Eugenio's Blog!

Okay, so the first two weeks of the clerkship were definitely an "absorb as much labor and immigration law as you possibly can" time period. Dude, it was intense. I cannot wait until I take immigration and labor law academically -- hopefully, I will rock the class.

So this week, the attorneys felt that the nice two week cram session of immigration and labor law would be adequate training for handling my own clients. That's right -- my own clients. Pretty scary, eh? I am officially the "co-counsel" for two clients! I am fortunate in that these two cases are amazingly interesting.

My first client's name is . . . dang! Lawyer/Client confidentiality rule! Darn morals. Anyway, I'll tell you his story & issue. So, he's 24 and his wife is 15. There is no typographical error -- age fifteen. They were married in Texas in 2002 (you can do the math).

He is a U.S. citizen and she is a Mexican citizen who wants U.S. citizenship status. She has been in the U.S. since age 4, but her parents never petitioned for U.S. citizenship on her behalf. In 1997, Congress passed legislation tightening U.S. citizenship requirements. Now, a person must earn 125% above national poverty guideline figures. [As of right now, a family of one is at poverty is he/she makes around $9,600 or less.]

She is pregnant, so this particular family has three members, but they also claim a fourth member in taxes because he takes care of his nephew. However, he does not have custody of the nephew. So, tax wise, there are four members, but legally, there are only three members. But in 2003, he did not claim his wife as a dependent because they were "fighting," so her parents claimed her as a dependent.

Now, she wants to either use her parents to get U.S. citizenship status (her dad is a permanent resident) or her husband, but there are minimal and shaky financial ties in the family. I know, I know -- there are more issues in this case than LASA v. Southern Builders, Inc. (1967). Still, it's really interesting.

The second case deals with education law, my true love. This woman successfully passed 4 of 5 GED tests in TX in February 2004. She has moved to OH as a migrant and wishes to take the 5th test here to complete her GED. When she went to register for the test, the state of OH refused to honor her TX scores.

I understand that education is a state matter (thank you, 10th Amendment), but the GED
diploma needs to honored by all states, so why would GED scores be any different? If I take 25 credit hours at the University of Texas, hopefully those 25 credit hours will be accepted by the University of Illinois. Then again, the state may have the prerogative to deny "foreign" scores, or any scores for that matter. I just got the case yesterday. I will post the answer as soon as I reach it. Try not to panic.

So today, while outreaching to the labor camps, I confused some Spanish words. I knew this was bound to happen, but I picked a doozie of a confusion.

My outreach partner often complements the little kids running around the camps barefoot throwing beer bottles at each other. Yknow . . . something quick like "que bonito," or whatever.

Anyway, my outreach partner (who is a native of Mexico) said "que chula" this afternoon to a girl. I was unfamiliar with this term, so I asked him what it meant. He said it is very vernacular, especially for people from Southern Mexico. It means "how pretty."

I, wanting to fit in & all, decided to use the term at the next camp. Lo and behold, I confused the term "chula" [pretty] with "chota" [an inflammatory derogatory term for the I.N.S.]. So yes, in a rural labor camp in Ottawa County, Ohio, where nationally 70% of farmworkers are undocumented workers, I said the word "chota."

I am fortunate I didn't cause a national labor shortage.

At first the kids were a bit scared, but then my partner started to laugh. Whew! That was a close one.

"We have to keep our majesty happy." Stephanie Tanner.