Immigration Connection
A royal deportation...
The story is not one that would have made the OpEd pages of a newspaper. But for the imperceptible xenophobic undertone, the dispatch of The Associated Press would not even be news.
The story was about a princess who was ordered to be deported after she was accused of having locked up the passports of her domestics whom she paid less than the minimum wages. Last September, Princess Hana F. Al Jader of the House of Saud, Ruler of Saudi Arabia, has pleaded guilty to visa fraud, to having lied on Immigration form, and to harboring an alien. The Princess was sentenced by a U.S. District Court to two year incarceration, all on probation including six month in home confinement. In addition, she was also sentenced to pay $206,000 in damages to three (former) domestic servants, to pay a $40,000 fine, and to put in 100 hours of community service. After serving her time, she will be deported to Saudi Arabia,
In one count of charge, the US District prosecutor accused Princess Al Jader of having stated in her petition submitted to the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia that the servants would work eight hours daily for $1,500 a month. Al Jader and her husband, Prince Mohamed Bin Turki Al Saud, came to settle in the U.S. since the mid-1990s to seek the medical for injuries the prince suffered in an auto accident. They petitioned for their servants to come along to help with household chores. The women came to the US in February 2003 where they were paid just $300 per month, apparently the same salaries they have received while in Saudi Arabia. In return, they cooked, cleaned and care for Al Jader's children and her disabled husband. They were also asked to remit to her their passports that she locked in a safe.
Paying a worker less than the legal minimum wage was a violation of Labor Law. Holding on to the workers' travel document to constraint their movement was simply the practice of modern day serfdom and slavery for which the Princess was found guilty of, and had to pay for the consequence. But wary readers would also notice that the prosecutor was adamant about the fact that the Princess had "lied on Immigration Form"! What the news story did not tell was while the other violations got the Princess in jail and made her deportable, the lie on immigration form will bar her from coming back to the U.S., possibly indefinitely. Perjury is not to tinker with, especially when it came to US Immigration laws!
The perjury law in the U.S. is so pervasive that it is sometime misleading just by its simplicity. The rule of thumb is that one cannot lie or making false statement either in a court of law or on documents in writing when it came to seeking public benefit for which the government has to rely on on truthful statement provided.
Many clients have sought my advice on whether to alter the truth on Immigration benefit application and petition. After all, one can always claim 'ignorance', one would argue. The temptation is particularly strong at the time of a repeated application when the exasperation of denial of the previous application was still lingering. "But the consul told me that my visitor visa application is not granted because my brother has an on going petition for my immigration...." the client would exclaim to justify. After all, it does seems much for her, on the second application, to mark the "No" box to say that there was no such petition... "...What she may not know was that by doing so, she may be deemed to have made a deliberate false statement that would be construed "intentional misrepresentation of a material fact" by the Officials at the U.S. Consulate. Such act would, once verified, render the offender barred from entering the U.S. Incredibly harsh as it may seem, the bar would be indefinite! While there are possible legal recourses to address such issue, common sense would command one not to let that happen in the first place. Be truthful in any application and petition, do not assume the laws, presume that your statements are verifiable and, when in doubt, consult with an attorney. After all, the stake that you hold deserves such diligence.
(For comments or reactions, email the author: kdbui.esq@sbcglobal.net or visit his website www.myusimmigration.com)