Immigration law determines whether a person is an alien, the rights, duties, and obligations associated with being an alien in the United States, and how aliens gain residence or citizenship within the United States. It also provides the means by which certain aliens can become legally naturalized citizens with full rights of citizenship. Immigration law serves as a gatekeeper for the border of the nation, determining who may enter, how long they may stay, and when they must leave. Immigration lawyers represent persons seeking temporary and permanent residency (green cards) status in the U.S., those interested in obtaining U.S. citizenship through a process called naturalization, and clients facing deportation and removal. Immigration attorneys may also represent businesses seeking to secure temporary visa status for foreign employees.
Bloomington is a city and the county seat of Monroe County in the southern region of the U.S. state of Indiana. According to the 2000 census, the city population was 69,291 with a 2007 estimate of 72,254. Bloomington is the home to Indiana University. Established in 1820, IU has approximately 40,000 students and is the original and largest campus of the Indiana University system. In 1991, Thomas Gaines, a landscape artist, published a book, The Campus As a Work of Art, in which he named the Bloomington campus one of the five most beautiful in America. Most of the campus buildings are built of Indiana limestone. Bloomington is also the home of the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University Maurer School of Law - Bloomington, the world renowned Jacobs School of Music, the Kelley School of Business, the Kinsey Institute, The Indiana University School of Optometry, the Indiana University School of Informatics and Computing (the School of Informatics also has a branch at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis), and The Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute. Bloomington has been named a Tree City for more than 20 years. The city was the site of the Academy Award-winning movie Breaking Away, featuring a reenactment of Indiana University's annual Little 500 bicycle race. Bloomington is also famous for its rock quarries, also featured in Breaking Away, which residents have been known to use as swimming holes.