Attorney Mario Godoy has some practical advice for undocumented immigrants who need to know their rights.
His law firm, Godoy Law Office, has been doing Zoom workshops with people to help guide them should they be stopped by an U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.
First, it’s very important to know that they have no obligation to speak with an ICE representative, said Godoy, who has several offices in the suburban area, including one in Elgin.
“You are required to identify yourself by name, and that’s really about it,” he said.
Don’t say anything else other than to ask to speak to a lawyer, he said.
“If they come to your house, unless it’s an official warrant from a judge, it doesn’t give them the right to come in,” Godoy said.
He tells clients to not open the door, take a photo of the warrant through the window and send it to him to check if it’s been signed by a federal court judge, he said.
If an undocumented immigrant doesn’t have a criminal history, they can try to fight the case in court, Godoy said. It can take years for a case to go before an immigration judge, noting that he has some cases that’ve been in court for decades.
The same advice applies if someone is asked to sign off on any paperwork related to immigration status, Godoy said. Instead, ask for and hire an immigration attorney, who can request a bond hearing while the case goes through the court system, he said.
“The ones I think are more on the edge are folks who have an active removal order,” Godoy said. “In those scenarios, a judge already said you have to be removed from the U.S. … Those are tougher cases.”
He also has advice for naturalized citizens or American-born people of color. He recommends carrying a passports to prove citizenship. Godoy is a naturalized citizen himself and he has told his family to carry their passports, he said.
“I think the laws they are putting in are going to invite racial profiling,” he said.
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
