黛布拉·布鲁诺
2017年7月24日
美国民主党在全美50个州和80多个国家都有成员.C. 酒吧 is beginning a regular feature to profile the people who make up our community. Read about your peers, their lives, and their work around the world.
Immigrants—documented and undocumented—often have a hard time in court. 英语往往不是他们的第一语言, 误解很普遍, and sometimes what appears to be a small mistake can lead to deportation.
Father and-son attorneys Claudio Gnocchi和Paolo Gnocchi have seen all this in their criminal defense and immigration practice. 的汤圆, 有意大利血统，来自波多黎各，说英语, 西班牙语, 和意大利, 在Paolo Gnocchi靠谱的滚球平台事务所一起工作, 有限责任公司, 在银泉, 马里兰.
保罗处理刑事诉讼. 然后, 经常, 他把一些客户交给了父亲克劳迪奥, a retired Army judge advocate general who specializes in immigration matters. Sometimes the reverse happens—a client with an immigration matter may need his or her criminal case resolved first.
The two men have found that their specialized niche is unlike that of most other law practices, 都是因为华盛顿的移民问题, D.C., 面积不同于面积, 说, 加州, and few understand how a misstep in criminal court can have larger consequences for non-citizens.
“一个习惯于代表美国的人.S. citizens might think that pleading guilty to a DUI is no big deal,” Paolo Gnocchi 说s. “But for people who have a different immigration status,” there are larger ramifications.
During his administration, President Obama started increasing immigration enforcement. “People who had traditionally been left alone suddenly became deportation priorities” if they were charged with a misdemeanor, 保罗说.
这个地区有许多移民, 保罗说, 具有临时保护状态, granted to eligible nationals of certain designated countries that allows them to work but provides no path for obtaining permanent residency or a green card. 换句话说，虽然他们有暂时在美国的权利.S., even a small misdemeanor, such as driving without a drivers’ license, could result in deportation. 保罗说，具有讽刺意味的是，直到最近，D.C. 马里兰州不允许非公民获得驾驶执照.
Another complication is that many immigrants come from Latin American countries where notaries are traditionally also lawyers. 许多来自这些国家的移民, 这是可以理解的, 这里的公证人也有资格提供法律建议. That’s not always the case, and immigrants can end up with incorrect legal advice.
“We realized there was a need for a competent defense counsel who spoke 西班牙语,保罗说.
这就是68岁的克劳迪奥爸爸的用武之地. After a long career as an Army lawyer and as a civilian attorney-advisor for the U.S. Department of Defense, Claudio retired, but he soon found out he wasn’t quite done yet. 他说:“六个月后，我就爬墙了。.
Paolo stepped in, telling his dad that many of his clients in criminal court had immigration issues. “He said to me, ‘Why don’t you come down here and see how it works and see how it goes?’”克劳迪奥说.
他觉得这很有趣. 他报名参加了D.C. 酒吧 classes in immigration law, something he now 说s he wishes he had started earlier. 在很短的时间内，他有了大约200个客户. “这是我真正喜欢做的事情，”他说.
克劳迪奥的大部分工作都是代表客户在美国出庭受审.S. 美国公民及移民服务局阿灵顿庇护办公室. “很多靠谱的滚球平台会说，‘祝你面试顺利.“这是让你的客户失败的好方法，”他说. 而不是, he prepares clients about the kinds of questions that might be asked so that their asylum is not denied for “silly reasons.例如:, 克劳迪奥说, a legitimately married couple could get tripped up with a question about what kind of toothbrush the spouse uses.
偶尔, Paolo will refer to his father cases where he has been able to get a charge reduced, but that still require a good immigration attorney to help the client maneuver possible immigration issues.
Paolo also often finds himself representing clients in some disturbing cases. 其中之一是奥迪亚斯·桑切斯的案子, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for the 2013 death of a four-year-old child and two family members during an impromptu speeding contest with another driver in Montgomery County, 马里兰. Paolo argued that Sanchez, his client, was not racing with the other car.
“我认为我的当事人是无辜的，”他说. 但更重要的是，他说，“我相信这个体系. 当某人被指控犯罪时, they have the absolute right to defense and the presumption of innocence.”
He puts the same faith in the system in cases where his client was guilty. “If they have broken the rules, the system is also going to work,” 他说.
克劳迪奥·格诺奇在他的军法署工作中也接手了一些棘手的案子. 例如，有一份工作是为陆军死刑犯辩护. Claudio did that for four years, while most lawyers are only able to handle it for two, 他说. The job involved making oral arguments before a military tribunal, much like the U.S. 最高法院. 那些两周一次的争论, 他说, “确实磨练了我在法律辩论和撰写摘要方面的技能,他现在在移民工作中使用的技能.
Today the Law Office of Paolo Gnocchi is quieter than in years past, in part because many immigrants are hesitant to draw attention to themselves for fear of deportation. 即使他们可能已经达成了交易监督缓刑, 例如，客户可以被输入联邦数据库. “接下来他们就知道了, they have an immigration agent waiting for them outside the courthouse,保罗说.
“Where people who would have flown under the radar have minor things, they now become fugitives and they are picked up when they cross state lines,保罗说. 他的一些客户告诉他，他们不会上法庭, 不管他们的情况如何, 这样他们就可以避免被驱逐出境, 他说.
But plenty of clients love the idea of a father–son team taking up their case. “他们叫我保罗的爸爸，”克劳迪奥说. “他们认为保罗所知道的一切都是我教的. So I use his fame and his good will for my clients, and it’s worked out really well.”
