Baldeo on TRUMP’S NEW IMMIGRATION POLICIES: I FEEL LIKE $5 MILLION US DOLLARS MANY TIMES OVER!
Dear Editor,
President Trump recently said that he would allow wealthy individuals to pay $5 million for a “gold card” that would grant them “permanent U.S. residency, and a path to US citizenship.” He confirmed that companies like Apple would pay $5 million to get approval for highly skilled workers to reside in the USA, anticipating to sell 10 million “gold cards” to reduce the nation’s deficit.
Worse yet, these benefits will not be limited to, nor require the ancillary demand of the creation of jobs as previously obtained with its predecessor, the Investor’s visa, or EB-5s, created by Congress in 1990 to generate foreign investment and were available to people who spend about $1 million on a company that employs at least 10 American workers.
I have practiced immigration law for decades in the USA, prior to my election as a District Leader. I was the go-to lawyer in NY, having helped hundreds of advanced degree and exceptional ability applicants, skilled workers, nurses, physical therapists, farm workers, asylees, refugees, religious workers, and many other grass roots workers, while overcoming multiple hurdles for crimes committed, illegal entries, overstays, unauthorized employment, tax evasion, fraudulent documents-the types of case most lawyers would run away from.
Looking back, I have done my best for my fellow immigrants, overcoming the most complicated cases. Many times, successful clients have thanked me for helping them achieve the American dream, like family-based migrants, research scientists, visa lottery winners, religious cooks (bhandaris), assistant priests (pujaries), nurses, therapists, refugees, abused spouses, juveniles, farmworkers.
Many of them saw the value of my advocacy on a larger scale and elected me the 1st Indo-Caribbean, Guyanese, and South Asian to be elected to any office, particularly the grassroots workers, whose children have progressed to higher levels of success and have become doctors, scientists, IT technicians, lawyers, Judges, managers, police officers, educators and so on, continuing to indelibly enhance the fabric of our great nation as the circle of life continues.
However, migrating to the USA has become harder, there is a shift away from family-based, skilled and scarce workers immigration to monetary worth, contrary to the enduring edit on the iconic Statue of Liberty’s pedestal, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
For me, looking back at a career dedicated to helping others, I gave my all, and, as some satisfied clients have thanked me, “Walk on water.” The 1% that failed caused their own problems, like failing to be honest with their own lawyer, got caught entering the USA with fraudulent documents, or conveniently excluding from their memory a previous felony conviction, bigamy, domestic abuse or other excludable conduct.
But for everyone else who benefited from my dedication, I am not ashamed to tell you that I feel like $5 million dollars, many times over-for them, their families and American dreams which are now slipping away for others.
Hon. Albert Baldeo
District Leader (Richmond Hill, Ozone Park/LITTLE GUYANA)
Fmr. Magistrate, Senior State Counsel, Police Legal Advisor (GUYANA)
(917) 548-1055
