Request for legal/State Department assistance

Groesbeck Hurricane · 08-10-2007, 05:56 PM

I don’t want to go too in-depth on a public forum, and there is nothing illegal involved on my family's end but:

Does anyone have contacts with The US State Department or a US Embassy contact, preferably in Central America?

My Sister is working through an adoption, the paperwork in country appears to be final, and we need help getting quickly through the US end. My Brother-In-Law is trying to get their Senator’s assistance, but the short of it is the birth mother’s pimp has taken an interest in the little girl and he wants her. We want to LEGALLY get my Niece and Sister safely out of country ASAP. Any ideas are appreciated!!!

sammyg2 · 08-10-2007, 06:35 PM

Call your congressman or representative or both. No e-mails, a phone call. They have staff to help people, it's a free way to get votes. If they can't help you solve the problem they will help you contact who can.

Seriously, every time i have made a phone call to these people they have responded. Granted my problems were not as complex as yours but I would be surprised if they don't at least try to help.
They have a lot of pull.

Groesbeck Hurricane · 08-10-2007, 06:54 PM

Sammy,

Brother-In-Law has been on the phone with the office all day today. They just found out what was going on when my sister walked into a bad situation. She's safe for now, but we want to get her and her daughter out ASAP.

Thanks for the thoughts!!!

HardDrive · 08-10-2007, 08:13 PM

Call Martina Keller. She is an immigration attorney in Chicago.

http://www.klc-ltd.com/about.htm

My wife and I used her in dealing with the INS and were VERY pleased. We never got a bill until our situation was resolved, and that was 3 years of work! We thought she was very fair.

Having senators involved is NOT as great an idea as it seems. You are typically only getting some staffer making annoying phone calls to others. There is no substance to it. Trust me on this one....

Immigration issues require smooth, quiet, diplomatic, respectful maneuvers. Frontal assaults using senators are typically ineffective at best, damaging at worst, because it gets everyone riled up.

Not to point out the obvious, but money talks, BS walks. You can pay you way out of, or into, ANYTHING in Central America. Just gotta find the right guy.

The wife and I were involved in a serious car accident (not our fault I might add) in India. Price to make it go away? $40.

Groesbeck Hurricane · 03:36 AM

Thanks HardDrive!

I'll pass the information along!

Wayne,

Yep, we are trying to get her out of there. I've got a VERY smart sister but this situation is a bit over the top from your normal run of the mill things...

"Edit"

She is almost through the other country's paperwork. The Agency is calling in some favors to get them (the other country) to finish the paperwork today. The next hurdle is getting the paperwork finalized through our (US) embassy. They recently enacted some new laws, and no one knows how long this will take, possibly weeks to months. "Government" and "Paperwork" usually mean " a long time." We are hoping to get a contact or something to enable us to speed this process along. Once this is completed, we can legally remove her from the country and the potentially bad environment.

Tobra · Tobra's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by sammyg2

Call your congressman or representative or both. No e-mails, a phone call. They have staff to help people, it's a free way to get votes. If they can't help you solve the problem they will help you contact who can.

Seriously, every time i have made a phone call to these people they have responded. Granted my problems were not as complex as yours but I would be surprised if they don't at least try to help.
They have a lot of pull.

+1 to this.

When I had the good people at NHIC telling me it was going to be 3-4 months before I would be getting my provider number when I moved back to Cali from Texas(National program run by the federal government that has 50 seperate branches that don't much communicate with each other, but that is another subject, don'even get me started on that) I had to drag the info about how long it would take out of them. How long does it take. That is impossible to say sir. Guess, best estimate. That is impossible to say sir. The last one you approved, when did you get it. I can't tell you about another person's application. I don't want their name, just when did you get it. October 16. It is January 10, shit

Anyway, I was boo hooing about this to a nice gentleman who happened to be a patient and he said, "Call your Congressman."(He was a lobbyist in Sacramento for 40 years) He is up for re-election and they love helping out constituents. I call Bob Matsui's office and tell them the situation, they tell me to send them a letter, they need something in writing. I suggest faxing and they say great. Sent it to them on a Thursday night about 1900, get a call at 0900 Monday from NHIC, some problem with my application, forgot to sign something. My little voice is saying, "Damn, this will delay it even more!". So I ask the lady, "Since I am actually talking to a human down there, I can ask you. How long will it take for my application to be completed ?" She says, "It should be done by the end of the week. I don't know what you told them, but we got a call from the Congressman's office on Friday and they said to put you at the top of the stack." Ironically, I probably voted against him every time he ran, even his wife when she took his seat after he died.

sammyg2 · 08-11-2007, 07:43 AM

Hard drive, you crack me up. I've had two occasions where i requested intervention and help from a congressman.
The actual elected official probably had no idea what was going on, his staff handled it as you say. BUT it worked and the problems were resolved immediately. I don't know how you can suggest that phone calls or letters from a US congressman's office have no substance even if they are coming from his staff and not him. I have personal experience that says otherwise. I've seen it work.
In one case a very large corporation had refused to live up to a contract. There was quite a bit of money involved and they simply didn't want to give it up even though the contract was not in their favor. Their attitude was that they had more lawyers that I had and that I could not afford to fight them. Eventually I would have to give up.
Less than 24 hours after I made a phone call to Bill Danemeyer's office the corporation contacted me and agreed to a third party arbitration hearing where I was granted complete fulfillment of the contract.

Groesbeck Hurricane · 08-12-2007, 12:31 PM

bump?

nota · 08-12-2007, 08:09 PM

if the pimp is the main problem
move sis and the kid away from him
like another city in that country or even a nearby country
as it is unlikely he can follow or even know where they went

pay the fees tips ect those ''officals'' make jack squat in offical pay
and nearly all of them live off bribes