I’m just a regular international student, trying to stay in the U.S. legally.
I studied hard, paid out-of-state tuition, did unpaid internships, and now I’m on OPT, anxiously preparing for H-1B season. Every job interview starts with: “Do you need sponsorship?” And I still say thank you at the end.
But then I read a story that really hit me.
A Chinese woman walked into a law office in NYC. She had applied for asylum, claiming she was forced to have an abortion in China. But here’s the thing, the entire story was fake, written by the lawyer’s assistant. The lawyer told her, “Don’t worry, just memorize the script.”
This isn’t a one-off case. It’s an industry.
In Flushing, Chinatown, Sunset Park, there are entire teams churning out fake asylum stories — forged church certificates, fake police records, even Photoshopped images of “police brutality.” Some lawyers submit over 1,000 asylum cases in 2 years. They even coach clients how to lie during interviews.
These asylum seekers?
They get Medicaid (white card).
They get free housing assistance.
They get EADs (work permits) faster than we get our OPT.
And within a year, they apply for green cards.
Meanwhile, we:
- Work legally
- Pay full taxes
- Don’t qualify for any benefits
- Can’t afford to get sick, because we’re not eligible for public healthcare
It honestly feels like the system punishes those who follow the rules.
I’m not against helping real refugees, but when fake cases flood the system, even the genuine ones suffer. And the rest of us? We’re stuck in the longest, most uncertain immigration game ever designed.
When fraud becomes normalized, and honesty gets penalized, how is that a system worth trusting?
Just asking.