamiliar.

I took the liberty (Get it? Because my topic is immigration...lady liberty... no? Okay, we'll get there...) to see if the office had a Facebook page, and to my surprise, it did! Although it must have been the worst looking advertisement page I had ever seen. It only has 21 likes, 3 visits and ONE 5 star review by a family friend. There were only 4 photos, and not one of the actual office building. There were no links to our website or any way of viewing more information on the office other than its address and hours of operation.

I will be discussing this with my mentor on our next meeting to see his perspective on changing some things regarding advertisement. Interested in seeing the real thing? Click here

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Blog 4: Interview Preparation

1.  Who do you plan to interview?  Why?      I will be interviewing my mentor, attorney Jaime Jasso. I chose him as my first interviewee because he is the person who first sparked my interest in the field so I feel it is only right to give him the proper respect in a long line of interviewees… Also because he had already called 'dibs' on being the first one. If you hadn't assumed already from the last name, I will be interviewing my father. It shouldn't be too difficult to start off finding a common ground as Mrs. Ortega taught us. I'm almost positive our shared DNA will do the trick. He also responds well to cheesy complements.  

2.  You have to ask 5 questions. What additional questions do you plan to ask?  

I plan to ask these required 5 questions. 

•     I’m interested in studying immigration. What can you tell me about it?

•       From your perspective what could I study that would be significant?

•       Who else would you recommend I talk to you?

•       What kinds of places or activities do you recommend I do for the mentorship component?

•       What books should I read in this field?

Then I plan to ask...

     1) As you know, law is something that I am passionate about but there are so many different directions to go with law once becoming an attorney. Can you tell me about what influenced you to pursue immigration and what other options you considered?

     2) Father dear, what sparked your interest for law?

     3) Well your hair is just right on point today, isn't it? Did you go into law with a mindset to make a difference or was it more for millions of perks that come with the job?

     4) My goodness, either the lighting in here is great or you must have lost weight because that suit is looking just fine. ...sir. As far as education is considered, how do you think the college you went to influenced your standing as a successful attorney today? 

     5) In your opinion, what is the best way to provide exceptional customer service? Were you aware, when you first wanted to be an attorney, of the actual amount of face time you receive with clients or did you expect more of a steady 'you to your computer' interaction?