Mobile Notary and Immigration Work

10/23/2023

03/30/2022

Foremost Family Health Centers We want to be your "Medical Home." We take pride in treating our patients with respect, compassion, and dignity. Call us for an appointment at (214) 426-3645.

02/13/2018

This week’s episode: “Crossroads” highlights HSI’s efforts to gather information about third country nationals and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and their activities before they reach the United States.

02/03/2018

Mozhdeh Oskouian, Directing Attorney of the Northwest Immigration Rights Project, explains that they provide services to all.

02/03/2018

The immigration proposal unveiled by the White House today is inconsistent with the values this country aspires to, but sadly, it IS consistent with this Administration's vision that our immigration policy should allow less immigrants of color into the country.

02/03/2018

Please support The Dream ACT

01/29/2018

Northwest Immigrant Rights Project
https://www.nwirp.org/

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Free Citizenship Assistance and Immigration Help in Seattle, WA – February 3rd, 2018
The Seattle Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs is offering free help with applications for U.S. Citizenship and other immigration questions on Saturday, February 3rd.

Learn more at this link


Annual Gala 2018 – May 18th, 2018
Save the date for our Annual Gala 2018 at the Westin in downtown Seattle. Ticket sales begin on February 12th.

Learn about sponsorship opportunities at this link.


Community Events Calendar
NWIRP is a proud partner of the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network. The Network's community calendar includes upcoming immigration community events from partner organizations throughout Washington State. You can view the calendar by clicking the link below.

View the calendar

01/29/2018

What is a Notary Authorized to do in Texas?
The duties that a notary public is authorized to perform varies from state to state. As a notary public in Texas, you are permitted to execute 5 different notarial acts under your commission. To avoid future issues with liability, it is imperative to know exactly what each of these acts entail.
Administer Oaths and Affirmations
Administering an oath involves a person pledging that the contents of a document or a statement are truthful. Oaths are also utilized in oral depositions. Some important things to remember when administering an oath:
Always require the physical presence of the person affirming the truthfulness of the document. Make no exceptions.
Be sure to witness the signing of the document.
Take Acknowledgments and Proofs
Acknowledgments are simpler than oaths. The notary public’s job in this instance is to merely witness the document being signed and to make certain that the document is being signed voluntarily. For this notarial act, content is not as important. The notary public needs only to ensure that the signer is knowledgeable about what signing the document entails. Some important things to remember when taking acknowledgements:
Scan the document for completeness. Never notarize a document that could potentially be altered post-notarization.
It is imperative you confirm that the signer is aware of the document’s contents and that they are signing of their own free will.
Make Certified Copies
When making an attested photocopy, your job as a notary public is to ensure and certify that the photocopy is a true copy of the original document. Some important things to remember when making attested photocopies:
Check that the document being photocopied is an original. Never notarize a photocopy of a copy.
Make certain that the document can legally be made into an attested photocopy. Birth certificates, death certificates, and marriage and divorce records are a few examples of documents that it is illegal to make an attested copy of.
In Texas, you must keep a photocopy of each document that you certify for your records. It is best to store these papers in a secure location.
Take Depositions
In Texas, a notary has the authority to issue a subpoena for a written deposition. Some important things to remember when taking depositions:
We recommend exercising extreme caution when performing this notarial act.
Contact the Office of the Secretary of State if you require any assistance.
Protest Instruments
Though all notaries in Texas are authorized to protest instruments, modern banking practices have basically eliminated the need for notaries to perform this act. Finally, here are some important things to remember when performing any of your authorized duties as a notary public:
You are responsible for what you notarize. This responsibility does not disappear if your commission expires. The best way to avoid future liability is to meticulously record the details of every notarization in a record book.
Never perform notarial acts for family members or for situations in which you have some form of invested interest. If you have something to gain from the notarization, no matter how small, it compromises your ability to remain unbiased.
Remember that you can always decline a notarization if you feel pressured or uncomfortable in performing the act. If something feels wrong to you about the situation, remove yourself from it.

01/29/2018

NEW LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY IN RESPONSE TO REMOVAL OF TEMPORARY PROTECTIVE STATUS FOR HAITIAN IMMIGRANTS
JANUARY 25, 2018
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BALTIMORE (January 24, 2018) — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s decision to rescind the Temporary Protective Status (TPS) designation for Haitian immigrants discriminates against immigrants of color, in violation of the Fifth Amendment, according to a new lawsuit filed today on behalf of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

The lawsuit claims that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), former Acting DHS Secretary Elaine C. Duke, and current DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielson took irrational and discriminatory government action, denying Haitian immigrants their right to due process and equal protection under the Fifth Amendment. The NAACP, acting on behalf of its Haitian members who are TPS protected, argues that DHS intended to discriminate against Haitian immigrants living in the United States because of their race and national origin.

“This is a simple case. Our democracy rests on the bedrock principle that every person is equal before the law. Governmental decisions that target people based on racial discrimination violate our Constitution,” said Sherrilyn Ifill, President & Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. “The decision by the Department of Homeland Security to rescind TPS status for Haitian immigrants was infected by racial discrimination. Every step taken by the Department to reach this decision reveals that far from a rational and fact-based determination, this decision was driven by calculated, determined and intentional discrimination against Haitian immigrants.”

“The action by the Department of Homeland Security to rescind TPS status for Haitian immigrants is clearly racially motivated,” said Derrick Johnson, NAACP President and CEO. “The U.S. Constitution prohibits singling out certain immigrants for harsh treatment based on their skin color and/or ethnicity. But more than that, basic fairness militates against this draconian action taken by DHS under the direction of President Trump.”

The lawsuit seeks to enjoin DHS’s November 2017 decision to rescind Temporary Protective Status for Haitian immigrants, as it reflects “an egregious departure from the TPS statute’s requirements and the intent to discriminate on the basis of race.” The lawsuit also asks the Court to declare that DHS violated the United States Constitution and the rule of law in rescinding the Haitian TPS, and to declare the action void and without legal force.

As evidence of the intent to discriminate, the lawsuit cites public reporting that DHS sought crime data on Haitians with TPS, as well as information on how many Haitian nationals were receiving public benefits. The lawsuit alleges that the Department’s efforts to gather this specific data on Haitian TPS designees “trades on false anti-Black stereotypes about criminality and exploitation of public benefits, and suggests the effort to manufacture a public safety rationale for the planned rescission.”

The complaint further alleges that President Trump’s public hostility toward immigrants of color was a contributing factor in the decision to rescind Haitian TPS. For example, in a recently reported White House meeting with several U.S. Senators, Trump disparaged a draft immigration plan that protected people from Haiti, El Salvador and some African countries, and noted his preference for immigrants from mostly white European countries. Earlier in 2017, the President suggested that Haitians “all have AIDS,” upon learning that 15,000 Haitians had received visas to enter the United States. He reportedly asked, “Why do we need more Haitians?”

“It’s disheartening to see the Haitian community targeted and mistreated in this way, but it also is not surprising,” said Raymond Audain, Senior Counsel at LDF. “This decision reflects a shameful and persistent pattern of conduct by this Administration in which racial stereotypes drive policy decisions.”

Haitian immigrants first received Temporary Protective Status in 2010 as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to assist the country after it was struck by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake, one of the deadliest earthquakes in history. Haiti’s TPS designations have been extended multiple times due to many factors, including multiple hurricanes and a cholera outbreak. On November 20, 2017, the DHS announced its plans to terminate temporary protective status for Haiti, which would go into effect in May 2019, ignoring bipartisan pleas to extend TPS designation for Haitian immigrants.

“Our great nation fought a civil war to establish the bedrock principle that the government may not discriminate against any person, whether citizen or non-citizen, based on that person’s race or ethnicity. The NAACP stands ready to challenge any violation of that principle, as today’s action clearly demonstrates,” said Bradford M. Berry, General Counsel of the NAACP.

01/29/2018

ANTI-IMMIGRATION GROUPS
Most of these groups regularly work together, and their leaders frequently hold cross-memberships in several organizations at once. Some of the groups have clear ties to openly racist organizations, and even some of those that don't still espouse thinly disguised bigotry.

In the eyes of most of these groups, immigrants (typically, non-white immigrants) are responsible for nearly all the country's ills, from poverty and inner city decay to crime, urban sprawl and environmental degradation.

http://www.americanimmigrationcontrol.com/
http://www.ccir.net/
http://www.fairus.org/
http://www.duke.org/nf/index.html

In response to a suggestion that he should end deportations of illegal aliens by simply issuing an executive order, President Obama stated: “[I]f in fact I could solve all these problems without passing laws in Congress, then I would do so. But we are also a nation of laws. That’s part of our tr...

01/29/2018

Black Panther actor Bambadjan Bamba is calling on Congress to act to help Dreamers like him.

In an opinion piece for CNN, Bamba told his immigration story, saying that he felt he had to speak out, even risk his career, when he saw “other DACA recipients with much less than I have risking their freedom to protest and petition for a fix to the broken immigration system.”Bamba described how he arrived with his parents from the Ivory Coast when he was 10 years old. His family applied for asylum, because they were fleeing political persecution. They continued to try to work within the system to get a legal immigration status, something Bamba said he didn’t understand until high school when he realized he couldn’t get scholarships even if he earned them because he was technically an illegal immigrant while his case was “pending.”

“Oftentimes, the willingness and struggles of immigrants to obtain or keep legal status is left out of the media’s coverage. They fell prey to unscrupulous immigration lawyers who ripped them off because resources for Black immigrants were limited,” he wrote.

“Bamba means resilient”
Bamba also wrote about how he was able to find success despite his “pending” status.

“But my name, Bamba, means “resilient” in Dioula (Madingo)—a language spoken in Ivory Coast, and I would have to live up to my name. So I picked myself up and worked my way through drama school without financial aid, avoiding auditions for any role that would require me to work internationally because I knew I couldn’t travel. If I left, there were no guarantees I’d be let back in,” he wrote.

“While I was trying to maneuver through life without legal status, I was also dealing with the realities of being Black in America. To be Black without papers meant that I was walking on an additional layer of eggshells—never wanting to appear too aggressive or suspicious,” he added. “In my case and the case of many Black immigrants, it could have also led to criminalization and deportation proceedings.”

01/28/2018