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.
Oakville is an unincorporated community in northeastern Live Oak County, Texas, United States. It lies along Interstate 37 northeast of the city of George West, the county seat of Live Oak County. Its elevation is 171 feet (52 m). Although Oakville is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP code of 78060. Oakville originated as a stagecoach station shortly after the Texas Revolution. A community was established in 1856, after a local landowner donated land; it soon became the county seat of Live Oak County, and its post office—the county's first—was established there in the following year. Originally referred to by the name of the local Sulphur Creek, it received its current name from an advertisement in a newspaper. After the Civil War, Oakville became a local commercial center; the county's first bank and public school were established there, and the Live Oak County Leader, a newspaper, was founded in the community in 1891. It began to decline after a railroad line was built through a different part of the county in 1913, and it lost the status of county seat after a new courthouse was built in George West in 1919.