Extra Post for January

It is a new year, a year of great beginnings with lots of people eager with hope that this year will be one of change. Some people in particular are coming to and from Syria, a country that once just the spoken name was enough to spark a debate. Syria is located in western Asia right under Turkey, between Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea. If you type in Syria in Google right now, the first thing that will come up will be regarding their chemical weapon plants, so if you guessed that they are not in the best of situations, DING DING we have a winner- They are not. They are currently going through a civil war and ISIS is causing quite the commotion. Some argue that the civilians need aid and as Americans, it is our job to fight for the unheard voiceless due to the fact that we once were there. Others argue that it is not our problem and it is not our fight to be involved in. Whichever path you chose to take belief in, it is important to know that there are good people in Syria with families in America and vise versa. People see headlines such as the one released labeled: "Killed for 'being gay': ISIS savages blindfolded man and threw him off tower block - then stoned him to death when he SURVIVED the fall." Then people assume, oh good golly that is terrible there are terrible people over there doing terrible things, we must be afraid of these Syrians! Hasty generalizations are the fundamental cause of the lack of empathy for foreigners. Working in the immigration office, I have seen people in the waiting room stare their fellow human counterpart down, simply because they are wearing a headscarf or not showing any skin. Cultural respect is something that must be implemented in the brains of our own selves before we can go around trying to invoke it upon others.

On January 5th, 2015 DHS (Department of Homeland Security) released a press report stating that there will now be an 18 month extension of temporary protected status for Syria which will now be in effect until September 30th, 2016. What this means is that eligible citizens of Syria are allowed to register for temporary protected status. There is a certain time period you have to register in (January 5th, 2015 through March 6th, 2015) This is big news for a lot of our clients that we have helped because it means that they get to stay in the United States longer.

Blog 13- Lesson 2 Reflection

1. I am most proud of my activity in my Lesson two. It was where the class was split into three groups and each had to nominate one person who could trace their ancestral background the furthest. I was really enthused and proud of how the class took the activity seriously. Not only did it make me take other people's presentation with a more well rounded respect but it definitely calmed my nerves while presenting.

2. I would give myself an AE, because not only did I meet all of the P requirements but I dressed the part as I would present myself at my office. I had prizes for individuals who completed the activity successfully, and I spent a lot of time rehearsing which I hope was evident to the audience.

3. What worked in my lesson two was retaining all of the info I had practiced. I didn't have one notecard or any notes while presenting because I had practiced the information so well it became memorized.

4. I probably would have started my intro off a little differently. I said that Immigration is a boring subject, and I already know this, but I will try to interest you. I was trying to be honest, and everybody was thinking what I was saying but I suppose some things are better left unsaid.

5. I believe a good answer for my second best choice would be: The best way to enhance a clients confidence in their attorney is by having the client staying physically and emotionally involved in the construction of their case to emphasize the feeling of a team effort.

Blog 12- Mentorship 10 Hours Check

1. I am doing my mentorship at an immigration office in Pomona called Law Office of Jaime Jasso located on Mission Blvd.
2. My most recent and viable contact would have to be my mentor, or the attorney of the office, Jaime Jasso.
3. I have completed a total of 86 hours at the office. That is not including my time spent over working through the summer time or my time working on my individual component.
4. In my most recent 10 hours, we (my co-workers and I), have been prepping for the new year by clearing out dozens of closed cases and creating stacks upon stacks of new folders for the new potential clients. We always do this in the beginning of the year so that when a new client comes in with a bunch of paperwork in his hands, we don't look unprofessional quickly scrambling to create a file to contain all of his information; One is already completely divided, color coated and organized. We are also in the process of transferring all of our previous online folders to Google Docs instead of storing them all individually on Word documents which is more time consuming than you would ever imagine.

Blog 11- Holiday Project Update

1. What I did over the Winter Break with my mentorship was oddly extensive. Half of winter break the office was suppose to be closed for the "Holiday's" but in law, there is never any real holiday breaks. When the office was closed, my mentor continued going to the office as usual, and every once in a while instead of doing the work at the office, we would do the work at home. Oh the perks of having your father as your mentor...

2. What I learned while working over the break is that people in the real world never actually take "vacations." I guess that shouldn't have come as such a shock to me, but it did. I always took for granted my free time, but when observing my mentor typing on the keyboard furiously, I took a hard look at how good I have it in school. I-Poly gives us breaks and vacations, and every once in a while they give us a taste of the real world by assigning us homework over the breaks, but it is rare. At the office, the employee's did not come to the office, but my mentor did which just comes to show. If you want to be the boss, you have to work like one.

3. If we were going to do a 10 Question Interview on questions related to answers for my EQ who would we ask and why?... This is a sort of confusing question to wrap your head around because we usually ask questions to try and get answers to our EQ, and this blog post is assuming that we already know answers to our E.Q. which is risky because I have not completely solidified the answers to my E.Q. yet, but here are some questions relating to my tentative E.Q. answers referred to in my Blog 8. I chose to write two questions because it is important to know the types of questions that will be asked to my interviewer to understand why I am asking that particular person.

• Is being kept well informed of the status of one immigration case the most important factor in your opinion of a clients positive attitude during the process of winning their case?
• If a client is involved in the process of working on their case by for example, retrieving papers from their past, do you feel this will impact the confidence of a client during the process of their case being won?

I would choose to ask an associate of my mentor, his name is Enrico. Although not a certified (he did not chose to pass the bar exam) attorney himself, he does work very closely with my father. He has worked in the immigration practice far longer than my father so I feel that his knowledge and experience would come into play when answering these type of customer service questions.