Air Force Sergeant's Wife's Immigration Nightmare

Please note: This blog post was originally posted on Sunday, August 7, 2011.

Attorney Amy Prokop, Karina Magana, Staff Sgt. Luis Magana, and Attorney Carl Shusterman

 “Carl Shusterman and his team are simply the best representation a person can get. Attorney Amy and Carl were always available to provide support and advice. They were always on top of my case and provided prompt updates. Their knowledge about immigration law is above any other law firm in California. If you want the best, I recommend the Law Office of Carl Shusterman. Thank you Carl and Amy for helping my family, we will always be grateful.”

- Air Force Staff Sergeant Luis Magana

Air Force Staff Sergeant Luis Magana immigrated to the United States from Mexico. Now a proud U.S. citizen, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, and served two tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

After he returned, his wife Karina, a permanent resident of the U.S., applied for naturalization. However, the government examiner at her naturalization interview told her that her application would be denied, and that she would be deported from the U.S.!

Why? What had she done? Had she committed a crime?

According to the examiner, Karina had obtained her green card by fraud, and his accusations brought her to tears. It also caused great concern to Sgt. Magana, who was scheduled to be deployed once again. Would Karina really be deported? What would happen to their U.S. citizen children while he was serving his country?

The couple drove to my office from Fresno that same day. Karina told me that she was sponsored for a green card at a tender age by her U.S. citizen step-father. Somehow, the process dragged on past her 16th birthday. At her interview, the examiner was insulting: “Are you pregnant? Are you married?” “Neither”, she replied, “I’m only 16 years old!” Finally, the examiner informed her that she needed a fingerprint check.

The process dragged on two more years, and the USCIS informed Karina by mail that they needed to take her fingerprints once again. By this time, she was married and she asked the USCIS to postpone her fingerprint appointment because she was “pregnant”.

The government did so. Karina took new fingerprints, and eventually, USCIS sent her a green card in the mail. Of course, as any immigration attorney knows, Karina was no longer eligible to immigrate as an “immediate relative” of her father because she was married. Karina, however, did not know this, and one has to wonder what the USCIS was thinking. Probably just another bureaucratic mistake.

Rather than admit that the government had made a mistake, the examiner at her citizenship interview accused Karina of fraud in obtaining permanent residence, denied her application for naturalization, and threatened her with deportation.

Although I assured them that the mistake was on the government’s part, and that she would not be deported, Karina and her husband were to spend the next two years worrying about what would happen to her. Their fear intensified after the government ignored our pleas and issued her a Notice to Appear for removal proceedings in San Francisco. The government continued to allege that Karina had committed fraud.

At the telephonic master calendar hearing, we denied the charges and requested a change of venue to Los Angeles which was granted. However, the ICE Assistant District Counsel refused to drop the fraud charge. The matter was only resolved after Attorney Amy Prokop approached his boss, the ICE District Counsel in Los Angeles, and an agreement was reached. The government would withdraw the fraud charge, and we would apply for a waiver of removal before an Immigration Judge. The government did not oppose our motion which the Judge granted, and the threat of deportation evaporated into thin air.