It was on June 10, and my husband and I were both getting ready for work. Just a typical day, when he left the house, I received the phone call about ten minutes after he left and it was the ICE officer informing me that he was arresting my husband and that they were taken him to a deportation center. So, I was asking questions that he didn’t really answer. He just told me where he would be and that they would call me. I had to wake up the girls. It was just a moment of shock and disbelief. I was angry because it just happened so abruptly and we call his family right away and it was just a very emotional process for us. Same morning, I got on the computer right away. I started googling immigration lawyers. There were maybe three to four lawyers that I went to see. I was on the phone with them and I had his sister help me make some phone calls as well and we were just calling to find out if they could see us right away. I told them that I needed to see someone immediately as it had just happened this morning. I did have three consultations and with three lawyers and some of the lawyers that I spoke to, I mean the first thing they were talking about was well this is how much it’s going to cost you. What happened with your husband there’s no hope for your husband he’s going to be deported. My sister-in-law actually was the one who found Mario and she said he seems to be a good lawyer, he has a lot of experience. She’s like you should give him a call so I actually called the module that same day or his office and I would say within the hour someone was calling me back.
My initial consultation I actually went to see him with my two daughters and we didn’t have to wait long. It was you know I checked in they brought me into a room right away and from the moment that Mario came in to sit down with me he explained you know what he specializes in, how many years of experience he’s been doing this. He shared a personal story which to me was actually the reason why I chose Mario because I felt due to his personal story that he could relate to what we were going through and what I liked about him is that he had a lot of different examples for me. He had this book. I don’t know what the book was but he was basically going over my husband’s case, he looked up his information and he said this is probably what we can do for your husband, I can’t guarantee but I’m gonna try my hardest to make sure that I can defend him. So that was the reason that I decided to go with Mario because he was very genuine, he seemed to care about what we were going through, and he didn’t start talking about the money right away. It was more of how can I help you.
The whole process with the court was emotional for us. I’m glad that we didn’t have to go through it too many times. I can remember one time that we went to court where the whole family had to be present and Mario prepared us and told us you know what to expect, what was going to be said between him and the lawyer. I would definitely recommend Mario and his staff members. Everyone was very accommodating. The follow-up was prompt and he was always available no matter what time I called him even if I sent him a text message he would respond which really surprised me coming from a law firm. He was there for us at all times. I would have ideas and I would say hey did you look into this or her he never got frustrated with me he understood what we were going through but he was always two steps ahead. So if I had a question he already knew how to answer. I would highly recommend him and his staff. Someone was always there and they were making sure that we had all our answers.
