Transcript:

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of Immigration Nation. My name is Kleine. I’ll be your host for today. Scott has just stepped out so we’re not tag teaming this episode. So it’s just me. But I wanted to welcome Ruby Kaur. We’re so excited to have her today and our topic is Asylum. So we’re really going to cover all the bases here and I’m really excited to hear from Ruby. So Ruby, would you mind introducing yourself? Hi, my name is Ruby Kaur. I’m an attorney here in Michigan, and I also practice in the state of California. I only practice immigration, in state of California. I’ve been practicing since 2015. And I have a lot of experience under my belt. Yes. And she’s also a TikTok star. So you guys go ahead and follow her. We love watching your videos Ruby. So let’s just get right into it. Our topic for today is asylum. So, Ruby, what exactly is it? I know it’s a pretty hot topic right now in the United States, but what is it? So asylum is a way for a person who is being persecuted in their home country to come into the United States and seek protection. So it’s a way of seeking protection in the United States. How you do it is — there are two ways. One is affirmative asylum and the other is defensive asylum. And the differences affirmative asylum you file with the asylum office or USCIS and defensive is when you come to the border, you are kept into the custody. You’re released on bond or on your own recognition and your case goes to the court. Perfect. So not just anyone can come to the United States and just like say, “Hey, I’m here for asylum.” So who qualifies for it? So if you are being persecuted on the basis of your race, your religion, your political opinion, the torture, etc. So these are few of the issues that can involve— that can help you seek protection in the United States. So let’s take it back just a little bit, because obviously, as our listeners know, I’m kind of the novice in immigration. I kind of just learn along the way from what our attorneys tell us. So you said there are two different types of asylum. So there’s affirmative and then there’s defensive. Could you give us just like short, like one minute statements for each of those so we can really try to understand like what each one is? So affirmative asylum is where you apply for asylum with the asylum office. You enter legally to the United States and you apply 589. You can apply online or you can send a paper copy. Check the instructions, because lately they have been updating a lot of instructions how to file the affirmative asylum cases with asylum office. Second is the defensive asylum, which is with the court. So basically you come through the border, you are in the custody, you’re in the detention center, you have a A-Number. When you are released, you have to go check in with the ICE. And but once you check in with the ICE, you’re NTA, which is Notice to Appear is filed with the court and then court issues you a Master Hearing. That’s when your removal proceedings begin. Thank you. It’s great hearing from an asylum expert like you because trying to figure out what that process looks like and for each different type of asylum is like I’m sure confusing for clients as well as it always is for me. But could you explain a little bit more how the process, what it looks like? Is it different for the different types of asylum? What does that process in general kind of look like? So recently we were seeing that a lot of people who came to the border who should have been issued Master Hearings dates were not being issued. So we ended up filing their cases with asylum office. And the reason being was because you have to file your asylum claim within one year of your entry. If you don’t do that, then you lose it. There are some exceptions to it, but not necessarily that asylum office or judge will accept those exceptions. And then for the people who do qualify, do you have some like specific suggestions for them who think they may qualify or like they have a family member who may qualify for asylum? Like what are the steps that you would recommend that they like take immediately or just some common practice knowledge that you’ve seen people pick up along the way? So if you entered into the United States to seek asylum, can you apply asylum as a family? Yes, you can. As long as you, your spouse and your kids have the same basis for asylum claim. If you don’t file within one year of that claim, then you will lose that. Also, kids who are under 21 can go on their parents’ application. Kids who are above 21, they have to file their own separate application. So I feel like asylum, it kind of — it goes like different avenues and different routes. Like I feel like it can kind of get a little confusing and a little muddied for certain people. Are there some like common misunderstandings that you see when people come in for a consultation and they’ve Googled what they need to do and you’re like, “That’s actually not right.” What are some of those, like common misunderstandings that you’ve seen a lot in the office? Yeah. So a lot of people, when they come to the office, they always think that if they have, for example, if they have a political opinion basis for the asylum, they might also have a religious or race basis or sometimes if you don’t fit in those listed categories of 589, you might have another category that we can fit into the particular social group. But that requires some analysis. So when you are talking to an attorney for your asylum claim, my recommendation is that you would tell them the truth and tell them exactly what has happened with you and why you were seeking asylum and let the attorney figure out on what basis your claim should be presented on. That’s a good point. So kind of back to our like qualification and process questions. So say there’s a family living in Texas and they’ve applied for asylum there. If they were to move maybe during the process is happening or even after the process has already come to an end, they would move to Detroit. Would they be able to apply for asylum there too, or does it carry over or how does it work state to state? So when the asylum process begins, for instance, with the asylum office. There are few states that come into under one asylum offices jurisdiction. So if, for example, if you are in Michigan during that process and you move to Illinois, you should definitely change your address with the asylum office. But it doesn’t change the location of your asylum office just because Michigan also comes under Chicago, Illinois asylum office jurisdiction. Secondly, if you are with the court, if it’s a court process, you’re living in Texas while your process is going on, your case should be in Texas. If you are to relocate to Detroit while that process is ongoing, then you also have to change your address with the court, and then court will send their file from Texas to Detroit Immigration Court. So basically the gist is that wherever you are located, that’s where the venue will be. Yeah, that makes sense because the United States is kind of like the umbrella. And then from state to state, it just depends on how you set the jurisdiction. Correct. Well, I actually just have two more questions for you. And they’re more about you and your law office. So thank you for sharing your expertise about asylum, because that is a very confusing topic, I’m sure, and one that, people obviously don’t want to have to deal with. But if they do, please go to Ruby. She knows what she’s talking about. But I just wanted to ask, I know you’re very involved in your community and I wanted to ask a little bit about your services and how you get back to the community and just kind of what’s going on there. So we do a lot of pro-bono work actually for the community. We time to time and very frequently consult with people, advised people through different nonprofits, nonprofit organizations. Since the beginning of my career and prior to as well, I’ve been very involved with the community. So few incidents are that there was the Oregon City detention issue that we were involved with, then El Paso hunger strike issue, where a few men went into hunger strike and we were a part of that to resolve that issue. We went to congressional hearings. We also are a part of Sikh Coalition Law Committee. So yeah, we remain involved and give back to the community as much as we can. That’s so important to give back and continue doing those things. And that kind of leads me into my next question. You mentioned consulting, so how can people reach out to you? Do you have a phone number, a website? What do you offer in terms of consultations? What does that all look like? So I have two office locations. One is in Michigan and one is in California. If you want to reach out to us and Michigan office, our number is (734) 205-8009. If you want to reach out to us in California office, our number is (510) 894-1400 and stop by any time. We do a charge a consultation fee of $100. We try to keep it minimum as much as we can, but that’s our fees. Perfect. Thank you so much. You had those numbers memorized, too. You had that quick, off the top of your head. Thank you so much for coming and talking to us about all things asylum today. This has been another great episode of Immigration Nation. Thank you, Ruby. Thank you very much.