Immigration in America: Politics, Birthright Citizenship | Kathleen Martinez Interview
In this episode of The Crude Truth, Rey Treviño sits down with immigration attorney and social media voice Kathleen Martinez to talk about what’s really happening with immigration in the U.S. Child and human trafficking is a horrific problem, and this has only been exemplified by the Biden Administration, funded by corruption in USAID to NGOs and the border invasion. This is a giant story you won’t hear in the mainstream media, but we will tackle it here on The Crude Truth.
One of the most significant parts of the story is the term undocumented vs illegal. I did not even think about how this came about or its implications. An undocumented person can be a person who entered the country legally, but their student or work visa ran out. If you entered over the border without a legal visa, you have committed a crime and are an illegal alien. It seems that the Democrats were trying to lump both illegal and undocumented into the same category to gain new voters.
We are looking forward to the upcoming Supreme Court case around birthright citizenship for illegal aliens. This will have a huge impact and will help close the border.
- The difference between being undocumented and coming here illegally
- Why it’s so difficult to immigrate the “right” way
- The human side of the immigration debate that often gets lost in politics
Kathleen shares what she sees every day as a lawyer stories of families trying to stay together, people just wanting to work, and a system that often feels impossible to navigate.
Whether you’re familiar with immigration policy or just curious, this episode offers an honest look at the challenges real people are facing.
🌐 Learn more: martinezimmigration.net
Highlights of the Podcast
00:00 – Introduction: Border crossings & immigration controversy
02:31 – Kathleen Martinez introduction & stance on immigration reform
03:42 – Education access for undocumented immigrants
04:42 – Cartels, human trafficking, and desperation driving illegal crossings
05:26 – Unaccompanied minors and Trump-era funding cuts
07:01 – Rey’s shift in perspective after hearing real stories
08:12 – Border policy comparisons: Trump vs. Biden
11:56 – The need for bipartisan immigration reform
13:04 – Economic exploitation of undocumented labor
15:38 – Pathways to legalization & Kathleen’s reform proposals
18:16 – Personal experiences shaping perspectives on immigration
21:32 – Human cost of illegal immigration & border deaths
24:05 – “Illegal” vs. “Undocumented” – legal terminology explained
26:27 – Clarifying civil violations vs. federal crimes
28:32 – Lack of empathy and the difficulty of advocacy
31:03 – Lengthy and expensive path to U.S. citizenship
33:36 – Employment-based immigration and international backlogs
35:04 – Most common client calls Kathleen receives: fear, confusion, desperation
36:42 – Mention of Reagan’s immigration reform; closing thoughts
37:00 – Contact info for Martinez Immigration
Please reach out to Kathleen Martinez on LinkedIn
We want to thank our sponsors of THE CRUDE TRUTH.
Immigration in America: Politics, Birthright Citizenship | Kathleen Martinez Interview
Video Transcription edited for grammar. We disavow any errors unless they make us look better or smarter.
Rey Treviño III [00:00:00] Make no doubt about it. Border crossings are down and President Trump is doing everything that he can to get this immigration in check and make sure that we are still safe here in America from all the dangerous individuals. However, we got some people that are continuing to fight and say that everything that Trump is doing is not right. We bring one of them on and we figure out what is The Crude Truth.
Narrator [00:00:21] In 1901, at Spindletop Hill near Beaumont, the future of Texas changed dramatically, as, like a fountain of fortune, thousands of barrels of oil burst from the earth towards the sky. Soon Detroit would be cranking out Model Ts by the millions, and America was on the move, thanks to the black gold being produced in Texas. Now, more than a century later, the vehicles are different, but nothing else has truly change. Sure there may be many other alternative energy sources like wind and solar and electric. But let’s be honest, America depends on oil and entrepreneurs, and if the USA is truly going to be independent, it has to know The Crude Truth.
Speaker 3 [00:01:05] This episode is brought to you by LFS Chemistry. We are committed to being good stewards of the environment. We are providing the tools so you can be too. Nape Expo, Where deals happen. Air Compressor Solutions. When everything is on the line, Air Compressed Solutions is the dependable choice to keep commercial business powered up. Sandstone Group. Exec Crue. Elevate your network, Elevate your knowledge. Texas Star Alliance, Pecos Country Operating, Fueling our future.
Rey Treviño III [00:01:40] Well, thank you as always for tuning in for another episode of The Crude Truth. Border crossings are down tremendously since November and they’ve only gotten better. And the people that are actually deporting is ridiculous. People are walking out literally on their own saying, we ain’t dealing with this. But yet we have some people out there that are still saying, stop, fight because it’s your right to be here undocumented or illegal because that’s what they’re saying. And it’s like, there’s no way that is true. That is not the case. They need to come over the right way and things need to be done right. And also we have to get to the crude truth, which is nobody is willing to fix the immigration problem. But today I brought in one of Dallas’ and probably the nation’s top immigration lawyers, Kathleen Martinez. You’ve probably seen her from social media. Kathleen, how are you?
Kathleen Martinez [00:02:31] I am well, how’re you?
Rey Treviño III [00:02:33] Oh my gosh, I am excited to have you here. I cannot complain. You are on a terror right now. You are just out there throwing out information. And you said the other day that it’s gonna cost billions more to. Deport everybody and it’s like that cannot be true. It’s like we need to get these people out But yet you’re over here saying you need to stay and do it the right way. What what what’s going on?
Kathleen Martinez [00:02:58] Well, I think the problem is, immigration is not, in my opinion, political. And I think we have so many people telling immigrants to leave and to not be here and that we just can’t have immigrants here. But they’re never going to stop immigration. You can’t build a wall. People are gonna figure out a way to get under it or over it. We need a solution. We need to create immigration reform. So this rhetoric that you need to just leave is unrealistic when there’s 11 million undocumented immigrants currently. In this country with families and lives and college degrees and careers, they’re not they’re just going to leave that easily.
Rey Treviño III [00:03:32] Well, OK, you talk about undocumented and then you say they got college degrees. How did they even get a college degree? Because I know you got to have a social security number to get that, so
Kathleen Martinez [00:03:42] You don’t. There’s a lot of schools that offer financial aid and applications, private loans to people who are undocumented to get a college degree. It depends on the school though.
Rey Treviño III [00:03:51] So we’re sending government money to undocumented people that are not even citizens of the United States. Is that correct?
Kathleen Martinez [00:03:58] Well, no, because you can’t apply for a FAFSA if you’re undocumented.
Rey Treviño III [00:04:02] Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah, I know that.
Kathleen Martinez [00:04:04] So they’re paying on their own.
Rey Treviño III [00:04:06] Okay. You know, and that is one thing that is happening. You say they’re paying on their own. These people are literally paying other illegal people, the cartels, to pay to get them across the border. And that alone is just enabling the cartel to continue to do this. There are some rumors that, because you’ve talked about money, and I want to get to that in a minute, and I brought it up, but you know, there’s some rumors that they’re making more money now off of human trafficking than they are. Drugs itself. Shouldn’t we be really telling people don’t come over unless it’s the proper way?
Kathleen Martinez [00:04:42] I mean, I think the problem is, is that it’s so impossible to come here legally, that that’s what people are resorting to. We shouldn’t resort to human trafficking. People shouldn’t have to come through cartels or coyotes, but I mean a lot of people come here without an inspection because they feel that they don’t have a choice. They want to provide for their family. They want them to have a better life and sometimes there’s no possible way for them to do that.
Rey Treviño III [00:05:04] Right. And the better life part, people still come in. I get mad all the time when I hear people say America’s not the greatest place in the world. And that’s, that’s a lie because we literally have people that are coming to this country and dying, literally dying to get to this country. And they hope that at least their little baby can get across the border. I mean, that, that has happened.
Kathleen Martinez [00:05:26] The unaccompanied minors programs. There’s like around five, I think 500,000 unacompanied minors currently in the United States who don’t have parents. So they came here as young as toddler age by themselves. You know about that program? So Trump just took away all the funding for them.
Rey Treviño III [00:05:42] But why would you, you can’t send your kids by themselves.
Kathleen Martinez [00:05:45] A lot of them aren’t, so a lot of the die on the way, yeah. That’s horrific. It’s horrific, yeah, I mean, some of them die on the way. Some of them send them so, for example, they’re living in, like, Guatemala and gangs are not letting them leave and so maybe one of the kids has a chance because they’re stronger and younger to go through a church group. A lot of them do. of the children just escape by themselves because their parents are already dead. So they’re coming by themselves because maybe they’ll seek asylum here, or maybe they have a family member here who could take care of them. So the whole point of the Unaccompanied Minor Program is basically the government has a federal contract with a bunch of not-for-profits that basically give lawyers a certain amount of money to represent them. And a lot of the times you’re representing them in immigration court, but you’re also representing these young children. And human trafficking related so like they have a lawyer to protect them from further human trafficking because they if they don’t know the language they can’t represent themselves in court because they’re like two and three years old what are they supposed to do like I said you’re not going to stop them from coming here so why don’t we just make it more feasible and safer
Rey Treviño III [00:06:51] Yeah, Kathleen, I have to say, you know, I went into this today going because people that don’t know you haven’t. What’s your Instagram?
Kathleen Martinez [00:07:01] Attorney Martinez.
Rey Treviño III [00:07:01] Attorney just attorney Martinez, but you’re the pink lawyer, right? And yeah, I think you’ve done a few plays and Watching you and and coming into the day. It was like, okay I need to talk to you because you know of everything that you’re saying on social media but now you’re sharing all these things and I’m like like my guards coming down because it’s like This is horrific stuff that people need to know about
Kathleen Martinez [00:07:24] Yeah, and that’s the issue is people don’t know. People generally don’t know anything about immigrants unless you’re an immigrant yourself or you’re a immigration lawyer. I think there’s a lack of knowledge of immigration. And so a lot of people make assumptions about how easy it is to come here, how easy, it is people literally come on my Instagram saying, why don’t they just sign up for a green card and do it legally? Don’t you think they would?
Rey Treviño III [00:07:46] Well, you know, let’s just get back to the 11 million undocumented people. That’s 11 million people that we know of that we know that we know of. So the estimates are some are crazy high. Some are crazy low on how many actually people have gotten, especially during the four years of the Biden administration. Um, you speak very ill of the Trump administration. I don’t think you’ve ever said one nice thing about the Trump.
Kathleen Martinez [00:08:12] Yeah, no problem.
Rey Treviño III [00:08:14] Why is it though that border crossings have dropped significantly since we got off from the bite of the Trump administration?
Kathleen Martinez [00:08:21] I mean, it’s obvious. It’s obvious why because because he’s scaring away people from coming here.
Rey Treviño III [00:08:27] Okay, Well, is he scaring people away from coming or is he scaring People away from doing it the wrong way?
Kathleen Martinez [00:08:32] Possibly both. I mean, they don’t want to come here. So if that was his goal, then he’s definitely achieving it But also under Biden he had more Humanitarian parole programs for people to come to the border and he also allowed asylum So Trump shut down asylum at the border. So he shut down like TPS CBB one app He shut down every legal Avenue almost you could use at the boarder So by doing that that’s why they’re not coming because they legally can’t so we’ll probably have Well, I mean, so, you know, shut down crossings. What about uninspected crossings? We’re probably gonna have a lot more people come here without inspection. They’re gonna come here illegally because we keep taking away avenues and ways for them to come here legally.
Rey Treviño III [00:09:12] Well, I mean, OK, but we’re talking about all these avenues and people who are already coming over illegally. So for you to sit here and say, we’re probably gonna have more people coming over illegal. Yeah, they’re not right now.
Kathleen Martinez [00:09:23] Well, we don’t know that because it’s undocumented.
Rey Treviño III [00:09:26] Well, right, I know, yes, man, but but at least the captures, I guess, at the border are down tremendously, right? And that was the other thing that people were coming over during the Biden administration, literally just walking over and said, oh, come catch us. That used to never be the case. I mean, you used to watch all the funny movies in the eighties and early nineties where people always have to run and get across. And, um, and now all of a sudden that’s all stopped. And so the real ones that are still coming over are still going back to that whole thing. Um, you mentioned DACA and all these undocumented people. I remember president Biden put in the DACA, which was for the dreamers, which is Obama, what I say, Obama. Obama did that yeah, okay That was an executive order to basically give these kids the rights to be here It’s some of them didn’t speak Spanish probably at all and no, it’s never the children’s I don’t know how many five-year-olds Yeah, say I want to go to America like yeah Just like there’s no five year olds and say I wanna be a boy instead of a girl But that’s a whole other other subject, but they’re not doing that But you can’t do that in executive order with the power of the pen the power the pen Cannot give people citizenship or even a pathway we need congress and you mentioned it and you know, again, this is what really let my guard down is Immigration should not be a political issue This is a country founded. I believe a hundred like it’s a I don’t care what you say on either side if you can agree that this country was not founded by immigrants, then
Kathleen Martinez [00:11:05] Obviously you haven’t read a history book, which is unfortunately debatable.
Rey Treviño III [00:11:10] Well, right. But the other part too, it’s like also with a, you know, and I think that goes with the, and and I stand on that because it’s like the George Floyd horrific thing that happened years ago. I don’t find one human being that says what happened to him in that moment was not right. Yeah. Okay. And that’s what I, that’s, what I mean about immigration. It’s like you can’t say that we’re not a country founded on immigration. Yeah. So why can’t we get it in order? You know, you look at Las Vegas. It is it is economically been proven that you remove every single Undocumented immigrant and the city of Las Vegas and bottom the city shuts down. Yeah. Okay. How do we fix this? What what do we do other than blame Trump blame Biden? Yeah Yeah,
Kathleen Martinez [00:11:56] It’s a lot of blaming. So I think the problem is like a lack of empathy, a lack of education and open mindedness, like conversations that we’re having right now is about how do we fix it? But not a lot of people want to fix it because they think that it’s something that can be stopped. And like I said, immigration is not stoppable. We’re founded by immigrants. We’re going to continue to be a melting pot. Why don’t we take advantage of it and make it economically beneficial to our country rather than build a stupid wall that we’re never going to finish and people will figure out a way to fly over. It doesn’t logically make sense, but here’s the problem. People are so upset about people potentially coming here illegally that they cannot wrap their head around the benefit that we’d have economically of allowing them Because they think you came here illegally. I don’t care how much that how how much that we would benefit financially by giving you a work permit. I don’ care how many billions of taxes you pay a year. I don’t care to give you an avenue to stay here legally, to provide for your family. You came here legally. I’m mad about it. So leave. So I don’s think a lot of people want reform. I don’d think they want to benefit from immigration because they’re ignorant of the fact that we can’t stop it. They think it’s something that is preventable.
Rey Treviño III [00:13:04] Well, you know, you talk about that. You don’t think they want me to form. The joke is always the Democrats want the votes and Republicans need the jobs. And with that being said, and talking about all these things and them contributing to the United States, our factories, we don’t have as many factories anymore. They are starting to really look at getting rid of, pertinently trying to get rid of all the small farmers and create these giant corporate farming groups, okay? So those are jobs. Those are jobs that are being lost. President Trump right now is actually doing his best to bring those type of jobs back to America. So not only would that provide jobs to us, but then all these people that are coming over would be able to jump back on. You know, I thought it was horrific when Schumer said a couple of months ago that we were taking away strawberry picking jobs from people in California and that the price of strawberries was about to go up. And I know what those individuals get paid. For picking those strawberries. And I thought that was a shame that that guy said the price is gonna go up because he was basically calling all these immigrants and he’s for the border crossing, for basically. Below minimum wage for these people to live off of and he was trying to make it sound like a good thing. That was horrific. It’s like those people bend over backwards literally all day, make nothing just so that we can have cheap strawberries just like I’m paying $5 at HEB. So that’s not right. And yet nobody’s like these people are coming over illegally. They don’t have the rights. They can’t say anything because that was their choice in the first place. And then yet we still benefit off of them, whether they’re working or not.
Kathleen Martinez [00:14:46] Yeah, well, it’s funny because undocumented immigrants do get exploited all the time. They don’t get paid enough because they’re undocumented. So you think that we all we could do is just give them work authorization. Then we can pay them the amount that they deserve and then problem solved. Right.
Rey Treviño III [00:15:00] Right. But the other side of the coin, though, is that, hey, they did not come over the right way. Two things. You can’t pay somebody for doing something wrong. And you also can’t take something away once you’ve given it to them. I mean, look at all the programs that we’ve had since the Civil Rights Act of 19. Look at all of the government programs. You cannot take any of them away. Once you’re giving out handouts, you can never take that back. Right. So how do we make it fair to where these people that are undocumented have some sort of reprimand, but then also motivate people to come over the right way. How do we do that?
Kathleen Martinez [00:15:38] Yeah, I think you give them immigration reform. That’s what we need. So right now, it’s virtually impossible to get a green card. You have to marry into it. You can’t really earn it, right? So you have to marriage someone. You have an immediate relative with legal status and that’s it. So why can’t we provide people a pathway to independently earn their right to citizenship? Because I bet you anyone would jump on that if they could. Because all immigrants ever want when they call me is I want a work permit. I want to support my kids. That’s all I want do. They’re not committing crimes. They don’t want to live off the government. They don’ want to do any of this stuff. But we have to get past the fact that people enter illegally. Who cares? I’m sorry. But like, I actually don’t think a lot of people really, really care about it. Right. Because this rhetoric is coming from people who didn’t earn their right to be here. They were born into it. Right. So like I I didn’t earn my right to here like my great grandpa did.
Rey Treviño III [00:16:31] I don’t know. I think that’s different because you think- It’s privilege for her. It’s privileged. No, no, no. And that’s privilege, for granted. You earned your right to be here. You should be proud to be an American. And I think, that’s what is happening. You know, the great thing of hard times make hard man, hard make make soft times, soft take make soft people. And somehow- people think it’s just not fair that we were born here. I’ll never once think that it’s not, that I was not, but my,.
Kathleen Martinez [00:17:01] I think it is fair. I think its legal.
Rey Treviño III [00:17:04] And it’s my privilege to be an American. I’m honored to be in American. And again, the fact that people are dying to come here should make me want to be an American citizen even that much more. Yeah. Okay. So just because you were born into it, okay. Okay, yeah, you’re white and you’re blonde. That’s great. You are a smart person. Okay, you are. You’re talented. And those two things didn’t come just because those you had to earn. Oh, no, but what I mean by- And so when you say privilege, it’s like, no, just because you were born here, yeah, your born here. That’s right. Yeah. And it’s an honor that you were brought here. No different than my parents that were from San Antonio. My dad, he had dirt on the floors for three years of his life. He remembers that. And it’s like, it’s a privilege that we were all born here and that we don’t have to, that we didn’t have to, we’re the ones that didn’t. But yeah, there was somebody back in the day that was here. And it was like, I want to give thanks to that, my grandfather, who did come over illegally in 1926 or 36. He came over illegally, got it done. But I’m thankful that he came, because then he put my mom through a master’s degree. And then I’m grateful for my great grandparents that got my dad here. that my grandparents on that side believed in education so much.
Kathleen Martinez [00:18:16] So the question for you, if it was your dad who came illegally to give you this privilege of being an American, would your perspective change on the people who come here illegally?
Rey Treviño III [00:18:26] I’ve been over backwards. I would have been over back to my dad to make sure he’s here properly. Because you want to fight for those people. That’s what I think. Now, I’ll get into the Hispanic or Mexican culture that I see today where I think they take advantage of their parents because they don’t speak English and their parents work and bust their ass for their kids and they are spoiled little rats. Okay, that’s honestly a lot of what I see.
Kathleen Martinez [00:18:51] But what I’m coming from is people who are born here who are so anti-immigrant, because they’re like, you need to earn your way. Don’t live off the government, which they can’t. So you can’t come here illegally. But I don’t know. Like, I do not care. Even before I was an immigration attorney, that people came here illegally, like it just I don’ care that people cross the street and jaywalk. I don’t care. Like, what I do care about, though, is that they contribute to this economy. That they care about their country and that they benefit society, which they all do mostly, right? So they come here, they work really hard, they provide for their families, they learn English, they know Spanish, they really benefit our economy. So the fact that their parents came here illegally to give them that life. I mean, these are the most patriotic people i know, ironically, is that funny?
Rey Treviño III [00:19:42] It is. No, I do care because I’ve witnessed these people that come over illegally and how they live in horrific conditions with people that are not good people. I have been when I was a kid on the border at a hunting ranch and I’m very blessed I could do that where my dad and my uncles would put water in boxes and I’m a six or eight year old boy and I didn’t understand why they were putting water in box and to make sure that people that were coming over illegally at least had a spot that they could stop and get something to drink even though they weren’t for it or the fact that one time I saw a burn spot when I’m eight years old. I’ve no idea what this burn spot is and all my dad told me At that time he goes, Oh, a dead animal must have died there. And no, years later, he shares that somebody literally burned up in the August heat trying to come over illegally fighting for the right to be here. So I care about these individuals and do you want to talk about what they’re doing? We mentioned the cartels and what they are doing to the little kids, boys and girls that this needs to stop. Yeah, and it needs to be that the fact that uh, so no where I come from I do care about this and the fact that I’m different because of 90% of my family believes another way. And I do believe that is ingrained in Hispanics to be Democrats. OK, because once you get a Hispanic that actually has a real job, excuse me, not a real job. That’s an entrepreneur. They finally realize that, wait a minute, these guys are taking all my money. It’s like so that’s where the privilege of me being here and why I care so much is because I’ve seen this Yeah, and it is horrific Uh that it’s more about the lives that are being lost. So we talk about the undocumented people how many people are being lost and never found again that are undocumented or all the people that Die to get over
Kathleen Martinez [00:21:32] Oh yeah, it’s horrible. And then both sides of the aisle were all upset about the same thing.
Rey Treviño III [00:21:36] And the fact that you’re very smart, Kathleen, and it’s like you are fighting for these people. And so when you say, hey, well, I don’t have a privilege because I was born here. Yes, ma’am. Look at all the privilege that you have. No, no, no. I do have a privileged. Because you’re fighting for all these people, I mean, you know what’s going on. I’m very lucky to have been.
Kathleen Martinez [00:21:52] I mean, I’m very lucky to have been born here like but I I I cannot say that I Have empathy for people who weren’t as lucky right, right? Right, I can’t say that I had the same experience as someone who was born in Guatemala and is automatically being subjected to the cartels You know I don’t have to fight for my life like that.
Rey Treviño III [00:22:13] Automatically being subjected. It’s horrific. What’s going on below our great Rio Grande River is horrific down there. There is no law down there, and so I think what you’re doing is awesome. I mean, you’re fighting for these people, and again, kind of like I talked about, it’s like when we first started this interview, it was like, I had my guard up, and it’s, like, wait a minute, this lady, she knows what she’s doing. She’s fighting for this people that truly care, because it’s just like you said. They want to contribute to America. They almost see it as a badge of honor to pay taxes while we do bitch about that. I mean, you know, they see it as a badge of honor and they just want to provide it for their families, just like every other American. And they believe still in the American dream. And that, to me, is what I also think is really unique, is that President Trump wants America to get back to that American dream of people being able to own and because housing prices have gotten ridiculous. Right? A pickup truck, just go out to the oil field and that was a hundred grand. Just start to go get it dirty. That’s crazy. I know. And so having you on is just awesome because you’re actually fighting for these people that don’t have a voice, which is a beautiful thing. And yet at the same time, they almost don’t deserve a voice because they came over illegally. It’s hard to say in one thing. I sound like an asshole when I say that just out of that.
Kathleen Martinez [00:23:38] Yeah, you do.
Rey Treviño III [00:23:39] That that that you’re fighting for these people that don’t have a voice and yet they don’t deserve a voice because they didn’t come over the right way and you know one thing that you and i’ve talked about in the past is undocumented versus illegal yeah and i want to talk about that for a second and switch gears here and can you share what the difference is because i don’t
Kathleen Martinez [00:24:05] Yeah, I think what’s concerning is how many people are feel so righteous about immigration in the United States yet They’re so stupid. Yeah, like that’s the problem is they can’t you can’t be mean ignorant and stupid You have to pick one and unfortunately That’s a good portion of our United States when they get on the internet and they start ranting about immigration, right? Right, so then they call immigrants illegals. They call them criminals You cannot be no person can be illegal legal determine as akin to an action
Rey Treviño III [00:24:30] And if I may, you know, you talk about criminals, you know, I voted for Donald Trump three times. Right. Okay. And when he did say that Mexicans were criminals or something like that, like eight years, I was like, wait a minute, bro, it’s like, we’re not all criminals. Yeah. So I just want to throw that out there, but keep going.
Kathleen Martinez [00:24:48] Yeah, cause that was correct. But yeah, so being a person cannot be illegal because illegal is akin to an action. Right. So just to throw my legalese in there, it’s just stupid. Like you have to be stupid to call a person illegal. Is that a legal term? Stupid? Yeah, like just to get down to their level, you’re stupid. Like you can’t call someone illegal, but even if you did, illegal means you violated a crime and it’s not a crime to be undocumented. It’s a civil violation, which is the same as not paying your parking ticket. Right? It’s a civil violation and no one knows that and I will go on the internet.
Rey Treviño III [00:25:21] Say that again, say it again, because that’s big, say that again.
Kathleen Martinez [00:25:23] It is a civil violation to be undocumented. It is not a crime. So illegal immigrants cannot be illegal immigrants because they’re not criminals.
Rey Treviño III [00:25:30] Right.
Kathleen Martinez [00:25:30] They’re undocumented.
Rey Treviño III [00:25:31] And now what is an undocumented person? Nine times out of ten.
Kathleen Martinez [00:25:35] Undocumented meaning you you don’t have legal documentation.
Rey Treviño III [00:25:38] Or you said that they overstayed their visa or…
Kathleen Martinez [00:25:41] So a lot of undocumented immigrants came here the right way, lost their status because the president took it away recently.
Rey Treviño III [00:25:49] No, don’t. No, no, no. Let’s not use the president one. But yeah, what are what?
Kathleen Martinez [00:25:55] Immigration programs that give you legal status are easily ripped away either by court orders or different administrations.
Rey Treviño III [00:26:01] Executive orders, but I’ll talk about with DACA.
Kathleen Martinez [00:26:03] It’s true. Right, right. So it’s a lot of these are temporary. Some of them are more permanent. Right. But it’s hard because a lot of these temporary programs allowed people to come here legally. And then when they’re ripped away in like a month, it’s really hard because they uprooted their family. They got work authorization, a social, they bought a house.
Rey Treviño III [00:26:20] But will you say just one more time about that being undocumented is a civil like just say that blows me away Yes
Kathleen Martinez [00:26:27] Yes, being undocumented, this is why we call immigrants undocumented versus illegal because being illegal means you committed a crime and being undocumented is a civil violation. It’s not a crime.
Rey Treviño III [00:26:40] In a simple violation and like you said just like a traffic
Kathleen Martinez [00:26:43] It’s exactly like a traffic ticket. So when people say illegals are criminals, even in the White House, it’s so factually incorrect. Like, are there lawyers not telling them what the truth is?
Rey Treviño III [00:26:55] Well now, but the illegal though, if I’m correct, in our meeting before is an illegal person comes over illegally, so lack of better description, they wake up, they swim across the Rio Grande and they’re here illegally. That is a federal crime.
Kathleen Martinez [00:27:10] Yeah, so that’s different.
Rey Treviño III [00:27:11] That’s a federal crime. But to be undocumented, which means you got a green card or a work visa or an education visa or that SB1 thing, you got any of those and you don’t have it anymore, you’re undocumented and it’s a civil violation or civil break in the law.
Kathleen Martinez [00:27:34] Correct. And it is a crime to cross illegally. It’s true. Like that no one denies that. But what people don’t know is that a good portion of the undocumented population here in the United States came here legally, so they can’t be criminals.
Rey Treviño III [00:27:47] Yeah. And, and when you hear people like, well, they’re all undocumented. And, uh, and that to me is what blew my mind is like that big difference right there that nobody understands and that both sides are playing the words. To the extremes, you know, right? Because, you, you’re talking about Donald Trump and they took it away. It’s like, but, but what about the people that had the school visas? And then they don’t get a work visa afterward, but then they have a work. Right. So that’s a lot of people. And We gotta, so anyway, that’s why I wanted to talk about that. That’s a big difference, Kathleen, and you’re actually telling people about that because not a lot of people know that, unfortunately, it’s not a big crime, so why can’t we fix it?
Kathleen Martinez [00:28:32] I think lack of empathy, I think there’s a lot of lack of empathy from people who aren’t immigrants. They’re not related to immigrants, they don’t understand immigrants, and they don’t want to get to know them. They don’t wanna see a face behind the name. We call it the boogeyman kind of theory because they look at immigrants and say, Nope, they’re all criminals, they are all criminals, because that way, you don’t have to have empathy for people who may have come here illegally or lost status, right? And then you don’t feel like you have to help them. So there’s either a lack of understanding, lack of education or just lack of empathy in general. And that’s why it is so hard for advocates like me and social media to get through to these people on the far right, because they just don’t want to help these people. They just don’ care. And I could like put all the numbers on my screen saying, this is exactly how much more money we’d make as a country if you gave them a green card and they don’t care. Like, it’s not about logic. It’s not about numbers, it’s just inherently. Horrible people who just don’t want to help other people, right? It’s just lack of empathy and I can’t I can cross I can get through to people like that And and that’s the problem and I think if you look at the core problems, there’s some racism can’t deny that right? But there’s also people who are uneducated. Yeah, so those are the people who were the worst when it comes to like who I want
Rey Treviño III [00:29:45] Because they’re not they’re, not racist, but they’re just stupid. Yeah. And it’s like, wait a minute, bro. Like, you’re a nice guy. Like, do you not know what? Yeah. Yeah. Because there is some obviously there’s some there. There’s racism, which I don’t want to get into that whole thing about where I think we’ve stepped back. But I think it was 20 years ago that we stepped back, not now. But but yeah, but the fact that some people are just the majority are uneducated are turning the other eye. I mean turning turning away turning
Kathleen Martinez [00:30:15] Yeah. And a lot of people were like, look, it doesn’t affect me. And there are even Democrats who don’t care about immigration because they’re like, I’m not an immigrant. My parents are immigrants. I don’t know immigrants. I don’ care. And that’s how a lot of people vote, which is like, OK, you can’t really help that. But there’s also people who are educated and smart and they’re learning about the issues. They’re like wait, if we give them green cards, we’ll make more money. We’ll be better off as a country. Cool. Then let’s just get them green card, right?
Rey Treviño III [00:30:38] Right. So with the green cards and they got to track, they got a, I’m not going to call it a social security card, but they have some form of a ID that
Kathleen Martinez [00:30:47] You get an SSI and you get a license.
Rey Treviño III [00:30:49] Okay, and then you’re fine. We’re fine
Kathleen Martinez [00:30:51] Well yeah, so you can get an SSN with a temporary work authorization as well. So yeah, you’re documented, you are paying taxes, you legally here and then when you’re a citizen obviously you have all rights.
Rey Treviño III [00:31:03] Let me ask you this, what’s the normal timeframe for somebody that in Monterey, Mexico, and they go, you know what, I want to become an American citizen. What’s the normal timeframe to do something like that?
Kathleen Martinez [00:31:13] Right. So if you’ve ever been here, if you overstayed your visa, if
Rey Treviño III [00:31:16] No, no, no. Just somebody in Mexico.
Kathleen Martinez [00:31:19] Like they’ve never been here before.
Rey Treviño III [00:31:20] Been here. Never even been here, but they’re like, you know what? Yeah, I mean, great. You can come for a trip like we can go places, but yeah, if they wanted to become an American citizen and do it the right way starting day one, how does that work?
Kathleen Martinez [00:31:31] I mean, you’re looking at probably five to seven years on average before you’re a citizen. It’s very, very difficult and very expensive.
Rey Treviño III [00:31:38] That’s a decade.
Kathleen Martinez [00:31:39] It’s huge. It’s about a decade. Yeah, it’s about a decade before anyone’s a citizen. If you’re lucky, if you’re lucky and you’re even eligible because there’s so few ways to give people a green card.
Rey Treviño III [00:31:49] What are the ways and then why so yeah?
Kathleen Martinez [00:31:53] Marriage so you can it the most common way to get a green card is through family So you either have a parent child or spouse petition for you or a sibling But depending on your age and your marital status and who’s petitioning for you whether they’re a green-card holder their citizen There’s certain wait times so the government caps the family-based category depending on what you’re filing in So if a sibling is petitioning another sibling and you’re from a country the high immigration rate the wait is 22 years for Mexico Takes 22 years bring your citizen sibling over here Yes. So if you want to bring your parent over here and you’re over 21, it’s about the same amount of time. The only fast way is the non cap categories, which is if you have a child over 21 who’s a citizen petition for you or you’re married to US citizen, that’s about it. Everybody else has to wait a significantly long amount of time and if you’re from a country, God forbid, that comes here a lot, they’re going to limit it even more. So it’s just unrealistic. It’s very impossible. If you’re going for an employment-based visa and you’re from a country with a high immigration rate like India, then these are like the best and brightest engineers that we’re bringing over here, right? That even the Trump administration agrees we need.
Rey Treviño III [00:32:59] Yes. Right. Right, but he wants to keep them here too, which I agree. It’s like, yeah, we’re going to train you. And I always joke about OU, Oklahoma. Yes, all you OU people that I think if y’all had to sign, all you Texans that go to OU to play football, if y all had to sign an agreement, y’ all you had to live and work in Oklahoma for 10 years after you went to school there, you would not go to school there. I know you would, y all come right back to the great state of Texas.
Kathleen Martinez [00:33:23] The whole thing is so funny in Texas, because I’m not a Texan, and it’s just the weirdest crap. I believe that a hundred years, nobody would go.
Rey Treviño III [00:33:28] I believe that nobody would go to you to play football if they had to stay in that state. That’s funny. But anyway, but no.
Kathleen Martinez [00:33:36] So for India, yeah, if you want to get an employment-based visa on the most common type of employment-base visa, which is called an H1B, and you’re from India, it’s like a 20-year wait as well. So we really want them here. Companies really need them here, but it’s going to take you 20 years too.
Rey Treviño III [00:33:51] What do you think about that gold card thing? You suck or die.
Kathleen Martinez [00:33:53] I think it’s unrealistic. No one with $5 million needs to come here.
Rey Treviño III [00:33:58] What would it be?
Kathleen Martinez [00:33:59] It would be dope obviously, but if you have five million dollars Why do you need to uproot your life? Obviously you’re doing pretty well wherever you’re at like no one’s gonna people come here and make money
Rey Treviño III [00:34:10] My thoughts would be the corporations would buy them and then they would then use them for that.
Kathleen Martinez [00:34:15] Possibly
Rey Treviño III [00:34:16] And then we’d have, you know, I think they said something like X amount of them. And then, we’d be like, actually in the pay off all of our national debt or something like that. Yeah, but you have.
Kathleen Martinez [00:34:23] Yeah, but you have to pay. Yeah, you have to pay the government so the government would have to make five million. So you have to pay the government five million dollars to get over here. I just don’t know anyone who would be like, yeah, for sure. Let me give up five million dollars to be in America, even though I love America. But like, obviously, they’re doing pretty well.
Rey Treviño III [00:34:39] Yeah, they probably haven’t been here once or twice.
Kathleen Martinez [00:34:40] Yeah, they probably have a visa already. They probably figure it out. It’s just I think there’s so many other ways that we can like make money through immigration.
Rey Treviño III [00:34:49] So right now, you guys at Martinez Law, Martina or Immigration or Martinez Immigration, y’all are super busy right now. What’s the most common phone call you get?
Kathleen Martinez [00:35:04] Um, I’m scared. I’m terrified. I’ve lived here all my life. I either, my parents brought here illegally. I, I, Trump just took away TPS. I don’t know if I’m going to have DACA in a year. How do I get a green card? Um, or, or how do I go to work permit? How do work legally? I just want to work legally. How do we provide for my kids? Yeah. People are terrified. They’re, they’re crying on the phone with me all day. I’m crying with them half the time. Cause I just can’t believe the stories I hear. And I get to know immigrants more than anybody. Look, let’s be real. I know.
Rey Treviño III [00:35:36] I don’t share this stuff. Yeah, because like I said my experience and it’s ridiculous
Kathleen Martinez [00:35:43] It’s ridiculous. I think once you get to know these people and their stories, it just you completely change your perspective on immigration and how to fix it. And that’s why people like you and I, we know immigrants, we know their stories. So that’s what we actually want to advocate for reform, right? Whether you’re far right, far left, it doesn’t really matter. We also understand logically how much our country would benefit. So we understand like these people are good people, mostly who need help and I want to help them. And I feel like they’re deserving and I also understand that our country would benefit from it. So there’s just no loss to giving them a green card.
Rey Treviño III [00:36:18] Well, you know, there’s so many more things I want to dive into, so I want to have you do this again because you talk about these stories and what people have done. And I mean, I know I know people that don’t speak any English or don’t speak any Spanish, but they’ve been here forever. And I think Reagan was the last one that did am to see if I’m correct.
Kathleen Martinez [00:36:42] Last time we’ve had immigration reform.
Rey Treviño III [00:36:44] Right, right. And watch Trump be the one to do it. That would be great.
Kathleen Martinez [00:36:48] I would roll over, like, in my grave after dying.
Rey Treviño III [00:36:50] So for those out there that do need professional help, not for mental, but for their legal, how can they get ahold of you guys?
Kathleen Martinez [00:37:00] They can go to our social media, attorneyMartinez on Instagram, DM us or martinezinmigration.net is our website.
Rey Treviño III [00:37:07] Okay. Well, Kathleen, I cannot thank you enough for your time and the knowledge that I really hope you continue to put out there. Again, you’ve got a great, you got great social media presence and I’m really just excited to see what great content to educate individuals on because that’s always the last part. It’s like, you know, you can’t show the Bible like I believe in God. You can’t shut the Bible down somebody’s throat, but you can at least put the information
Kathleen Martinez [00:37:34] Yeah, and see what they do with it.
Rey Treviño III [00:37:35] See what they do. Well, guys, I can’t thank y’all enough. Kathleen, thank you so much. And for anybody out there that has any questions, I’m not an expert. Kathleen truly is an expert when it comes to immigration law. And the bottom line is immigration should not be a political issue. We are a country founded on that. And we’ve got to get to the bottom of it and get it fixed. And that’s the crude truth. We’ll see you again. Thank you.
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