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Gerald Burns: "Immigration, a movement of people tied up in
the law."
Interview by Eduardo Barraza
BARRIOZONA
April 16, 2007
"One of the things that people are always asking us is what’s going on in Arizona with immigration law. I think the better
question is what’s not going on in Arizona. Quite a lot as a border state immigration is a hot button topic being debated
from both sides of the issue furiously on a daily basis. One of the things that is interesting, is that what’s going on in
Arizona doesn’t seem to be the sentiment maybe nationwide; it seems to be very mean spirited here in Arizona. From a
professional standpoint, probably the most serious issue in immigration is how local law enforcement appears to be
enforcing immigration laws. If you are an undocumented person or you are someone who came legally but has maybe
overstayed or you are here without authorization, routine traffic stops, arrest, any exposure to law enforcement could mean
that you would be placed in the deportation proceedings.
"This didn’t used to be the case; there was always this strict separation of local law enforcement and then federal
immigration enforcement. If you are brought to the attention of law enforcement for any reason, if you go to jail, if you have
a conviction, chances are you will be detained by immigration officials. If that happens, be prepared that you most likely not
be jailed but will be transferred to immigration custody and then you will have to fight for your rights before an immigration
judge.
"Another issue that has popped recently is this controversy over the G-28 form. What is the form? The form is very simply a
confidentiality privacy form. For example, as an immigration attorney, if someone comes in and hires my firm, hires me as
their attorney, I have to be able to speak for them, I have to be able to obtain information for them. So we have them sign a
G-28 —and the immigration service requires a G-28— so then I can be recognized as their attorney. Now, no legal rights
attached just by having a signed G-28. There is nothing that is going to protect you from deportation by simply adding a G-
28 in your back pockets signed by whoever.
"I think this is a very dangerous situation right now, because having someone sign a G-28, and if you are stopped or
become exposed to an immigration officials, you show them this; they know what that form is, and they are going to know
that you may be trying to —this person, the immigrant may not know it— but they may be constricted to misrepresenting
themselves, we have something before the immigration service that they don’t really know. It should be clear that the G-28
is not a form of relief on deportation; it is a confidentiality privacy form that prevents other people from getting information
about your case that is filed with the government. I would recommend people that if you hear of people offering G-28’s for
a fee, that’s a scam, and that will not help you if you come to the attention of an immigration official.
"This goes to show you that immigrants are always looking for something positive, always looking for something that is
going to be helpful. Immigrants seem to be living in a lot of fear, and there’s a lot of miscommunication out there and
immigrants are fairly desperate right now but they are always looking for something positive and the G-28 is not going to
be something positive.
"What we are seeing in terms of risks and consequences of people when they work with notarios (public notaries) and
people are always coming to us on a daily basis that have been involved with notarios that have handled their cases
before we have —and I say that literally, on a daily basis. Here in Arizona notarios are a very big problem. First, notarios are
not attorneys in Arizona; notarios are individuals who have a notary public license. By State law, they are prohibited from
accepting fees of more than two dollars to witness a signature. So they are not notaries in the Spanish sense of being an
attorney from a Latin America country, where they are often called notarios. So here in the United States they are notary
publics, they witness signatures; they are not to be document preparers, in particular for immigration purposes. In Arizona
it is a felony to practice law without a license and particularly immigration law, so notarios should understand that but also
the community should understand that immigration is considered to be one of the most complex and difficulties areas of
law. The law, the regulations, the memorandums, the policy advisories, the practice memos, these are things that trained
attorneys and educated attorneys have access to; immigration attorneys, not notarios. So we would encourage the
immigrant community to be careful about who you have represent you in the immigration process.
"Number one: be aware of the fact that being pulled over or any exposure to any local law enforcement could place you in
the deportation proceedings; that is the number one thing confronting immigrants right now in Arizona. Number two: be
aware of the fact that notartios are causing a lot of damage; they’re not licensed attorneys; if you hire a notario to handle
your case you can end in deportation procedures. Even though you are an undocumented person or you may have
overstayed your visa, you entered legally, you do have rights, so if you are pulled over, or you are brought to the attention of
immigration, it is important to let them know who you are, but it is also your right to tell them that you wish to remain silent.
I don’t want to sign anything, I would like to see an attorney, I would like to go before a judge, and you have that right. And I
think most importantly for the immigrants in Arizona to be aware of the fact that you are valuable, we understand how
valuable you are, you have a voice. Whatever the mean spirited things that are going on in Arizona cannot take that away. It
is often said that immigrants built America, well, immigrants now continue to build America; this is staying America, and
that’s not going to change.
"One of the things that strikes me about doing immigration —I’ve been doing immigration for twelve years now.
Immigration is a social movement of people, it is migration, it is Mother Nature moving people around the globe, and
Latinos are migrating to the United States from Mexico, South America, Central America and they are coming this way. But
what they don’t realize a lot of times is that immigration is tied up in the law, it is a huge complex body of laws and
regulations that govern how people come to the United States, how they can stay in the United States, what relief they may
have. Now, I can assure you that “activists”, people that say they are “activists” —that is the scariest word in immigration
today— an activist today in immigration is not the same as when Cesar Chavez was an activist who cared about the farm
workers back in the seventies and almost laid down his life for people; that was an activist. Now we have “activists” who
go on the radio for thirty minutes and pretend to be immigration experts. It is extremely (dangerous), it is not only
demeaning to immigration attorneys like myself, but it’s demeaning to you the immigrant community. They are looking at
you as if you are a commodity that does not have a brain, that will pay anybody who is in the radio for thirty minutes and
pretends to know something about immigration law and they will insult you by making you think that immigration is
simple, that immigration is just filling out forms.
"That is something that has to change within the culture of the people, you have to demand that you should be respected
more than that. Another part of the problem is the media, the radio stations, the TV stations, the magazines, “TV y Más”. All
the little things that advertise for notarios and activists and at the same time there right next to you have an ad for an
immigration notario next to an ad for a woman selling beer; we have to change that, that immigration is very serious and
should be left for the serious professionals. Immigrants need to value themselves more than that. Someone just
mentioned to me that if you are going to have a baby you want to go to a doctor not to a midwife, not to someone who says,
just come down laid on the table and we’ll take care of that. That’s the way they used to do it but now you have the choice,
you can go to a professional, and you can have a baby safely. Immigrants are being socially, morally killed by these
notarios and these activists that don’t have their best interests at heart.
"People always ask me what’s so complicated about filling out some forms to apply for an immigration benefit. Well, as
an immigration attorney, I can tell you that filling out the forms is about this much of what we do. What’s important to
realize is that if you are applying for a benefit and you are filling out a form every single answer has a legal consequence.
For example, you fill your name out wrong, you misspell your last name, or you don’t do your address correctly, you might
not get your notice or your interview; if you put a wrong answer down, that is the difference between success and failure,
that’s often the difference between being able to get your benefits and maybe being deported. Just bare in mind when you
hear people say that they are document preparers, to prepare a document is one percent of what immigration law is
about. Anybody can fill a document; that’s not what we charge people for. It’s the representation, it’s the deal with the legal
consequences of your answers on forms, your history, your immigration history, your eligibility, the obstacles, your relief,
you need a waiver; these are the things that notarios and activists, all those people, will not understand.
"Aside from being an attorney, that’s not enough. In my personal view I think the thing that’s most important, immigration is
always changing, the laws are always changing, the regulations are changing, policy memorandums is always coming
out that explain the vastly confusing areas of immigration law. A good immigration attorney is going to be specifically
trained in the area of immigration law. One of the factors you might want to look for is —I tell immigrants— you should ask
questions of the people that you go see. I love it when people ask are you a member of the American Immigration Lawyers
Association. Being a member of that organization gives me access to the most recent documentation, changes in the law,
what’s going on with immigration, it gives me resources I can use that will better help me help immigrants. If you are
going to be an advocate for immigrants you at least owe to them to be informed about what’s going on a daily basis with
immigration law.
"For example, just to become an attorney you have to take an average of three years of law school, you have to graduate
from law school, you have to study and pass a Bar exam so that you have your law license. You are required to take
classes yearly to have continuing legal education credits so you can maintain your law license. I have people who say to
me “I am Mexican, I know the experience; I know what it takes to help people with immigration.” That’s illogical, it is
insulting, but is not insulting to me as an immigration attorney; it is to the immigrants that you are worthy that little to them,
that they believe that they can help you.
"I take my job very seriously; we want be on the cutting edge of what’s new, what’s going on in my field, and I can assure
the immigrant community that notarios and activists will simply not be able to do that. And I want to close by saying that in
some ways, notarios and activists are my best friends, and to my office, because we get referrals from them on a daily
basis —not from them— but from the people that they hurt. I have drawers of cases that started out with notarios and they
ended with us because they need their cases fixed. So it’s its not fair for immigrants to have to go through that much pain,
that one day they might be able to get their cases fixed, and a lot of time the damages are irreversible, and they are not
going to get their cases fixed."
Copyright © 2006-2010 Hispanic Institute of Social Issues
Grassroots Journalism
www.barriozona.com
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An experienced Arizona immigration attorney, talks about the controversy about the G-28 form, the
notarios, "activists", and the risks and consequences immigrants face when putting themselves on their
hands.