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.
Martindale is a city in Caldwell County, Texas, United States. The population was 953 at the 2000 census. The city hosts an egg hunt each Easter. Every fourth of July, the town holds an Independence Parade leading to a town picnic at the oak-shaded river bottom. In recent years, Martindale has also attracted a surprising number of film scouts who are smitten by the town’s turn-of-the-century charm. As a result, various television shows, music videos and movies have been filmed in town: most notably A Perfect World, starring Clint Eastwood and Kevin Costner, The Newton Boys, starring Matthew McConaughey and Ethan Hawke, and New Line’s 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Over the years, each subsequent film crew has left its mark on the town. A strand of wood beams sits on a vacant lot next to the bank—all that remains of a saloon that was constructed for one of the westerns. In 2004, Carlton Carl, a Washington D.C. lobbyist, purchased 36,000 square feet (3,300 m) of commercial property in downtown Martindale. A partial inventory of Carl’s purchase includes three empty general stores, a former bank, a cotton-seed weigh station, several warehouses, a movie-set courtroom, an aquarium filled with cotton plants, a seed elevator, 16 seed silos and 300 feet (91 m) of frontage on the San Marcos River. Carl has teamed with many Martindale leaders to plan the next phase of the town's lif