Green Card

24 Under Oath (Lucas)

Bill turned to me and we both smiled. This was, at least, starting out better than I could have hoped.

"Mr. Vega," the judge said then, turning to me. "I have reviewed your record. Accepted into UCLA's advanced coding program with honors, multiple time Dean's List recipient, Magna Cum Laude graduate. A successful entrepreneur, a model citizen, and a private philanthroper. Does this adequately define your character?"

Cassandra frowned. Agent Ashley actually rolled her eyes. But I only looked to Bill who nodded his head, encouraging me to answer for myself. Remembering what he said about standing when addressing the judge, I stood from my seat, buttoning my jacket and nodding respectfully.

"Yes, sir," I answered him. "At least, I hope so."

A few reporters in the courtroom chuckled. The judge himself smiled.

"Miss Nickles, please begin making your case that this extraordinary young gentleman should be shipped back to Argentina on the first available plane," the judge said then, turning his attention to the prosecutor. I sat back down and Bill patted my arm with a nod that told me I'd done well.

"No one is arguing that Mr. Vega has been successful while in this country, Your Honor," the prosecutor began, stepping out from behind her desk and into the open middle area of the courtroom to make her case. "But he came here on a student visa to attend college at UCLA before returning to his home country of Argentina. That visa is now expired by six years. In this country, we have laws which determine who may extend their stay and how. The Who is not the issue with Mr. Vega. He is, as you said, an extraordinary young gentleman. But the how, that is what Homeland Security is calling into question. Your Honor, we have witnesses that will attest to a lack of any romantic relationship between Mr. Vega and Ms. Clark. We have documentation of their spending the last six years apart, only to come together once Agent Ashley here informed them they were under investigation. We have the Agent's own observations during the standard home visit she performed just a week ago and the state of the relationship at that point. Your Honor, the Department of Homeland Security has alleged that Mr. Vega has entered into a marriage for the sole purpose of circumscribing immigration law with Ms. Clark and that is what we will prove."

The more Cassandra spoke, the less certain I began to feel about my own case. I had been in courtrooms before, almost always on matters of business but still, even I could tell that she was a damn good prosecutor. For the first time, I actually started to get nervous.

"Mr. Rockford? Your rebuttal?" The judge asked as the prosecutor returned to her seat, a smile on her face.

"Your Honor, you said it best yourself. We are wasting the court's time with this personal vendetta that Agent Ashley has against my client and other wealthy individuals like him. Mr. Vega is an exemplary citizen without a scratch on his record. He has produced more revenue for the local economy than a third of Palo Alto's residents. And he has been faithfully married to Piper Clark for six years now. The prosecution claims they have witnesses that will testify the relationship is false. We have three for every one of theirs that will testify it is legitimate. They have the observations of an Agent, whose record is far more questionable than my client's, hellbent on my client's removal. As for their separation for the last six years, I will be the first to confess that Mr. Vega and Ms. Clark's arrangement is untraditional but that does not mean they are not in love. And make no mistake, love is what is on trial today."

With that, Bill returned to my side. He looked over to me and I gave him a nod.

"Alright," the judge sighed. "I can see this isn't going to be an easily resolved matter. Let's begin with the witnesses."

Bill was right. For every one witness Cassandra called, he had three more to dispute their claims. Cassandra called mostly people that I interacted with on a near daily basis but didn't know that well. The barista at my local coffee shop, my neighbor who ran with his dog every morning, trainers at my gym. All of them testified that they'd never heard me talk about my wife before or had ever seen her coming and going from my house, which Bill dismissed with the reminder that we had been living separately for six years and an additional bit of info that I had said myself on more than one occasion which was that I preferred to keep my private life private. Cassandra called that "convenient" and the judge had to remind her to speak only when it was her turn.