Luis Rojo, Rojo Steele | The Jeff Crilley Show

Thank you. Absolutely appreciate it.

Oh, I can trace it back, kind of like an anecdote. Back in the late 90s, Dr. Phil, who was very prominent there with Oprah Winfrey, and he would talk about psychology and how it affects our day-to-day lives, and I was fascinated by that. So the precursor to me being interested in law was actually being interested in psychology. I picked up one of his books, I read more about him, and he had a firm that did jury consulting, so he was marrying these two very interesting concepts to me at the time. So I think that sparked. And then my undergrad was in psychology, with knowing that I was going to go to law school. That was always my plan. So having those two interests really aligned, and that propelled me to a legal career. And I would say just having that background and that interest in psychology is so important because so much of your success is how you relate to clients. And the clients that you're getting right now, many of them are very panicked, and you really have to tap into their humanity and give them a strategy not only for legalization but in order to make good life decisions, how to maximize their ability to thrive. So I think one of the things I'm most passionate about is making sure my clients understand their path to success in life. And I want to share with them the gift of the United States. So I can make somebody a resident, a US citizen, that fills me with pride because I know the opportunities that this country offers. So that's what really gives me my motivation and what gives me joy in my work.

Sure. One of them that was very uplifting to me, and I hope I don't get emotional on this one, but it was a young man who had an avenue for relief. He was here and he was undocumented. He came as a very young, and his father was a US citizen. And one of the curiosities in law is that once you turn 18, that's when these exclusions start accumulating. So after the age of 18, every day that you're here without status, it starts counting, and if you get far enough, then you have exclusions. So we had to sit down and have a very serious conversation about his life in the future because he was about to turn 18. He was still in his senior year of high school, and my advice to him was, well, if you don't want to complicate this further, then you must leave by this date, 18 and six months, before you start accumulating any time that would exclude you. So of course, the mother, being very protective, she was terrified of this happening. But this young man made a very mature, very adult decision in departing the country and actually waiting it out in order to do the entire process, which is administrative, it takes a while. So I was very encouraged by somebody having that much fortitude and wisdom at that very young age. And things did get complicated because it was a pandemic also, which was good and bad. In his situation, he feared that he wouldn't be able to complete school because of the pandemic. It turned out that he could do it remotely, so he made the decision, went to Mexico, finished out the year remotely, and then he was able to come back. What great advice.

It really makes me happy. This was a complete journey that started about this time last year where we decided to go out on our own. And it's wonderful to see that because it brings back memories of us doing that shoot and really trying to build something. And it's wonderful. My partner, Priscilla, we have nothing but all-stars at our well. In the US, I know that a notary has a certain status here, but in Mexico, notario is a legal representative. So I know that there are these firms here in Dallas that advertise that they will help you with immigration, but they're not really a lawyer. That's correct. I'm not sure about the terminology in Mexico. From what I always explained to somebody who lives there is that you are a licensed attorney after about five years of undergrad education, and then there's a special certification that's called notario in order to do more high-level transactions like real estate. So that's how they use the term. And here, people who are trying to practice law unlawfully use that term in order to confuse the population, say, oh, we're notario, and in their mind, oh great, so not only are they an attorney, they're a notario, this is fantastic. So there are people here who take advantage of that word basically. And that's so unfortunate because somebody could come here, try to become legal, but they're going to somebody who's really not a licensed attorney, and there are no consequences for them unfortunately because they can just pack up and move somewhere else if something goes wrong. If something goes wrong, it's us who have to clean up the mess without any consequences. So when an attorney messes up, there are clear consequences. There are bar complaints, there are a number of things. So when we do work, we stand behind it because of the consequences. So trusting somebody who has nothing to lose is certainly a dangerous proposition.

Sure. Starting out, one of the challenges is how do people know we exist? Fortunately, I built a long career, had several contacts, so I've been able to do outreach, community outreach, and that sort of thing, and that's gotten us so far because there wasn't that much motivation in the community as there is now. So obviously with the Trump administration, people want to know where they stand. They're now highly motivated, and these are people who also have an avenue. A lot of them do have an avenue, and they never really explored it because maybe they were fearful. But now that they have the motivation, that's when we're getting the influx of calls.

Wow, okay. It can be as short as a couple years or as long as 30. In the case of an employment-based visa, I know the visas for Indian nationals are backed up to exceed life expectancy. We have visas that are backed up for like a hundred years, something crazy. We don't deal in business immigration, but let's say you had a brother in the UK and you wanted to petition for him. We can expect that wait time to be about 14 years. If your brother was Mexican, that would be about 21 years. No kidding. So it really depends. There are different categories, like level of precedence. Basically, if you're a US citizen petitioning a spouse, quicker, a couple years perhaps. Child, same amount. But once that relationship starts coming out of the nuclear family, that's when you see the very long wait times.

Sure. The first step to combat fear is knowledge. So definitely right now, a lot of the calls, maybe I can't do anything for them, but I still have a responsibility to let them know what their rights are and what their situation is so they can make good decisions for themselves and their family. So very much, I'm trying to provide a peace of mind through knowledge.

They're not. The situation when I see panic is when they have a family member who is currently detained, I don't know where they are, last I heard they were along this route, and not being able to locate a family member, that's excruciating. So I get those. And also general ones where, okay, well I entered this year and I wanted to apply for asylum. A lot of asylum calls for sure because of the recent influx of those type of migrants.

It feels incredible to share the opportunity of being in the United States. I think that's a great gift, and especially someone who is young, who has their whole life ahead of them. If I can get somebody status, and I consider myself an importer, I'm importing persons to live their lives here safely in the United States, and that's great joy when you can deliver that to somebody and see the optimism in the rise of their future.

The partnership works because we have a shared vision. You have to choose very selectively when you're going in with anybody. It's trust, it's shared vision, and also having the same level of expertise and knowledge because you have to be completely in sync with that. So we have the same vision. We want to provide a boutique experience for clients. We want to have access to the lawyers. We don't have the interest of, oh let's grow, or what's the tech term, grow or die, something like that. That's not the vision. The vision is to have a client who knows us, gets to know us, and refers, have a good network, and be able to have sustainable growth. We're going to grow sustainably and not deal in high volume. We want to be a boutique service.

I think our clientele definitely wants to have that contact with the attorney. That's one thing that they're accustomed to. When I hire a lawyer, I'd rather not actually talk to a lawyer myself. I'd much rather deal with a legal assistant. But that's my perspective. I don't need to be reassured. I can do my own investigation. I'm a lawyer, so I trust the system and I understand the way they do business. I know how law firms work. But our clientele, they feel they want that connection. They want to be able to rely on you. So that's why I think in our business, having a boutique experience is important for the client.

I heavily prefer face-to-face. I'd rather connect with somebody. So we have options of phone consultations. You call our office, you'll be scheduled with an attorney, myself or Priscilla, whoever you'd like to speak to, and then we'll schedule you in person or by phone, speak to you about what is possible. Also in cases of detention, we take quick action in that. We offer free consultations right now, so anybody can call at any time and schedule a consult. So you have nothing to lose. I want to know how I'm situated. I want to speak to an attorney. I want to make sure I'm not getting advice from a legal assistant or notario or somebody else. So we provide that access.

If you know you may have something, you have a US citizen spouse, parent, child, if you haven't taken action, you've never spoken to an attorney, now is the time to do it because you want peace of mind during these times. And it is a very low investment to speak to an attorney, whether you choose us or somebody else. But one should know where they're situated. So I would say my call to action is everybody should know how they're situated at this time.

Thank you, sir. You bet.