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Ice on Immigration: Weekly advice column to you.  Thank you for your patience and understanding. 

By L. Patricia Ice, Featured Columnist

Question:  I am a United States citizen who has several friends who are in the country without legal immigration status.  I would like to know why they cannot obtain legal immigration status, and if there is anything I can do to help them obtain legal immigration status.  They would like to remain in the United States long term to work legally.

Answer:  United States immigration laws are extremely complex, but I will give a brief answer to your questions.  The general rule is that a person who enters the United States without being admitted or paroled by an immigration official (also known as entry without inspection) is not eligible to adjust status to lawful permanent resident.  There are a few exceptions to the general rule.  Another general rule is that a person cannot change from having no immigrant status to having non-immigrant (temporary) legal status.  There are also exceptions to this rule.  These general rules make it difficult for anyone who has entered the United States without inspection, or who is out of lawful immigration status to adjust status to lawful permanent residence or to change from no immigration status to a lawful non-immigrant status.  Therefore anyone who is not in lawful immigration status in this country will have a very difficult time obtaining lawful status.  One cure for this dilemma is for the general rules to change.  The immigration rules, or laws, are created by the United States Congress with concurrence by the United States President.  One thing you can do to help change the rules is to contact your representatives in the United States Congress in person, by telephone, by letter or electronically.  They have the ability to change the rules.  Make your opinions known to your senators and representative that you would like the laws to change so that your friends may stay legally in this country.  Another thing you can do is to join immigrant advocacy groups that promote changing the rules.  With a new Presidential administration and new members of Congress, I believe there will be better chances for the immigration laws to change.

An additional thing that you can do to help your friends is to seek out and visit an experienced immigration attorney or Board of Immigration Appeals accredited representative who can discuss and analyze the specific issues of your friends' cases.  Each immigrant has unique circumstances and may be subject to some of the exceptions to the general rules.

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