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.
Clarence is a village in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 516 at the 2000 census. It is located some seven miles east of the parish seat of Natchitoches and is part of the Natchitoches Micropolitan Statistical Area. Still owned by descendants of its founders, Grayson Barbeque, with a smokehouse, is the best known business in Clarence. It is located on U.S. Highway 71 near the intersection with U.S. Highway 84, which leads to Winnfield. Clarence Baptist Church was founded by thirty charter members in 1945, but its sanctuary on Louisiana Highway 6 dates to the pre-World War I era, having been the chapel of the former Camp Claiborne, a United States Army facility near Alexandria in Rapides Parish. The chapel was physically moved to Clarence in 1948, dedicated in 1949, bricked during the 1950s, and still serves as a worship center, having undergone complete remodeling in 2002. The balcony, now a storage area, was used by African American troops who were segregated in worship from white soldiers who used the pews of the lower tier. The church has a baptistry and maintains a parsonage across the highway. Since 2003, the pastor has been the Reverend Harry Bamburg, the 21st man to hold the position. Among previous pastors is William A. Poe (born 1926), formerly an historian with Northwestern State University in Natchitoches who has retired to his hometown of Tuscaloosa, Alabama.