Immigration has a tremendous influence on our nation ’ s prosperity and more must be done to elevate the value and contributions of immigrants to the success of our country .
WHY DID YOU WANT TO BECOME AN IMMIGRATION LAWYER ?
My family came to the U . S . from Guatemala in the early 1980 ’ s . We went through the complex and intimidating immigration process . Although I was very young at the time , when I had the opportunity to read our immigration file and learn what my parents went through to secure our safety in this country , I felt not only fortunate , but also obligated . My obligation is to help others and to give back to all those immigrants who continue to come to the United States to seek refuge , employment or innovative opportunities for research and investments .
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE EB-5 PROGRAM , RETROGRESSION AND THE LAWYER ’ S ROLE ?
The EB-5 program is an important part of our immigration system that has contributed to overall U . S . economic growth , created jobs for U . S . workers , and stimulated local economies through capital investment . Unfortunately , the current allotment of visas to the program is insufficient and has created significant delays in the ability of many investors to enter the United States and has required funds to be redeployed or reinvested , which creates additional risk for investors . Because the length of the investment is longer , the increased risk can be attributed to the fact that the return on investment by the new commercial enterprise to the investor may be dependent upon the success of additional projects not known to the investor at the time they made their investment decision .
As attorneys , we must continue to advocate for investors by insisting that if the initial investment loan matures in its natural course ( five to seven years ) and the requisite jobs are created by the initial EB-5 project , redeployment of invested funds should not be required . It ’ s AILA ’ s view that USCIS ’ s legal rationale for redeployment based on the “ at risk ” investment requirement is unsound . If USCIS has sound policy reasons for requiring reinvestment , it should articulate its reasoning and eliminate the element of risk . Investors have already made one at risk investment in satisfaction of the statute ; they should not be penalized by the visa backlog by incurring serial risk . In addition , though we recognize that changes to modernize the EB-5 program may be necessary , we will continue to push for permanent reauthorization of the EB-5 Regional Center program .
147 EB5 INVESTORS MAGAZINE