Transcript:

Kleine Powell 

Hello everyone and welcome to the Immigration Nation podcast. Today we are so excited to have another zoom episode and we have our special guest Miss Angela Warren. We are so excited to have her here today. We’re talking about the writ of mandamus, so I know it can be a little bit confusing. Which all immigration topics are for me, and I know for our listeners, especially Miss Warren, if you wouldn’t mind, just to like give a few sentences about yourself and maybe a brief introduction to what we’ll be talking about. Today. 

Angela Warren 

Certainly I’m the principal at the Warren law firm and we have two locations, one in San Francisco and one in Honduras, and we practice where immigration boutique. So we practice everything that’s in the immigration field. 

Kleine Powell 

Let’s just jump right into it. What the heck is this writ of mandamus? And who kind of can come to you and say, does this make sense for what I’m looking for? 

Angela Warren 

So a rid of mandamus is actually a lawsuit. It’s a type of lawsuit. That and and I’m just going to say it in some to force the government to process an application or to go through a particular process. So in immigration there are a lot of delays, OK. Some of the delays are unreasonable. You have people waiting for years to try to legalize their status. And so those are the people who would come to me saying, hey, we want to have the government make a decision. Now we can’t decide what the decision is going to be, only that they have to make a decision. Good, bad. Ugly. 

Kleine Powell 

Right. Totally. And of course, we know that the government is so backed up from COVID-19 and I feel like the weights just keep getting longer and longer and longer for cases and and perhaps even lawsuits like this one. Would you say that? That’s like kind of true for everything that you see or for this writ of mandamus? Specifically. 

Angela Warren 

No, you’re exactly right. And you know, whatever is happening in the news seems to impact immigration. Now, with the Ukrainian war again, immigration got very, very backlogged because they’re processing a lot of the refugees coming into the country. And so people who are waiting, for example, just on the marriage petition where their spouse petitioned. For them to get a green card. They’re waiting extra time without having legal status. So the way to try to get legal status before that is to go ahead and file a lawsuit of Rita mandamus. 

Kleine Powell 

Right. So how often would you say that you have people coming into your office and saying I want to sue the government for this, for taking too long, basically. 

Angela Warren 

Well, you know, the thing about riding mandamus is, is it’s not highly publicized and the and the reason why is because there’s a lot of immigration attorneys that simply don’t do rid of mandates. So people aren’t aware of the type of tool it is. And I would say that we have about 3 writs of mandamus come in. A month. Remember, it’s a big decision because we are in fact, suing the federal government. And I always tell the clients, right? No, this isn’t like an application. This is actually a lawsuit where the Department of Justice gets involved. 

Kleine Powell 

Right. So how long would these case be expected to last before someone hears of a result, and how much of A financial? What? What can we look at in terms of finances for these people who come in and looking to do this? 

Angela Warren 

1. In terms of the length of time, the length of time of the actual lawsuit can be months, but generally we’re able to wrap it up in two months. Because once the government is served with legal process, then they get on the stick. We either get a phone call or we get an e-mail saying, hey, you know, let’s let’s work this out because the government doesn’t want to pay EJ fees, equal access to justice fees. OK. So that’s where if the government loses, then they have to pay the complainant.

Kleine Powell 

Right. 

Angela Warren 

Money. So they don’t want to do that. And of course. The client all they want really is to have their process completed. So we’re it, usually we we’ll serve the lawsuit in a in a month, we’ll get a response and in two months we would have worked out all the details so that we wouldn’t have to actually go to court. 

Kleine Powell 

Right for sure. So then in terms of finances for the person, is it free to file or? How does that? Work. 

Angela Warren 

No. Again, because it’s a federal lawsuit, there’s inherent costs involved with, for example, the the filing fees and the filing fees are actually pretty reasonable for a lawsuit because it’s only $450, OK. But the legal fees because of the amount of intense work we have to put into it and because we’re on a tight. Time frame can be quite expensive and so we charge 10,500 for Rita, mandamus, you know, but of course you have to look at it this way. What? What is? Your peace of. Mind worth you know, what is it worth to you to have your family? Me be reunited with you. You’re what? What is it like to finally become a citizen? So it’s really hard to put what the in terms of when you’re looking at how much does it cost? I mean, how much does it really cost? Because. 

Speaker 

Right. 

Angela Warren 

There’s the dollar. Cost. And then there’s the the cost that you pay just trying to live your life. 

Kleine Powell 

Absolutely. And citizenship is already such a long road. I mean, you you think about when people come over from other countries just to be with their spouse and how long that takes. And then from then on the path to citizenship and then on. Top of that. You’re waiting on the government and you’re waiting on all of these things, and then it’s like, well, I can’t wait another 10 years. You know, so it. Almost. I know it’s it’s definitely an investment for sure, but at the end of the day it’s, you know, to be reunited with your family or your loved ones. It’s kind of unmatched. So I totally understand if you have any questions to our listeners out there, just you can reach out to us at Immigration Nation Podcast or you can reach out to Warren law firm. They are based in California and San Francisco area. But of course, they serve everyone in the US and around the world, Miss Angela Warren, do you have anything else you’d like to share with us before we log off? 

Angela Warren 

No, I yes I would. And and that I’d like to say don’t give up hope because that’s that’s the the really hard part is hoping every day your situation gets resolved. So don’t give up hope there. There is an alternative. 

Kleine Powell 

Thank you so much for talking with us today. We really appreciate it. 

Angela Warren 

Sure. 

Narrator 

This podcast has been. Prepared for general information purposes only and is not legal advice. This information is not intended to create and receive that it is not constituted. Turn the client relationship.