Working first in public defense and then removal defense in a public interest firm means that we in practice have to chase down records, evidence, even do cell tower triangulation and once, discovering that the local Walmart's "proprietary" video storage format was just XviD with a slight alteration in the file header (who said piracy doesn't teach anyone anything?) But the one case that I never figured out was one where a client found himself unable to prove his citizenship status despite living in Queens his entire life because he was born on an American Air Base in Germany to a single mother with LPR status. Father refused to legitimize, but that's fixable if we can show that he entered the country on a military flight with the mother and derive his citizenship from her's, which she has had since the late 80s.
Except as it turns out, there wasn't any proof of how he entered the US the one and only time. After a lot of calls I got to the National Archives who, after a long hold, told me that military transport records for a few air bases stateside covering the time when the flight took place were destroyed inadvertently. From a fire. While moving.
Not from the famous fires concerning the National Archives in 1973 and 1978 that is easily found on the news. All I needed was the passenger manifest for a military flight that had no issues and was entirely routine. The archivist, who sounded my age (late 20s at the time) and was apologetic, invited me to check the records, except I was in NY and I could barely take a lunch break, never mind trekking down on Amtrak for this. We didn't even have the budget to sign up for newspaper.com to search, atlhough that would've taken quite some time as well. It's entirely possible that the only person for whom these records mattered was the client but, well, that doesn't mean it's not a problem.
And why did he need this set of records almost 40 years after his birth? Because ICE had picked him up and destroyed the documentation he had and removed him to Mexico even though he spoke no Spanish and was left on his own knowing nobody. This didn't happen in the last year, this happened in 2014. He smuggled himself back after 6 months only to find that he is suddenly no longer able to show that he exists as a person, on paper. The law is contentious in edge cases and this was one hell of an edge case. We simply didn't have the resources to figure it out and really this still haunts me once in a while, especially today.
The person is absolutely real. He talks like my friends who grew up in Queens. He's a Mets fan. His mom is willing to draft an affidavit but that doesn't do anything. Procedures have changed a lot since the early 80s in all aspects of how immigration law is conducted, interpreted, and the bureaucracy arising out of it have become punitive and sadistic. Citizenship is a binary only insofar as those whose birth can be attested to with certainty or who naturalized with countless witnesses on hand. That leaves such a big gap from home births to Americans born overseas to American parents but not in proximity to consular services, or a million other edge cases that if one practices the more contentious areas of immigration law, will inevitably come up. The year you were born can be the most important determinating factor, but only to people born in a specific circumstance. Why can't America realistically have a nationwide database of all citizens? Constitution aside, because only courts can decide and the case law is complicated and really goes into the weeds. Many Americans each year in fact are deported not knowing that they are in fact American. There's also no definitive way to prove one's citizenship if one derives it from a parent. My college roommate is very much American - white kid, American parents, homeschooled but not unique at my college since 1% of kids went to a Sudbury Valley school. But he can't get his social security number, since he spent most of his life seasteading and didn't have the same set of docs the rest of us have, Eventually he had it sorted out, but if he was any shade of dark, had an accent, and didn't have wealthy but exccentric parents whose citizenship wasn't in doubt, could he? I have my doubts
One of the reasons I do this historical stuff is because although the sources are different, the methods are (broadly, grossly) the same. Imagine where a record exists, try to access it; if it can't be done remotely, do it in person; if you can't do it in person, ingratiate yourself to a contact on the inside; if all else fails, go diagonally. Find another potential holder of the record, and begin again.
This entry reminds me of a case I’m working, and I determined that researching the construction history of a particular logging road would be useful. I was able to get on the phone with a research librarian at the big state U library (the job opens doors) and she was able to provide me a wealth of information related to how that road was cut over decades.
The personal touch can be key. I’ve gone to the state library in person to scour old phone books for addresses, and showing up in person to walk the stacks with the archivist was the only way to do that.
Working first in public defense and then removal defense in a public interest firm means that we in practice have to chase down records, evidence, even do cell tower triangulation and once, discovering that the local Walmart's "proprietary" video storage format was just XviD with a slight alteration in the file header (who said piracy doesn't teach anyone anything?) But the one case that I never figured out was one where a client found himself unable to prove his citizenship status despite living in Queens his entire life because he was born on an American Air Base in Germany to a single mother with LPR status. Father refused to legitimize, but that's fixable if we can show that he entered the country on a military flight with the mother and derive his citizenship from her's, which she has had since the late 80s.
Except as it turns out, there wasn't any proof of how he entered the US the one and only time. After a lot of calls I got to the National Archives who, after a long hold, told me that military transport records for a few air bases stateside covering the time when the flight took place were destroyed inadvertently. From a fire. While moving.
Not from the famous fires concerning the National Archives in 1973 and 1978 that is easily found on the news. All I needed was the passenger manifest for a military flight that had no issues and was entirely routine. The archivist, who sounded my age (late 20s at the time) and was apologetic, invited me to check the records, except I was in NY and I could barely take a lunch break, never mind trekking down on Amtrak for this. We didn't even have the budget to sign up for newspaper.com to search, atlhough that would've taken quite some time as well. It's entirely possible that the only person for whom these records mattered was the client but, well, that doesn't mean it's not a problem.
And why did he need this set of records almost 40 years after his birth? Because ICE had picked him up and destroyed the documentation he had and removed him to Mexico even though he spoke no Spanish and was left on his own knowing nobody. This didn't happen in the last year, this happened in 2014. He smuggled himself back after 6 months only to find that he is suddenly no longer able to show that he exists as a person, on paper. The law is contentious in edge cases and this was one hell of an edge case. We simply didn't have the resources to figure it out and really this still haunts me once in a while, especially today.
The person is absolutely real. He talks like my friends who grew up in Queens. He's a Mets fan. His mom is willing to draft an affidavit but that doesn't do anything. Procedures have changed a lot since the early 80s in all aspects of how immigration law is conducted, interpreted, and the bureaucracy arising out of it have become punitive and sadistic. Citizenship is a binary only insofar as those whose birth can be attested to with certainty or who naturalized with countless witnesses on hand. That leaves such a big gap from home births to Americans born overseas to American parents but not in proximity to consular services, or a million other edge cases that if one practices the more contentious areas of immigration law, will inevitably come up. The year you were born can be the most important determinating factor, but only to people born in a specific circumstance. Why can't America realistically have a nationwide database of all citizens? Constitution aside, because only courts can decide and the case law is complicated and really goes into the weeds. Many Americans each year in fact are deported not knowing that they are in fact American. There's also no definitive way to prove one's citizenship if one derives it from a parent. My college roommate is very much American - white kid, American parents, homeschooled but not unique at my college since 1% of kids went to a Sudbury Valley school. But he can't get his social security number, since he spent most of his life seasteading and didn't have the same set of docs the rest of us have, Eventually he had it sorted out, but if he was any shade of dark, had an accent, and didn't have wealthy but exccentric parents whose citizenship wasn't in doubt, could he? I have my doubts
One of the reasons I do this historical stuff is because although the sources are different, the methods are (broadly, grossly) the same. Imagine where a record exists, try to access it; if it can't be done remotely, do it in person; if you can't do it in person, ingratiate yourself to a contact on the inside; if all else fails, go diagonally. Find another potential holder of the record, and begin again.
This entry reminds me of a case I’m working, and I determined that researching the construction history of a particular logging road would be useful. I was able to get on the phone with a research librarian at the big state U library (the job opens doors) and she was able to provide me a wealth of information related to how that road was cut over decades.
Getting on the phone — or actually reaching out to a person who may know, via other means — can make all the difference.
The personal touch can be key. I’ve gone to the state library in person to scour old phone books for addresses, and showing up in person to walk the stacks with the archivist was the only way to do that.
Also the invisible touch, where one reaches in and grabs...I'll see myself out.
I have been laughing at this since you posted it
I am so sorry.
Leave god out of this. I personally love it when you go at length in your deep dives. If not, how could I have met the outstanding Morris Katzeff! :)