Meet Dan, newly naturalized American citizen and another APILO success story

API Legal Outreach client Dan (L) and staff attorney Nancy Wong (R)

This is my client Dan.  Dan and his family called us at APILO after many rounds of rejections from both private immigration attorneys and other nonprofits who wouldn’t take his case because it was too complex or they would take it only if Dan would pay them a $10,000 retainer.  I accepted Dan’s case because he had a complex naturalization case.  I discovered that complex was quite an understatement.

In 1989, Dan got his green card when he was twelve years old.  In the late 1980’s, Dan and his family were escaping the civil war in El Salvador.  His father was able to get political asylum in the United States.  Life in the U.S. was very difficult for Dan and his family.  Eventually, Dan started to run with a bad crowd, got into drugs and illegal activities.  By 2006, Dan had a rap sheet that was more than ten pages long and included both felony and misdemeanor convictions.

Dan had a high school sweetheart, Natia, who stuck by him during these years.  In 2006, he went into residential drug treatment and after successfully completing the drug treatment program, Dan turned his life around.  He first went to the Clean Slate program and was able to get the District Attorney to agree to vacate most of his convictions.  All the while, he was working a full time job in construction and raising his two sons with his Natia, now his spouse.  Dan became a homeowner and he also got promotions at work.  Today, he and Natia support a three-generation household of seven family members.  Dan currently leads a six million dollar school construction project in San Mateo County.

So Dan and Natia’s oldest son enlisted in the U.S. Army.  It was on a trip to South Carolina, where their son was stationed, that Dan became motivated to naturalize.  Why?  Because the U.S. Army would not allow Dan on the Army base to see his son.  Why?  Because Dan was not a U.S. citizen and he had a criminal record.  Furthermore, the U.S. Army wanted to promote the oldest son but could not due to Dan’s criminal record.

Dan contacted APILO and I accepted the challenge.  I collected all of his court records.  I helped Dan with his N-400 application and sent in all of the certified court records.  We went to the naturalization test and interview together.  Dan passed the tests with flying colors!  The officer interviewed him but did not bother to ask him any questions about his criminal record.  Very strange because they usually always ask about an applicant’s criminal record.  Well, three months later, we received a Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID) based on Dan’s criminal record.  I submitted a five page letter brief and about 50 pages of additional supporting documents in response to the NOID.  We first received a letter denying Dan’s naturalization application.  Then, one week later, USCIS did a complete about-face and approved Dan’s naturalization application.

Today, Dan took the oath of allegiance after all these years.  I salute my client and his family for their perseverance.  Daniel agreed to let us share his story because he hopes to inspire others to improve their status, whatever it may be.