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Good morning. I’m Andrés Mejer. And today we have an interesting program for you. I know I was surprised when I looked at what is the county in the state of New Jersey that writes the most DUI tickets. What is the county that has the most DUI arrests and then which are the which are the cities that have the highest arrests for DUI. I was floored. I was surprised and I think you will be too. My name is on this method. I’m an immigration DUI attorney here in Eaton town and in Long Branch I’m sorry Ian town in Lakewood New Jersey. Our office was in Long Beach for a long time and we recently moved Maine numbers 8 8 8 8 8 8 0 3 0 7. Today I’m here to talk to you about immigration. But we’re starting with DUI about two weeks ago we had a whole program only on driving while under the influence of alcohol. What are the common defense strategies. What. What happens when you get an arrest. How can you beat a case if you can be the case. And what are the effects on immigration. So if you’re interested in learning more about DUI take a look at our website. On this measure low income or go to our Facebook page. Look at the videos and you’ll find it. It’s in English or in Spanish if that’s your preference.
Starting in 2019 all our radio shows are done first in Spanish that’s live on the radio and then I do the same content just on Facebook Live in English here for you now. So back to the topic at hand. Do you guys now get ready for this. No one county in New Jersey for issuing DUI arrest was Monmouth County. Number one I would have thought. Essex new work. I would have thought maybe Trenton maybe Camden but Monmouth why Monmouth. So in 2018. So the fiscal year for state of New Jersey for these top arrest ends in June. So we have numbers from two thousand eighty thousand seventeen and earlier Monmouth issued two thousand seven hundred and twenty tickets for DUI.
That’s two thousand seven and twenty arrests after them was Middlesex. That surprised me too. Two thousand four hundred. I would have thought the northern counties because they’re just there’s more population more people probably more arrests. Apparently that’s not the case. Camden number three two thousand three and seventy nine Bergen came in number for two thousand two hundred nine Burlington came in with one thousand nine hundred eighty eight arrests. Essex which I Newark which I would have assumed was number one came down with one thousand two hundred forty five arrests less than half of Monmouth County Ocean County came in as number seven 1035 Atlantic City. You would think all right people go down they gamble they drink then unfortunate they drive maybe they have a little too much to drink they think define all of us and behind the wheel they realize they’re not so fine.
Atlantic was number eight with one thousand eight hundred and one now. So I got to thinking why or how would Monmouth County be number one. So my assumption is and I don’t know this for a fact. My assumption is most of those arrests are in the summer and most of those are on the Jersey Shore. So think seaside point plays in Asbury Park.
People go to a bar or to a concert or just on the beach have fun have some drinks get behind the wheel and there’s a lot of big roads you know the turnpike. Well the turnpike is for the North but Garden State Parkway Route 18 where there’s lot there’s a heavy police presence.
Now when I looked at the top 10 cities that issued DUI. That was more in line with what I have assumed sort of Camden was number one with four hundred and ninety five tickets or arrest for DUI in 2018 Hamilton athletics County. That’s Atlantic City. Number two with Ford and 60 Trenton 437 Woodbridge Woodbridge. Really. Yeah. Woodbridge three hundred and seventy again lots of roads over there.
People drive so it isn’t that it isn’t necessarily people go drink and get pulled over around the corner from where they left or where they were going. It’s also driving through a location to go from one place to another. So Woodbridge Garden State Parkway. The turnpike is the.
Exit went to and then right around that area. Lots of big roads lots of traffic and lots of cops. Newark came in number five five hundred thirty five. So almost half of all tickets written in the county of Essex which includes Newark were written in Newark city. Toms River Theater 38. What town was those number six Wall Township Number Seven was 320. And how well came in a 3 0 7. So of the top 10 cities in the state of New Jersey four arrests for DUI. Three of them are in Monmouth and or Ocean County. Honestly I would’ve expected more in Lakewood but I guess as a whole is just that Lakewood is not even top 10. We do all we defend a lot of people on DUI arrest in Lakewood while also Toms River. How well home did. Well not so much. But you know Lakewood how well they’re there right next to each other. But yeah. So big surprise for me.
I don’t know about you guys but I was floored Monmouth County number one for number of deals was so again come defense strategies look at a prior video two weeks ago you can find it on the website you can find it on Facebook. But one thing everybody should have and that is this red card. We introduced it after the World Cup. That’s why we called it the red card. Stop. You. You should have this in your wallet you should have it on your person in case you’re pulled over. No I understand because of the way it’s written you can’t actually read this because it comes out backwards but it’s in English and it’s in and it’s in Spanish.
And it really says this. I am exercising my rights so you get pulled over by the police. You take us out. I am exercising my Fifth Amendment right. I have the right to stay quiet. I will not answer your questions. I will not sign or give you any documents. I will not sign anything without first speaking to my attorney. I will not speak with you without my attorney present. Very important because I guarantee you if you get pulled over to Friday in the summer by the Jersey Shore at 2a.m. pretty much anytime after sundown. One of the very first questions the answer is going to ask is hey you were drinking today. If you say yes you’re getting arrested now if you’ve been drinking and you say no you lied you’re likely getting arrested. But if you don’t answer the question you say with all due respect officer I’m exercising my rights to not answer your question.
You’re not giving them any information that that the officer can use to arrest you.
Now other rights. Fourth Amendment right. I’m not you. I’m not given permission to enter my home unless we have a warrant. I’m not giving you permission to search my person or my car. So enter your home. How does that happen. Well officer pulls you over or is following you while you’re driving. You get to the house. You start walking into the house or you’re in the house and he also shows up it says please step outside. Now you don’t have to let him into your house without a warrant. You don’t have to give me permission to search your car without a warrant. Now often the officer will say you know I could just call the judge and get it. We’ll go ahead and get it then.
Because I’m not going to give it to you voluntarily. They’re saying you really want me to go through the effort. You really want me to waste your time. Yes. Because more often than not they’re not going to get it.
It’s just that simple. So red card if you want it. Call us 8 8 8 8 8 8 0 3 0 7 post here on on Facebook. Find us on Facebook. Go to the website. Show up in our office whatever you want. We’ll give you a free consultation will values your situation and we’ll give you a card if you just want the card. We’ll mail it to you. No cost. All right.
Now let’s get on to the rest of the rest of our show which is really about Trump’s continued war on immigration and immigrants and how now it’s affecting colleges and universities and students for the second year in a row the number of app of foreign applications for student visas has gone down. 2017 went down 2 percent. 2018 went down 4 percent. Now that’s those are significant numbers. And it’s the first time in the past almost 20 years since they started tracking this that we’ve had two consistent dips in a row. Now most students they come in under a student visa. Now sometimes they come to theU.S. as a tourist and they change their status that’s rare. But that does happen sometimes.
You know I don’t know where I’m going apply so I’m gonna go and visit and visit some schools and then I’m gonna apply to the school that I want you know not all students are going to show up not having seen the school and just request the visa and enter as a student never having seen the place and not knowing where it is or anything about country necessarily.
So now there’s a lot of reasons why numbers have gone down. Muslim ban. Just to think of it. I mean there are certain countries that the number of visitors period from North Africa the Middle East has gone down dramatically.
Why. Because a Trump administration made it very clear they don’t want those people and they make their lives very difficult. Coming in that you know one get the visa that when they get the visa to enter the US through a port of entry like an airport you know life’s become very difficult for people from certain parts of the world. We know of professionals you know celebrities historians know in countries that come for conferences and stuff that are routinely done so and now being accosted at the airport going through secondary processing and just all around making lives difficult.
Now another group.
So who’s the main beneficiary of all this by the way. Canada number of applicants to the colleges has gone up dramatically in Canada number of immigrants going to Canada is also gotten going up. Now if you think about it there’s problems at every level. So there’s a student visa so people wants to come in wants to study.
Then after they complete their course of study they usually get work authorization for a year or two years depending on what it is they did. Many people then apply for the H1 b what’s that H1 b is an employment visa for people with a specialty occupation. That’s the title really what it talks about is people who have experience of education or experience that an employer needs now often it’s it can be either a bachelor’s degree undergraduate or a master’s or higher level now. It’s a lottery. The only issue eighty five thousand a year twenty thousand are for master’s programs sixty five thousand are for undergraduate now can be education or equipment experience. But it’s really difficult to show that you had the requisite amount of experience without any education. Ideally you have you have an undergraduate degree and a master’s degree makes life easier or you can have an associate and then many years of experience in the subject that you’re looking to working. But again those are harder. So you got a lottery you’re applying. In April federal Trump got rid of premium processing. So I understand the stupidity of this. Companies are paying 12 15 hours extra to get a a timely decision on and they’re getting rid of it. No they did get rid of it. There isn’t premium processing and hopefully they’ll be it’ll be brought back for this year.
But with acronyms now on top of it there’s now 68 percent almost 70 percent almost seven out of 10 people who applied and got in were chosen by the lottery are now getting requests for additional information that slows down the process. So you’re applying in April for a job in October. If you get a request for evidence you’re not starting in October. The process could very well be delayed three four five six months.
Denial Rates have gone up everything is slowing like we had Roy Clemente who who is a client of ours and in the Spanish version the program he asked well and I promised I would respond in this program. Simply speaking because he speaks English not Spanish or he’s more comfortable in English but he applied for a fiancee visa and he’s waiting for his fiancee to get approved and to get the interview at the embassy in her country. Well it’s been waiting for four months and it’s been pending. What’s going on and he’s not really getting much information. Well the Trump administration is making it difficult for people like me to get that information. So generally speaking you have once you have any application you get a receipt. That’s the government saying thank you for your payment on that document is a number usually begins EIC and some and nine or ten numbers if you go to USCIS dot gov just google USCIS case status put in that we see no it’ll give you a stamp give you a status update. Problem is all it says is pending we’re in review for the most part this is months after months after months. So historically attorneys had access to supervisors to try to figure that out what’s going on. We still do. But it’s a whole lot harder. The administration is really wants us to go to a call center and wait on hold for hours sometimes with our client on the phone or in person to be able to get that information.
It’s really cumbersome for all parties concerned and it’s intentionally done so but four months is unfortunately not that long a time.
In today’s climate it is a long time. The whole point of fiancee visas must be quick. Unfortunately it’s too late. Now H1 b eighty five thousand a year sixty five thousand four undergraduate. Twenty four Masters. It’s a three year program which can be extended for another three years.
So now let’s say I come in as a student let’s say up now. So I I want the records undergraduate. So I’ve I started Rutgers I did about three semesters I left I moved abroad I lived there for a couple of years I came back to visit and I decided I was going to stay.
So in 1998 I came back and then I said you know what. Let me stay here for two years finish my degree and then go back to my my country whereby my parents or my siblings when my family was my girlfriend was everything my life was outside the US.
I did not think I’d be living here today in 2019. So I went to college I graduated two years later and you know things were difficult in my home country.
So I decide to stay and go to college. I’m sorry go to law school. And in law school and then my wife and my wife said hey your country is beautiful but I like it here and I’m staying here. So I did. Now my story is like many other immigrants we come from one reason time passes and all of a sudden we’re still here. So imagine that I was an immigrant. I mean I was a green card holding back then. From resident and by the time I was in law school I was already a citizen but for purposes of come I became a citizen in 1999. So for purposes of conversation let’s assume that I didn’t happen and that’s Samantha it as a student you know with a student visa and then they extended it for a graduate program. And at that graduate program I met my spouse let’s imagine who she’s also an immigrant. So and let’s say she didn’t continue with a school or you know what. We decided have a family. She decided not to work. That’s not my family but my my wife’s an attorney and we work together. But for conversation let’s assume that’s not the case. So I was that I would if I could have qualified for as an H1 b visa let’s say I had it my wife and the Obama administration was extended or would have been extended work authorization under category H for Trump administration is been has tried to remove that there was a lawsuit they weren’t able to do it unilaterally so instead they’re doing this with the rulemaking process the appropriate process the same way that Obama did to institute that work authorization or Trump is not trying to take it away and understand what we’re talking about here.
These are educated people educated here in the US speak our language have a job pay taxes no criminal record otherwise they wouldn’t have the visa and we want to take away their their employment opposition they’re employed so that means that employers is out that employee and they have to find someone else that’s when you look at difficulties getting a student visa. The challenge is that that’s happening. The challenge is even when get a visa to enter the US. Then once you have it the paths to stay like in H1 be one there’s more people applying than there are visas.
Number two it’s taking longer. Some employers are getting getting discouraged.
Some students are getting discouraged and they’re leaving they’re going back to the taking the education that they paid to get here but taking the skills their energy the resources and they’re taking it to their home country. It’s a net loss to the US. And one of the biggest beneficiaries is Canada. Why. Because they’re raising their immigration process is streamlined. Within weeks you can get employment authorization.
Within months you’re a lawful permanent resident.
Is a little cold for me to be honest. New Jersey is cold from heat but at the end of day you know this is home.
So employment based visa H1 B. You need to have legal status. Most often it’s people that are graduated from here. They need a college education they need certain experiences certain whether it’s through education or through experience and look things are just tougher than they’ve ever been. They’re taking longer. It’s just really unpleasant to be an immigrant in the United States right now. Yes we get results. We as in my firm and I. But at the Today it’s just taking longer and there’s more bumps in the road. They’re asking for more information. They’re challenging more. We’re taking things to court more. That’s just an unfortunate reality of Trump’s war on immigrants. You know his America First policy is saying well we don’t want immigrants so we’re going to make their lives difficult. At every stage of the game. Let me give an example. I’m going to talk to you about Kim now Kim is not his real name. He entered the US as a student had a student visa graduated with a master’s program. And I see Roy Clements here. Thank you. I answered your question in English earlier about five 10 minutes ago. Hopefully you heard it. If not just give us a call and we’ll walk you through it again.
Thanks Roy for. For hanging in there. But so back to Kim entered as a student had a student visa graduated again with a master’s program engineering. So intelligent capable individual.
Gets employed while he has employment authorization and he has family here that had been in theU.S. So he’s visiting his cousin’s cousin Kozlov says Hey do me a favor. Can you drive me over to that to New Jersey I need a hand to carry some stuff. Why did you come spend the weekend with us in Jersey. You said Sure why not. He goes he picks them up they carry the load the load his car comes in to New Jersey and at his cousin’s house. Well the police come in. Unbeknownst to Kim his cousin was suspected of doing well some really bad stuff trafficking in stolen goods and the stuff that was in his car unbeknownst to Kim was stolen.
Now he Kim was arrested and a police officer arrested him for obstructing justice for not being more forthcoming with the stolen property and information about it about his cousin. So there’s almost no evidence to it from from what we’ve seen. His criminal attorney reached out to us and hired us and said Listen can we help Roy sorry not Roy. Can we help Kim get his legal status back because the arrest alone he got an email from USCIS saying your student visa is canceled. No due process no opportunity to be heard. Just outright cancellation. No explanation. Now it’s March April is H1 20 season. His employer was going to apply for his H1 b so he could stay because work authorization ends next year. Now we’ve got a problem.
He’s accused of a crime not convicted just accused and based on that alone they cancelled his visa they cancelled his work authorization and he has 180 days leave the US or he’s barred for three years. So we need to move really quickly we’re trying to get his visa reinstated.
It’s unlikely to happen while while the violation is pending while the crime is pending. So with his criminal offense attorney would trying to get that removed and dismissed as quickly as possible because the other day there’s no evidence against Kim. It’s all against the cousin and his story is reasonable. He has no prior involvement in any of these activities. You know he was just the driver of the car and it’s family. It isn’t like a stranger or a neighbor now. That’s so we’ll give you more information when we know it. But that’s just a small example of stuff that’s going on. Now imagine somebody is a student maybe is underage at a party. Police come and there’s alcohol. He gets arrested for underage drinking. He could lose his visa. He could lose the scholarships if he has scholarships. He could lose grants. He could. We could find himself kicked out of the US for at the end of the day just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Very dangerous time to be anything other than a US citizen. So if you’re a lawful permanent resident apply for citizenship as soon as you can. If you’re undocumented or illegal as others call it. Well speak to immigration attorney find out what your options are as
quickly as you can. My name is on this method are you can reach us at 8 8 8 8 8 8 0 3 0 7. You can find us on the website Andrés Mejer dot com or on Facebook. I’m just making a law. That’s a handle on most social media. So thank you for sharing some of your morning with me.
Until next time I have a good day.
