ICE sat in on our Client's AOS Interview

[00:00:00]There are things that make headlines, but the but there's other news that are really important that you only see on a day-to-day basis when you go in to the field office when you're doing immigration cases. And there's some things that don't make it to the news and that's impacting clients. And that's what we want to talk about cuz if you search this online and Galen did this, you know, this all morning, he couldn't find anything online. But what are ICE agents doing in field offices?

[00:00:27]What is their role? What what what How did What happened? Why don't you share a little bit about what happened yesterday?

[00:00:33]>> Yes. So, we had a client attend an adjustment of status interview at the Los Angeles field office. And basically, what happened is there were two agents that had very small badges on them. So, they were dressed as just normal people and then they're just standing in the room. And our client is waiting there to be interviewed. And um Obviously, there is a lot of tension already going into these interviews. I think everyone is already like really really like nervous and they they don't know what to expect, especially during this climate, right? But to have two people just observing everyone there, like they're staring at people just, you know, their every move. And then the client is just really nervous because they don't know, you know, what's going to happen with their case.

[00:01:15]>> Now, a little bit more about this. We didn't tell the clients there were ICE agents. So, our attorney Our attorney with the client went into the room where they're going to be interviewed.

[00:01:25]And there's the officer there who's supposed to be interviewing them. But obviously, our attorney saw the two other people that are ICE agents.

[00:01:33]>> Right. And he recognized them.

[00:01:35]>> out.

[00:01:35]He recognized them. So, our client Our attorney directly contacted you. And then you were thinking whether to contact me. And this was like 7:00 a.m.

[00:01:44]in the morning.

[00:01:45]>> Yeah, it was 6:00 6:35 in the morning.

[00:01:47]The appointment was at 6:45 in the morning. So, and they weren't the only ICE agents in the There were two ICE agents in the room, but there were ICE agents outside in the field office as well.

[00:01:56]Just roaming around. So So our attorney is saying you know this is really unusual. You know, I haven't really seen them in the waiting areas like they are around in you know, in the building because they have an office there, but they are not really like in the waiting areas observing everyone, right? Our attorney very experienced 25 years of experience plus.

[00:02:15]>> Yeah.

[00:02:16]>> He is just shocked that they are actually in the waiting rooms now, right? So the interview itself was only 25 minutes. 9:55 I get news, okay, the interview is done. We're out of there.

[00:02:29]Everything went well.

[00:02:31]Um but it was just the tension and then the client immediately calls me after I speak to our attorney. She you know, she was saying, okay, everything went well.

[00:02:38]It was just some questions that they were asking her about, you know, who she came with and um she mentioned she had her four children with her. So now is that going to be a problem? So these questions are new questions that we had never, you know, encountered before. And if they did ask these questions, it was just for certain cases, not for every case. It sounds like now they really want to know who you came with, who paid for the person that were you in for the coyote, the person that helps cross the border, and were you bringing your children, right?

[00:03:08]>> One really important thing is that the client needs to be at their best and so much of our work when we prep the client before the interview, when we prep the client that during that three hours before the actual interview, so that's the second major prep, and is so that they can answer well, they can be calm, they can feel like answer like what the officers want, right? And so if they're panicking, then it sometimes it makes the officer even more suspicious.

[00:03:34]And so in the midst of that attorney, you made the judgment, this is a clean case, this is a good case.

[00:03:41]Most likely it's a training situation.

[00:03:44]They're not targeting our client. It's one ICE officer taking another ICE officer doing a training and watching everything. So we didn't want to cancel the case right on the spot, right? Cuz we could have just played it safe and say, "You know what? Our client is not feeling well. Let's leave." But, that could also trigger an investigation. Well, why are you leaving now? No, we're going to arrest you.

[00:04:05]We're going to detain you, right? And so, I think you guys made the right choice, and it's a tough call, but only at that moment, people who really know the case can make that decision, and the client was able to do the interview well, and we'll see when the case will get approved, right?

[00:04:22]Is it going to be this week? Is it going to be a month and admin processing? But, it is absolutely bizarre that we saw there's ICE agents in that room. And you told me right afterwards, cuz our attorney was there for the rest of the day, people got detained.

[00:04:35]>> Yeah, so there was a gentleman that got detained.

[00:04:38]Um some sort of like previous criminal record or something like that, but there was So, they So, they were waiting for this person to come out of their meeting. And this is what, you know, we think the attorney shared. He's like, "There were officers inside where the rooms are, where the interview rooms are, and they were outside in the waiting room to prevent maybe this person trying to run, right? So, they want to make sure that they capture him inside, and that when he exits, that there is someone out there to catch him if he tries to leave.

[00:05:06]So, you know, a lot of new different techniques and different protocols for ICE to operate into this field offices, but definitely something we need to prepare for and, you know, work with our attorneys so that we can be hand-on-hand.

[00:05:19]>> And so, for difficult cases, we're always advising clients now, if you're going into an interview, even if you're going in for a biometrics, even if you're going in for an ICE check-in that you've done a hundred times, now there's always that possibility, and so, definitely prepare your package well. You can present your equities. You can present why you could get a bond, cuz a lot of these people, they're not They're just living, but they don't have a formal bond.

[00:05:44]>> Right.

[00:05:45]>> They don't have a formal removal proceeding, right? And so now they show up, now they're presenting themselves.

[00:05:50]If they get detained, now you need to formally apply for bond. Is it going to be a 1-hour thing or is it going to be a 1-week, 1-month thing?