A lawyer stares across his desk and gives his client a dire warning. “You have a month to find someone to cosign your visa,” he says. “If you don’t, you have to leave the US.” It’s another bleak day at Khalil Immigration Law, where people losing their cases vanish into thin air, and even a gold plaque on the waiting room wall promises to make no promises, featuring a motto that tepidly declares, “We’ll do what we can!” If that sounds absurd, it should.
If the clemency application is granted, Nakli says it would clear the way for him to become a US citizen and dramatically change his life. There’s no doubt Nakli’s push to get a pardon adds a layer of irony to his portrayal of an immigration lawyer in the film. Torres says it also highlights a unique situation many immigrants face. “In Laith’s case, it’s like, if you were American, this would never come up.