Hi, I'm Hilary Walsh, a serial entrepreneur, award-winning immigration lawyer, law professor, TEDx speaker, and Raven Phoenix Suns fan. Over the past decade, I've helped thousands of immigrants live free in the United States. I'm talking work permits, social security numbers, green cards, their citizenship, VAWA, TV visa, U visa, and lots of successful appeals. Here's the thing, immigration law is super complicated and legal advice. Well, it can be pretty expensive.
So I created the immigration law made easy podcast to share my 10 plus years of experience with you for free. So if you're looking for tried and true, no BS, step-by-step strategies and tips on how to win your immigration case and live truly free in the United States, you're in the right place, my friend. Let's get started. Welcome to episode one of immigration law made easy. I'm so happy you're here. And today's episode, I want to talk to you about two things.
First, I want to answer the burning question that everybody has for me every single time they meet me in the immigration lawyer context, which is why immigration law, white girl from Kansas who has no immigrant in her immediate family, why immigration law? And then the other question is, what is this podcast here to help me with? What's it going to cover? Why have you created it?
Tell me a little bit about that so you can really frame what to expect and hopefully you will subscribe and follow this podcast and share it with friends and family because it's going to be valuable to very specific people. So first things first, why immigration law? I mean, I was a immigration lawyer for like eight years and it didn't really have a good answer for that question. I believe myself to be a patriot.
I absolutely love my country and I have never been asked to die for my country, but like that's the level of love that I have for the United States of America. It is, I believe red, white and blue.
Okay. So for a long time I thought, man, you know, I think that's because of the love of country that I have because I don't think that the United States would be, I mean, it's not even a matter of thinking like we know data says history in structs that we wouldn't be the United States of America if it weren't for immigrants. We wouldn't have, it's not like a whole bunch of people who were born here wrote the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
All of those things are contributions of people who immigrated to the United States. So I love the United States. I feel like there's a USA chant in me here. But that's only like the surface level. That was the answer I gave in all of my circles because for years, I was so ashamed and afraid to share the real truth.
And I want to share the real truth with you right here up front. So you get, when I say that we're going to do no BS tips and tricks and strategies in this podcast, I want you to know that I'm just a no BS person all the way to my core. And part of that is sharing the real truth about why I'm an immigration lawyer. When I was 15, I was put into foster care because of child abuse. This is related to me being an immigration lawyer. Okay. I was not a bad teenager, but I was not an obedient kid.
So I wasn't out doing drug sex and rock and roll, but my parents could not control me. And this coupled with my dad's alcoholism and my mom and dad's background of, you know, learning in church and also through their things, that the way you get your kid to behave is you need to beat their ass. And when I was 15, I was not behaving. And so my mom and dad beat my ass and it really escalated one particular night.
I went to school the next day and had a lot of bruises on my face, on my arms and my legs and back were covered. And the school saw this and reported it as schools do. And I was taken into foster care. I had the perfect family from the outside. And I think so many of us do. And so those of you who are listening, who you feel like you have the perfect family from the outside, but on the inside, when you close the doors, there's other stuff going on.
I think about, in this podcast, I'm going to reference Disney movies a lot because I'm in that season of being a mother where we watch a lot of Disney movies and truth be told, I think I just like Disney movies. But I think about the movie Encanto and how like the vines and the flowers and different things can grow inside the Madrigal home.
And sometimes those are types like they're vines and poisonous things that can grow behind closed doors in our families homes, even when they look perfect on the outside and we looked perfect from the outside. But, but a lot of violence was going on sometimes on the inside. And it really rocked our families world because all of a sudden we were exposed. And we didn't know how to control that.
My mom and dad owned us and they still do own a business in our very, very small town. And we all know that small town drama really that gossip spreads like wildfire. And it was hard. It was a really hard time. So I, the state of Kansas came to my parents business on the main drag and Wellington, Kansas, where I grew up and took me into the back office the day that they were going to take me into custody and had me pull down my pants.
And I was wearing cross country shorts, I think if I remember correctly, because I was big in a cross country at the time and they took pictures of my bruised naked body. And as a 15 year old girl who's been abused physically and is covered in bruises.
I mean, the whole thing, it pretty much couldn't have been more traumatizing that I can think of in this moment. I'm sure there are ways that it could have been more traumatizing that man, I can't think of it in hindsight. You know, you look at 15 year olds today and you think I was a kid going through that and just trying to figure it out.
And I had no one to rely on. And the government was involved and they were re traumatized. They were, they were amplifying my trauma. And then I got put into foster care. I went into this foster home with this lovely redheaded family, like all of them were redheads, which is funny because I have a couple redheads in my family,
but this was like they, they were probably Irish descendants. And I lived in their like guest room for a few weeks before getting transferred to a different foster home. Also, strangely with another redheaded lady. So maybe those are signs for me that redheaded people are my protectors.
And the hardest thing for me, the moment I think God held the universe gifted me, you're going to be an immigration lawyer someday was when I had to go to court. I had never been to court. You know, I'm the first person in my family to go to college and graduate college, much less, you know, go to law school and become an attorney.
We didn't hang out with doctors and lawyers and fancy folks, whatever that means, you know, we were working people. And the only time we ever went to the courthouse was to renew our driver's licenses or to pay some type of speeding ticket.
We didn't go to the driver. We didn't go to the courthouse, you know, like I go to court every day now and it's a common thing. So when I'm 15, I'm going to the courthouse in our small town. It's the very first time for me to really go there and see my parents again after having been taken away from their custody.
And I'm up on the second story of this little courthouse and I remember looking out the window and looking down at the ground and being disappointed that even if I were to break the glass and jump, I would just probably break a leg. Like there was no escape hatch. There was just go forward. You're going to go see your mom and dad today in court with a judge. And as this thought washed over me in the absolute helplessness and the complete alone and in fear of not knowing what was coming next,
a guy in a suit came in and told me to follow him. So I did. And we walked out into the hallway and then opened these very heavy double doors and we walked into a small courtroom. And my mom and dad and their, their lawyer were sitting at one table and I followed this guy in a suit to the other table and he sat down at the table with me.
And a few moments later, we all had to stand up because the judge came in and just like on TV, you know, you're supposed to stand up when a judge comes in, when then we sat down. And a few minutes into that hearing, the judge asked, counsel, does your client want to be reunified with her parents?
And come to find out the guy in the suit who was sitting at the little table with me was my lawyer. He did not introduce himself to me. He did not tell me what to expect in the hearing. And most importantly, he did not ask what I wanted with whether or not I wanted to be reunified with my parents. And I'll share something with you in that. Although today, you know, 22 years later, I have a wonderful relationship with my parents. This is something that is in the past.
I don't bring it up today to like relive any of this. You can tell it doesn't make me emotional to talk about it. I go back to this place because this is where my clients every day, they go into court and they don't know what's going on and they are afraid and there's no escape hatch.
And many times they don't have an attorney. Many times the hearing is in another language. And many times if they go back to where they came from, if they are fleeing for their life, they're afraid that if they go home, they'll be killed. And I was afraid to go home because in my 15 year old brain, I was afraid of being killed. I had just had the crap beaten out of me before and I still had bruises all over my body from it.
I was not ready to go home and be with my mom and dad again because I was scared of them. I'm not today. I love my mom and dad and they, this is not, this is not about that. But that 15 year old experience was terrified. I ended up going home and being reunified with my mom and dad and obviously nothing bad happened. Everything is okay.
But many years later, I realized that that was the defining moment. I believe that that was the moment where I became an immigration lawyer where I could see when someone is going through a hard time. And this is, I think definitely being an attorney. Folks, anytime you're going to court, anytime you're going to an important interview like USCIS or you're dealing with a government agency, it can be very scary and you don't want to say the wrong thing.
You want to be honest, but then your honesty can be manipulated and it might upset the other party. Like if I had shouted out to the judge right then, no, I'm afraid of my mom and dad. It would have really rocked the boat when it was time for me to be reunified with them. So anytime any person is going to court, it's scary. You add on so many other layers of stress when it's time for an immigrant on law, especially unlawfully present.
Folks who are here in this country without permission for them to go either to court or to go to USCIS, which is like the main agency in the United States that adjudicates and grants green cards. Man, that is so scary. So I decided I don't want to be the attorney in the blue suit who sat next to 15 year old Hillary Gaston.
I want to be. I want to go above and beyond. And sometimes you can't afford an attorney. So this podcast will hopefully help you if you have to go or your family member has to go to court or to USCIS alone. I want to be there. I want to be a guardian angel for you. I want to be a redhead in your life who has gifted you something, whether it's a piece of encouragement or a tip so that when you go in, you feel better armed, you feel better in control of your life.
You feel at peace. You feel confident. Even if you feel afraid, you have the knowledge that you're on the right path. That's what we're here for. So that's why I'm an immigration lawyer is because I have stood.
I've never stood in immigrant shoes, but I've stood in my own shoes where I was, I was also very vulnerable and afraid. And I just, I'm not going to do that on my watch. Like with my life, I want to spend my life helping people who have been possibly at a disadvantage, possibly victimized, possibly traumatized. I mean, we all have on some extent, on some level on that front. I want to help you put your best foot forward and feel like you're in control of your life.
So that's why I'm a, that's why I'm a lawyer and that's why I'm an immigration lawyer. And then in terms of making immigration law made easy, we're going to talk about family based petitions. We're not going to talk about employment based petitions. I'm going to have a guest eventually here. There maybe once a quarter on to talk about immigration law petitions so that if you're doing the family based immigration process and you think this might be a good way to go,
but maybe I also can help bring family members here through my business. You know, so you'll have resources who you can, you can learn from and possibly connect with on this podcast, but this is not a podcast. If you're looking for employment based immigration help constantly.
What does family based immigration mean? I think that's an important question that a lot of people will have. It's if you are a US citizen or a lawful permanent resident and you want to petition for your family member, or you want to receive that family member petition, or really if you just have an immediate relative, mom, dad, brother, sister, or child, who's a US citizen or lawful permanent resident. This podcast is for you. It's also for you if you're someone who's in removal proceedings.
So the US government is trying to deport you. And it's also for you if you've ever lost. So if you have lost a USCIS or, you know, you've been told no for a tourist visa in your home country, any of those types of things.
If you've ever been told no, this podcast is for you because I want to empower you to know that one of the episodes that we have in the podcast is called it ain't over till the fat lady sings and she doesn't sing for a lot later than you think like the concerts longer than you think immigration
law process is longer than you think. I want you to know that if you have the desire to immigrate to the United States if you have the desire to be here legally, if it's, you know, your mom and dad, your first gen kid, and you're wanting to figure out how you can help your mom and
dad. I want you to know that fighting and believing are really our only options. So some of the ways that I want to go over the ways that we're going to help we're going to we're going to drop podcast on Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays. Mondays are going to be our substance. We're going to talk about the law. We're going to roll up our sleeves. We're going to get into really small areas of the law, but we're going to go really deep.
I think this is helpful, especially immigration lawyers out there who are listening. This is going to be really helpful for you. I cannot tell you the number of times that I have been in a consultation and had to leave the consultation to go do research.
The research isn't available because it's such a discrete issue. And so you call a friend. It's like who wants to be a millionaire. I'm going to phone a friend right now and you're my friend. I hope that you can help me immigration lawyer friend. I want to be one of those friends for you. So as you, you know, get into this podcast, I want you to constantly be able to learn and become an even better immigration lawyer, because you're consuming the information here so that when you go, you're
not the guy in the blue suit sitting next to your client in a USCIS interview or an immigration court that you are an even better lawyer because you tuned into this podcast. So this one's for you as well. On Wednesdays, we're going to do short episodes. So they really are related to mindset or an immigration law snack. So very, very short episode 15 minutes or so, something like that, where we really go into what does it mean to be to have an immigration lawyer.
Warrior mindset. And that's something that I take on as an immigration lawyer. I am a warrior. I am not just your lawyer. And that's really what you have to do in immigration law because the law changes every single day policies. The application is inconsistent in almost every single office and sometimes immigration courts definitely in every USCIS office there's inconsistent application of the law. So you have to go in and say, I'm, I am going to win.
You have to go in like it's a hostage hostage situation and there are three hostages and you need to get all three hostages out. You're not going to say to the person who's holding them hostage. I'll take one and the other two. Sorry, it's, it's not going to work for you. No, I want to stay in the United States of America because this is the country I love, but I also want to be able to travel to Mexico and go see my family.
I want to stay in the United States of America because it's the country I love, but I want to be able to work here legally because I want to make more money to have a better life for me and my family. So I don't want to work under the table anymore. I want my social security number so that I can live in an awesome apartment and build my own credit and register my car and my own name and get my driver's license and have my car insurance.
I want to be able to have kids with my spouse and my spouse not be afraid that I'm going to get deported and leave her with all of our kids and I'm never going to be able to be the father that I wanted to be because I got deported.
I want you to have all of those things. Getting your papers isn't about having the papers. It's about the lifestyle and the opportunities that are available to you once you have them in your hand because once you have them in your hand, you're going to move on and never really think about it again. Once it will be a thing of the past, now you get to live the life that you've been dreaming about.
I cannot wait for you to enjoy this podcast and go on this journey with me. I'm Hillary Walsh. Let's rock out. I'll see you on Wednesday. Oh, I want to share with you on Fridays, Monday, Wednesday and Friday are the days that we drop. I'm going to do a series before I go. Fridays, we're going to do a series every Friday. We're going to go into it with some immigration, good news, our sign episodes, some immigration, good news, spell sign.
So here's your sign for positivity. Okay. I want you to be hearing, we hear all the bad things in the news. I mean, I'm on the news all the time and I'm always talking about bad things. That's just what the news puts out. I want to fill your mind and your heart and your soul in the things that you see will be shaped by hearing some immigration, good news. So we'll drop those on Fridays.
And those are lighthearted and fun, but still very educational and enriching because they're going to give you the peace to keep fighting the peace to take a step forward. I can't wait. Thank you so much for being on this journey with me.
My friend, I'm so glad you joined me today. If you have a friend or family member who may need some immigration law guidance or even just day to day encouragement, please send them a text or email or a DM on social media and say, Hey, I think this podcast is going to help you. I sure wish someone had given me the tips I'm sharing here years and years ago when I was starting out as an immigration lawyer. Thank you so much for being here. I'll see you next week. Same time, same place. Adios.