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PaperclipPerfector  5d ago (text post)   16780 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of August 3, 2026

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I have very few degrees of separation from Rojas's situation, and more or less gave up on finding out any relevant details (e.g., "You said she's here on a visa; did the visa expire?") from anyone who might know them pretty quickly. This article answers that question and provides a bit more than I knew, while still leaving me suspicious that anything not stated sinks her case. For example:

  1. Rojas would've been under the au pair age cap (which I didn't know about at all; thanks!) when she started in Jan 2023, and according to medium amounts of googling, au pairs can finish out their position if they turn 27 after being hired. However, the article uses the past perfect tense: "for whom she had worked as an au pair", not "for whom she works as an au pair". The article also refers to he people who hired her as "her former employers" without saying how recently the "former" entered into effect.
  2. I cannot seem to get good information on whether or not someone is allowed to stay in the US during processing of their extension. It probably varies by visa. The closest I can find is that it was USCIS policy to allow it, not whether that policy remains current. Given the current administration's general stance on immigration, I wouldn't bet much on it.
  3. DHS doesn't mention her extension application, and I suspect if they had reviewed it and denied it, they would have said so. Then again, I'm reading what the NYT says DHS said and not what DHS said. Maybe DHS did mention the extension, and the NYT left that part out, opting instead for the rote "in violation of our nation’s laws, she overstayed her visa", without technically lying!
  4. The article quotes a different immigration lawyer revising advice she had given regarding domestic travel, and at no point does the article confirm whether the advice refers to the law as-is or to how it has been enforced. I'm pretty sure this depends on the type of visa and whether it's currently active or the situation in #2 applies. It seems possible that Rojas may have been allowed domestic travel as part of her au pair duties under her J-1, but would no longer be covered either because the J-1 had expired or because she was no longer an au pair.

As a result of not being able to discern any of this, I am quite frustrated, mostly because more than a few people I know are very up in arms about it. I have been asked to donate to her legal fund, and even supposing I were inclined to spend my next $100 frustrating immigration enforcement, it's unclear whether or not this particular donation would be setting that $100 on fire.

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