Dear Readers:

Since the birth of the American democracy in the 18^th century, immigrants have risen to the top of strata of our society. That remains as true today as ever. Just look at Henry Kissinger who shaped American foreign policy for two Presidents or Sergey Brin, the young Russian-American refugee who is about to become a billionaire when, Google, a little search engine you may have heard about, goes public. The foreign-born American citizen can have it all in our meritocracy. That is, all but leading our country. Our Founding Father’s concerns with a takeover by a foreign monarch led to the inclusion in our Constitution of language prohibiting foreign-born citizens from becoming President.

That relic of an earlier age has recently become news again. It started with the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger to Governor California last year. Republicans suddenly see the merit in scrapping a law that would prevent one of the Party’s shining stars from leading them to a future electoral victory. The election of Italian native Sonja Gandhi’s party in India this week will likely lead to her being India’s next Prime Minister. And her victory is likely again call attention to the fact that the same thing cannot happen in this country. We might get close to this if Mozambique native Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of Presidential candidate John Kerry, moves in to the White House. But only when we finally scrap this anachronistic provision in the Constitution can America rightfully claim that the foreign-born among us are truly first class citizens. 

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We’ve been taking a low-key approach to the fact that we have some key milestones happening around now. In May 1994, I quit my job at a large law firm and set up this practice. I was a solo lawyer at the beginning with no employees, a handful of clients and virtually no money to tide me over until the business got going. But I made the fortunate decision to establish one of the first law firm web sites in the country (which went live in June 1994) and the rest is history.

When the history of the web is written, we hope there is a little place for a mention of our site. One of the most important social changes brought about by the Internet revolution is the empowering of the average citizen with the ability to easily get access to information on laws and legal procedures. In the immigration world, it is incredible how much more knowledgeable people are about immigration rules in the US today. People no longer rely on the word of government officials as gospel and can easily find out for themselves how the system works. Visalaw.com has certainly helped. Over the years, we’ve received so many stories from people whose lives were changed for the better because they were armed with information.

Immigration lawyers have benefited as well from these knowledgeable clients. There’s a department store on the east coast that uses the slogan “An educated consumer is our best customer.” It really is true for immigration lawyers as well. Clients are more likely to follow your advice when they have a better understanding of the immigration system. And the Internet exposes many to potential immigration strategies that lead people to pick up the phone or click on the mouse to contact a lawyer. Just think back to 245i in 2001. My guess is that tens of thousands more people applied because they found out about the program on the web.

This week, the National Law Journal wrote a story to mark the tenth anniversary of the first law firm web sites. Ours is one of the sites covered in the story and I provide a few observations on where sites have been and where they are going. You can read that article on our site at www.visalaw.com/news.

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I wanted to alert readers as well to a new sign-on letter requesting that the Department of Homeland Security stipulate to a grant of asylum for Malik Jarno, a mentally challenged orphan. That letter is now circulating among immigration advocates.  The letter contains information on the growing support for Jarno as well as new evidence that his supporters are hoping will compel a grant of asylum.  Jarno’s individual hearing is scheduled for July 9, 2004, before Immigration Judge Churchill, the same judge who heard the case previously.  If you are able to sign on, please notify Ruth Spivack at ruth_spivack@washlaw.org.

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Finally, as always, we remind readers that we're lawyers who make our living representing immigration clients and employers seeking to comply with immigration laws. We would love to discuss becoming your law firm. Just go to http://www.visalaw.com/intake.html to request an appointment or call us at 800-748-3819 or 901-682-6455.

Regards,

Greg Siskind