"How Much Longer Can the USA Avoid the Issue of Illegal Immigrants?"

With the arrest of eight members of Congress during a protest in front of the Congress, the immigration bill continues to keep its place in America’s political scene. The Obama administration emphasizes that having legal regulations to open the door for green cards for undocumented immigrants would also serve as a big gain for the economy. The view of supporters is that the new bill would help liven up different sectors, primarily real estate to increase new housing starts.

A graduate of İstanbul University Law School, Birsen Aksakal is a member of both the İstanbul and New York Bar Associations. When asked the question, “As there are more than enough immigration lawyers in and around New York trying to reach the Turkish community, wouldn’t it be difficult to find a place in the market?” Aksakal answers, “If you do your job delicately, you can always find a place for yourself in the market. We approach every file as if it was our own, knowing that it would change a person’s life.”

Having encountered many difficulties during her own green card process through the job she had started when she came to the USA, Aksakal mentions that the process was delayed due to the mistakes of the law office she applied through. “I know very well what an immigrant may go through during this process.”

After completing an internship in Turkey at Gür & İnal Law Office and then working as a lawyer, Aksakal came to the USA in 2001. She first started an MBA program in NYIT but her mind was on the law. She left her MBA studies and went on to obtain a master’s degree in law from Touro College. After completing the LLM program, she started working at Carmel & Frederickson Law Firm, which was specializing in real estate. Currently, she works, with her partner Leyla Moallemzadeh, at their own firm Moallemzadeh & Aksakal Attorneys at Law P.C. in the field of immigration law.

By also representing Umut Vakfı (Hope Foundation), an organization in Turkey working against personal arming, in the United Nations, Aksakal also reaches out to, in addition to the Turks, the members of the Indian, Pakistani, and Iranian communities about immigration issues.