Washington Lawyer - September 2019 - 32

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
You say that immigration is "very personal." Can you explain more?
I've worked on many individual cases that allow me to have a more personal
connection with clients and their cases. Every client has a unique case to make.
Sometimes you might need to present a slightly different fact pattern, but there
are similarities between most cases. You have to present the options to them
and then work to accommodate the different conditions that need to be
resolved.
When somebody is sponsoring a spouse from outside the United States, that
can take a while to be resolved. In the meantime you have a family split up, and
that is very stressful for everyone. With those cases, we have the most direct
contact with clients to make sure they understand the process. You tend to
have a closer personal connection with a client when you're handling family
reunification.
Are family reunification cases more difficult?
Family reunification is part of the headlines you read about today. It's also at the
heart of a lot of the applications that we file. Certain family relationships allow
immigrants to bring their closest family members to the country, and these can
become complicated cases.
I'm focused on all the details. Compared to something like a routine visa for a
business visitor, which is not particularly challenging or subjective, family reunification is more complex. Families often have more issues.
I think it's important to have a personal connection to your cases and clients,
especially with family reunification, given that different visas and applications

have different deadlines. And with certain case types, you tend to encounter
challenges. That makes for many stressful situations for your clients in family
reunification.
Immigration is at the center of today's political debate. What do immigration lawyers know about the situation that the rest of the public doesn't?
I think the headlines tend to focus very much on broader issues and individuals
who might be undocumented. You see that a lot in the press along with stories
about security-related issues and the border wall.
What people don't realize is that an awful lot of immigration practice is legal
benefits. A person just reading the news would tend to think the issues we
focus on the most are refugees, the border, and legal status when a lot of our
work as immigration lawyers is on affirmative benefits such as green cards, visas,
and citizenship.
How do you stay on top of government immigration changes?
There is an imperative to keep track of regulatory changes and follow political
developments. We have a government strategies team that works closely with
the government with legislative and regulatory changes. We typically do have
an idea about the challenges coming up on the horizon before they happen.
Too much is at stake not to.

Sarah Kellogg is a regular contributor to Washington Lawyer.

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Washington Lawyer - September 2019

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