Adam Torres and Felipe Alexandre discuss immigrants.
Subscribe: iTunes / Spotify
Apply to be a guest on our podcast here
Show Notes:
What can immigrants expect after Trump comes to office? In this episode, Adam Torres interviews Felipe Alexandre, CEO & Founding Attorney at ALFA (Alexandre Law Firm & Associates), explore the immigrant situation in the United States and ALFA.
About Felipe Alexandre
Felipe is a passionate and dedicated immigration attorney who strives to provide high-quality legal services to individuals and businesses facing immigration challenges. He has a strong background in removal defense, asylum, ability based immigration, administrative and federal appeals, and business and investment immigration. He is the founder of Alexandre Law Firm, a law firm that offers personalized and comprehensive immigration solutions to clients worldwide, based in Los Angeles and New York City.
About Alexandre Law Firm & Associates
Alexandre Law Firm & Associates is a traditional immigration law firm with offices in Los Angeles, Orlando, Las Vegas and Nova York. More than dealing with legal processes, their main mission is to help our clients make the dreams of their lives come true, and in order to do that, their team develops a customized strategy for each case, taking into account the best options in immigration to the United States.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to missionmatters. com and click on Be Our Guest to Apply. All right, so today I have Felipe Alexandre on the line, and he’s CEO and founding attorney over at Alexandre Law Firm and Associates, also known as ALFA.
Felipe, welcome to the show. I’m so happy to be here. Thank you for your invitation. All right, Felipe. So I understand that you were sent over to us referred to the show by Tony over at Megamix Expo. And man, I got to tell you, this is the first time I’m going to be attending and I’ll be doing some live interviews there as well.
Megamix Expo, and I’m excited. Is this your first one? Or have you attended one in the past? This will be the first one. I believe that location and very excited to connect with the community. Thank you. Oh, man, I’m telling you, so I’ve been doing this whole interview series now and I think you might be like my third or fifth interview and some of the other people that I’ve interviewed, they’ve been going to them for the last couple of years and pumping me up, man.
They’re getting me excited. I’m like, okay, this is going to be an event. I know I went out to the event location and for everybody tuning in, just so you know, this is going to be at the Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, and that’s going to be on March 12th and 13th. And for those that don’t know Santa Anita park it’s a racetrack and I mean, it overlooks a beautiful mountains and it’s just, it’s absolutely amazing.
You’ve been to the park before, by the way, have the racetrack, Felipe? I never attended the race track, but I’m familiar with San Diego Park. Yeah. And so I have attended the conference there before. Yeah. Yeah. I was going to say this. , it’s an excuse to get out there. It’s going to be fun.
I think it’s a beautiful venue. It’s nice and open and lots of different things to explore. So we’re going to have some fun. And let’s get into today’s topic a bit. So I definitely want to get into your practice and really some of the work that you’re doing with immigrants. So maybe just start off by telling us a little bit more about your firm.
All That’s great. Thank you. So I’ve been a lawyer for 13 years now, and I grew up as an immigrant. I came when I was seven years old. My parents had the American dream and grew up watching immigrants and some of their struggles and even seen people with immigration problems. And then, you know, I just had this interest, you know, for learning other cultures and languages, and I just kind of master two together.
And it just, it was a very natural decision to become an immigration lawyer. I worked in non profits before I worked for the government as a public defender, but always with a focus on immigrants. And so we opened our first office in Orlando 11 years ago. No, 12 years ago now. Wow, time flies. Then New York and now here in California.
You know, we’ve become a nationwide firm. We’re very well known in the Latino and the the Chinese communities. We speak both languages as well as the Portuguese Brazilian communities. But we’ve served clients from 35 countries. And it’s been our Mission to help immigrants from all walks of life reach the American dream, whether it’s the immigrant that is coming here through an investment, investing a million dollars in a firm, or it’s the immigrant coming on a work visa, or even the immigrant who is fleeing persecution and is now in a removal proceedings, or somebody doing good work out in some farm and they get picked up by ICE because they don’t have any documentation.
How do we help that person stay here? , that’s been our mission and that’s what we’re able to do for people.
Hmm. what drew you to that work originally? Was it kinda like a buildup or a destiny thing, or was there like a moment in time? Like what drew you to that work , to taking on this type of law?
’cause a lot of things, I mean, obviously being a lawyer is one thing, but then to go into this, niche in terms of law, I mean, is another, so I’m just curious, what was that like, what was that moment? That’s a wonderful question. So, like I said, you know, the seeds. We’re being planted in my heart as I watch people in my community struggle.
But then I had this interest, you know, I, started learning Chinese and I became obsessed with the language to learn a hard language, man. That’s a hard, hard obsessed. You have to get obsessed or else you won’t learn it. But it’s, it’s really a lot of fun. I was obsessed for like a year during the pandemic, man.
And then once the pandemic was done, my obsession was done. I don’t think it was hard though. I swear. Go ahead. Can you please? It was hard. I wish I could accept that. You can relate. Yeah. You know, , it was definitely a fun ride. And I became obsessed with the idea. And I said, Hey, how can I use my other languages?
Because I speak, you know, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Haitian, Creole, and I’m like, you know, how can I use other languages in general then. You’re pretty good in general to speak that many languages. So maybe, okay, go ahead. I enjoy it. Yeah. I definitely enjoy it. And I wanted something really different. So Chinese was it.
And so, you know, I went to China a few times and I said, this is wonderful. How can I use my skills? To help the world come to China, because at that time, even now, but especially back then, the world was investing in China, right? And so people were struggling in doing business there just kind of navigating the law and navigating the culture.
And I said, you know, I, think I am well positioned to help people come here. I speak Chinese or I’m, learning it and I speak these other languages. I think , I can become a bridge. And so I even did internships for, big multinational law firms. I interned for Baker McKenzie and you would get out of law school making a lot of money.
And that sounded like a plan to me. Cause , they were offering out of law school times, whatever the renminbi was, the RMB was at the time, wow, all of a sudden you’re a millionaire in China. You’re helping the world get there. You get to live in China and continue learning about the culture and language.
That sounds like, a great deal to me. But as I did after my internship, I did a law school exchange. So my law school in Indiana. They gave me a scholarship to study the law of the People’s Republic of China for a year in Chinese with Chinese class, which was an amazing experience. And as I was there, I had some classmates confide in me certain things about just living in that society.
My heart started to gravitate towards a very different direction. Like, Oh no, I don’t like what my heart is telling me right now. Cause this is going to cost you money right now. I have offers out of law school. Like I can become a millionaire in China. Let’s do this. But my heart was telling me, you need to.
Help these people in some way and you can’t help them in China. In China, you’re going to make a lot of money and that’s great. That’s awesome. But you can’t go to court and you can’t stand up for these people. You can’t do anything really significant for them. The place that you can do that for them is in the United States.
And so that’s really where my heart started gravitating towards public interest towards really connecting with people. I remember my internship in the big law firm. did a lot of international trade and we did intellectual property and it was very technical work, but I really missed that people contact.
And so immigration is a very people business and I get to help people fleeing, whether it’s persecution or. You know, whatever it is they’re going through in their home countries to start over here in the United States. So I, I have my classmates in the Chinese law school really just thank for, for this transition.
And so now for context for everybody listening to this, we’re recording this January 6th. 7th 2024, 2025, excuse me. I probably signing the checks wrong too, for the first couple of days of the year. Yeah. So and you know, , a lot of conversation going on about, you know, Trump entering office.
And I’m just curious from your vantage point in your work, like what, what can immigrants expect? Look, I tell them if you’re here already. Make sure you have some kind of immigration application in line. Make sure you’ve submitted something so that in the event you run across an immigration enforcement officer, you can tell them, Hey, I have this petition pending.
And then they’ll probably leave you alone, right? And so the people that are going to be vulnerable to whatever enforcement action that Trump is going to envision, these are people who have nothing pending, who are here completely out of status. And even if you have a deportation order, that was years ago, maybe you can reopen it.
Maybe if something happened in your home country, that’s a grounds for you to reopen your deportation order. So don’t just sit there and wait for it to happen. Right now, we know that Trump has pledged the biggest mass deportation movement in the history, et cetera. Is it going to happen? Why I really think that he’s going to try but I do say that his priority is going to be people one who have serious criminal records two people who have deportation orders and then three it’s going to be people who are here without status But haven’t committed crimes don’t have a deportation order, etc So it’s Take yourself out of being vulnerable, file the application, consult with a lawyer before he takes power.
But even then, it’s going to take months for him to really get that deportation gears really going and just prepare yourself. And if you’re not in the United States or if you’re here but you’re here as a tourist, you’re here as a student and you would like to stay here, make sure you plan. Make sure you consult with an attorney.
you plan. You know, things work out, you know, if you have a dream of staying here, it’s just a matter of how you get here. Now, I know obviously that’s gotta be the big most pressing news or one of the most pressing news is that that’s taking place right now. Is there anything else like current event wise or otherwise that, you know, is in your world that you want to share?
So we are very excited about Elon Musk and what he’s doing. Bring him to the table with the Trump presidency, because he’s really stirring up a debate, which is going to be very favorable for immigrants. Now, this might only benefit a certain segment of the immigrant population, but not necessarily, it might trickle down to everybody.
He’s really stirring up a debate about the H1B work visa. And traditionally, even Trump in his previous term, he pushed back on the H1B, but now since Elon is on his side, Elon came with an H1B, Elon is an immigrant. from South Africa, naturalized citizen now. And he is really, really advocating for this visa.
And so now we hear favorable language coming from Trump himself. So I think this is, almost something we never saw with Trump. He’s speaking favorably of this visa and he’s saying that we need these people in the economy needs them. So actually going to be a very interesting time. For immigration lawyers, because on the one hand, he’s saying that he’s going to try to deport all these people.
But on the other hand, he’s also saying that certain immigrants, he wants to give them green cards. He wants to give them opportunities. He’s listening to Elon Musk now. He’s saying, you know, I support , this kind of visa. So for certain immigrants, it might be very beneficial. And then for others, we’re going to see, but hopefully his attention is going to be drawn into making some kind of immigration reform and not tearing families apart.
Yeah, and for those that don’t know what that type of visa is, maybe explain that a bit just to give some of the basics. Absolutely. So the H 1B visa is for qualified professionals. And so one of the myths is, oh, you know, Google just hires anyone so they can, , underpay them save money. That’s actually not the case.
And so this person has to prove that they have an advanced degree. And that the position that they’re applying for is a position that requires advanced degree and the kind of training that they have. So that’s one. Two, the employer cannot just pay them. Can you give an example of that, by the way? A quick example of that.
Like, what might that look like? A software engineer, right? And so this is the position in San Jose that is advanced and normally requires a bachelor’s, normally requires a master. Somebody with, you know, X number work experience. And that person has it. Right. And so they’re able to prove that. And then the company in San Jose, they can’t just pay this person 10 an hour.
They’re going to have to ask the government and say, Hey, government, how much do I have to pay a software engineer in San Jose and they’re going to tell them this is how much you have to pay. So they can’t just, you know, undercut and they can’t just pay these immigrants, whatever they want to pay them.
Yeah. And that’s a good example, right? Cause there’s I mean, there’s been. been a deficit, right? And in some high tech jobs and then the foreseeable future that that’s what it appears to be. So if that’s not like just to get into a little bit of the argument, maybe, talk about that.
Like , it’s above politics. , it’s about also supply and demand, right? Absolutely. We tell people, it’s unfortunate that immigration has become such a political topic. Yeah. It’s really an, it’s really an American issue, right? It’s an American issue because you have a lot of U. S.
citizens married to people who don’t have status. So that’s an American issue. And then you have consumers. Who rely on all kinds of company, whether it’s for high tech items or everyday items and immigrants are helping produce those items. And we unfortunately, for whatever reason, we don’t have enough manpower here in the United States, both blue collar as well as white collar to produce these items for our consumers and to keep the prices down like Americans love.
And so we need these people here. Now Trump is, also recognizing that we need these people here. So , if they can make this happen, if they can make it more realistic, And what I mean by realistic is now H 1B, the demand for it, it’s become a lottery, right, because only a certain amount of people that can get it, but the amount of employers that need it far exceeds what’s currently being offered.
So we’re hoping that, Elon and Trump, they can really push for something more realistic that meets the needs of today’s companies.
Okay, so so that was 1, you said you were a couple of reasons was that , you mentioned some other ones. I kind of cut you off there. Was there any other? No, I think that was it. Perfect. . Philippa, this.
This has been a really good update and I’m excited to learn more about what’s going on here and I’m excited also to meet you in person when we get up to the medical mix expo. This has been, I mean, the event’s huge. looked at the layout and I looked at like all the booth placements and like, there’s gonna be hundreds of booths.
I think it’s gonna be insane. And it’s kind of fun because , I know you mentioned that you guys started in Orlando, but , you serve Southern California as well. You have a presence here, correct? Yeah. Absolutely. We have office in Rowland Heights and we’re actually opening locations in Monterey Park at Irvine.
Man, that’s amazing. Well, , Felipe, if somebody wants to listen, or if somebody wants to connect with you and your team , how do they do that? They can go to our website, so it’s alexandrelaw. com they can call our main California office, which is 626 509 2126 or they can look us up on Instagram, if you look up Alpha Immigration Law Firm, , they’ll be able to find us, ALFA.
Fantastic. And for everybody listening, just so you know, definitely put those links in the show notes so you can just click on the link and head right on over and check out the firm. And speaking of the audience, if this is your first time with Mission Matters and you haven’t done it yet, hit that subscribe or follow button.
This is a daily show. Each and every day, we’re bringing you new content, new ideas, and hopefully new inspiration. So again, hit that subscribe or follow button and if you’re in the California area, or if you want to be, don’t forget to head on over to visit us over at the Megamix Expo. That’s going to be March 12th and 13th at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California.
You can just go to you can go to MegamixExpo. com to pick up tickets there. Again, MegamixExpo. com and Felipe, thanks again for coming on the show, man. It’s been a pleasure. Thank you so much. I look forward to seeing you at the Expo.