Episode 41: An interview with BAL Managing Partner Frieda Garcia

It’s Sept. 14, and this is your BAL Immigration Report.

• A federal judge rules against Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
• The State Department announces it has issued all available Diversity Visas.
• We sit down with Frieda Garcia, BAL’s new managing partner.

“I’m very proud of how BAL was structured and the foundation that was laid by our founding partners 43 years ago, which was a culture of collaboration, inclusiveness and, you know, those are words that have become very common these days, but not something that is new to BAL.”

—Frieda Garcia, BAL Managing Partner

U.S. news

Judge rules against DACA

Federal judge Andrew Hanen has again ruled against Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. Hanen first ruled against DACA in 2021, saying the Obama administration did not follow proper steps when it created the program. On Wednesday, he ruled that the Biden administration’s attempt to protect DACA through federal regulation was illegal, saying there was no material difference between the Obama and Biden administrations’ actions.

Under the ruling, the Department of Homeland Security will continue to be barred from approving first-time DACA requests. Renewal applications can still be processed. The Biden administration is expected to appeal Hanen’s ruling, and most observers believe the case will eventually land before the U.S. Supreme Court.

All Diversity Visas issued

The State Department announced it has issued all available Diversity Visas for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30. Diversity Visas offer nationals of countries with low immigration rates to the U.S. an opportunity to apply for a U.S. immigration visa. Issuances are kept at 55,000 per fiscal year, and no single country may receive more than 7% of available visas in a given year.

The department acknowledged that “the early conclusion of the 2023 program may be disappointing to selectees who were unable to receive a visa.” It encouraged eligible applicants to apply when the 2025 Diversity Visa program entry period opens in October.

U.S. news roundup

• S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued updated guidance on EB-1 visa eligibility.
• The Department of Homeland Security extended Temporary Protected Status registration periods for current beneficiaries from six countries.
• The Department of Labor published a proposed regulation to strengthen protections for U.S. farm workers, including H-2A visa holders.

Spotlight

A conversation with Frieda Garcia, BAL’s new managing partner.

BAL Immigration Report: BAL formally announced Frieda’s appointment to the position this week. As managing partner, Frieda will oversee all aspects of BAL’s legal operations and will work to deliver best-in-class client services and build on the firms oneBAL culture. In the firm’s 43-year history, Frieda is the third person, and first woman and first Latina, to hold the position.
We spoke with Frieda last week and asked her for her thoughts on the appointment.

Garcia: I’m very excited. It’s a meaningful milestone for me, both personally and professionally. Personally because, as a mom to two daughters, I’m happy and proud to lead by example and show not only my family and close friends and colleagues but the world that if you work hard and you put your mind to something, you can accomplish your goals. I started at BAL almost 23 years ago as an associate with less than a year of experience and came into a world of lots of opportunity. I stand by that if you ask questions and you raise your hand when new challenges come about, that you can continue to grow and progress in your career. That’s what happened to me. I’m happy to be part of senior leadership in a firm that provides a lot of opportunities for folks in whatever role there is at the firm.

BAL: Frieda’s life and career have been shaped by her family’s own immigration journey. She was born in the U.S. but moved to El Salvador at a very young age. Frieda lost her mother to cancer when she was just 4. After the family lived for several years in El Salvador, Frieda’s father obtained a work visa and moved the family back to the U.S. when she was 8. Driven by her experiences, she pursued higher education at the University of California, Davis, and the University of San Francisco School of Law. It was during this time that Frieda discovered her passion for immigration law.

Garcia: I went to law school thinking I was going to be a family law attorney, and I did do an internship in family law. But I kept being pulled to immigration at the time, and as someone who comes from an immigrant family and has lived in El Salvador, there was a need to have attention and representation for folks from Central America — there was a lot of asylum and going through political struggles there. It was easy for me to find opportunities, and I volunteered helping folks who were in deportation — now called removal proceedings — at the time. So that got me into the field of immigration law.

My first job out of college was as a paralegal in immigration, and I had the good fortune to have landed at a firm where they handled both the removal defense and also the corporate side. I landed mostly on the corporate side and really enjoyed the business immigration component —the green card processes and the labor certification process, which has now morphed a couple of times since I started in the early ’90s — and I fell in love with it. I was able to help people pursue significant changes in opportunities in their lives through immigration and through employment.

BAL: Frieda began her legal career during the dot-com boom, joining BAL in 2001. She takes over as managing partner at a time of both political and economic uncertainty but says BAL’s past experiences put the firm in a good position to handle today’s challenges.

Garcia: We have 43 years of experience in immigration law. To me personally, as I’ve mentioned, almost 23 years, we’ve seen a lot of change in immigration, not only from the policy and law changing, but also various economic waves that we’ve ridden. If I go back to my experiences over the last 23 years, I always come out with nothing is impossible in this world. It just requires a mind shift and different type of work.

We are in a new era, post-pandemic, post-great resignation, political changes and uncertainties in an economic situation that also has been uncertain and impacting our clients differently. What that means for us and for helping companies through these processes is we’ve got to come up with new ways to navigate these issues. Taking from experiences from years ago, I can see that sometimes you look for those hidden opportunities that you wouldn’t normally think about to continue to push forward and advocate for our clients. With time, the government and immigration adapt because there is a need to bring talent and different talents from around the world.

BAL: Frieda says BAL will continue to work to meet clients’ distinct immigration needs and will advocate for positive policy change through the firm’s Government Strategies team. She says what sets BAL apart is a structure and culture that encourages collaboration across teams and throughout the firm’s 12 offices.

Garcia: I’m very proud of how BAL was structured and the foundation that was laid by our founding partners 43 years ago, which was a culture of collaboration, inclusiveness and, you know, those are words that have become very common these days, but not something that is new to BAL — so from day one. Personally, I believe that part of my success is I can walk into anybody’s office and ask questions and look for guidance. And it was more focused on, how do we come up with a solution? How do we problem-solve together? How do we advance? There’s never been a sense of competition, and I know that’s also another common phrase that’s thrown around, but it truly is part of our DNA. I have a number of examples. I go back to, in my first six years at BAL, we had an opportunity as a nation where the immigration service opened up the floodgates of that last stage of the green card process and every single person in our firm came together to help out because we had thousands of applications to file in a very limited time period. I like to tell my nonimmigration friends that it’s the equivalent of several years of tax seasons packed into a five- or six-week time period where you need to be different, you need to be collaborating differently. It’s hard work, but it’s doable if we all volunteer and look for ways in which we can continue to support each other until we get to that finish line individually as we process thousands of applications. When opportunities come to us, whether it’s a challenge for a client or new opportunities, we do leverage the firm — and that is different and unique to BAL. Our clients see it when they see how we support our people and how we can go through really difficult times but still come out, maybe a little bit of work to lots of work to go through the process and tired, but we’ve always been able to successfully deliver whether it’s two cases or 10,000 cases in a five-week period. So I’m very proud of that and that does set BAL apart in a significant way.

BAL: Among her many accomplishments, Frieda has been recognized by Best Lawyers every year since 2016. She won a Corporate Counsel’s Women, Influence and Power in Law award for thought leadership last year. She and her two daughters are members of the National Charity League, a group of mothers and daughters committed to community service, leadership development and cultural experiences. BAL CEO Jeremy Fudge says that for over two decades, Frieda has been a distinguished leader and mentor at BAL, and she has truly exemplified our commitment to pursue the exceptional. We asked Frieda if she had any final thoughts on her new role.

Garcia: As I said, I’m very excited. I’m quite mindful that I’m coming into this during a time that is different for the world. But I’ve always been a person who takes challenges and I, years ago, started raising my hand to try to be a productive component of solutions, of advancement. And I hope that people were able to see that half the battle in so much of what we do in this world is your mindset and how you adapt and how you approach situations. I think we live in a more complicated world than generations ago. I say that not only from what I’ve read, but I know that the world has had lots of advancements, which also complicate things, but it’s always good to go back to basics — which is working hard, positive mindset, knowing challenges will come, and being kind and respectful and collaborative and inclusive — is all valuable and what’s going to always set people apart. Life is challenging enough, but if you fall back on just being kind and hardworking, it goes so far and it’s recognized and, ultimately, it’s fulfilling.

BAL: For more information on Frieda’s appointment to managing partner, please visit BAL.com.

Global news

EU court rules on U.S. visas

The European Court of Justice backed the European Commission in a key case involving the U.S.’s visa policies with four EU countries. The court ruled in favor of the Commission’s view that it is not obliged to require U.S. travelers to obtain a visa to enter the EU.

The European Parliament had argued that because the U.S. requires visas of nationals from Bulgaria, Cyprus and Romania, the EU should respond reciprocally. The Commission’s view was that imposing visa requirements on Americans would have harmful economic and political impacts, and the court agreed.

Australia closes pandemic event visa

In Australia, the government has closed its pandemic event visa to new applicants. Current visa holders will be eligible to renew their visas for a six-month extension until Feb. 1, 2024, when the program closes to all applicants. Authorities created the pandemic event visa in 2020 to allow temporary visa holders to remain onshore and work unlimited hours while they were unable to leave the country due to international border closures.

Global news roundup

• The Canadian government officially reopened the Parents and Grandparents visa program.
• The Singaporean government released an updated Shortage Occupation List Employer Guide.
• Australia and the Philippines agreed to launch a work in holiday visa program.

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