PINEDALE – A Jackson attorney who specializes in immigration law says Jackson, Pinedale and Rock Springs are the three areas in Wyoming where interest may be greatest from foreign-born non-citizens trying to sort out the path to U.S. citizenship.

There is also growing interest in Sheridan, Elisabeth Trefonas of Trefonas Law said at a community immigration forum Friday, Aug. 25, at Our Lady of Peace Parish Hall in Pinedale. She added that there doesn’t seem to be the same degree of interest in Wyoming’s capital city, Cheyenne.

Trefonas said Jackson needs international workers because of its tourism, while Pinedale employs many in its restaurants, its hotels and in the energy sector. Rock Springs businesses employ many in the mining and oil industries.

The discussion raised an immediate question at Friday’s immigration forum: If so many people in Pinedale and the larger Sublette County area are interested in acquiring citizenship, why did only seven people attend the event in Pinedale?

Bonnie Billeb of Pinedale thinks she knows the answer from visiting with some foreign-born non-citizens. “A lot of it is, they’re afraid,” she said.

The handful of people attending the forum agreed that internationals, especially those who may have skirted the law in coming to the United States – “unauthorized resident immigrants,” in the parlance of federal agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security – are hesitant to attend meetings like the one in Pinedale. Some fear that attending such meetings might tip off federal agents for Immigration Customs Enforcement, or ICE, to investigate their immigration status.

Billeb also said those from Spanish-speaking countries doubt that the meetings will be held in Spanish, even if a meeting is promoted as taking place in both Spanish and English. Friday’s meeting was advertised on page 5 of the Aug. 25 issue of the Pinedale Roundup as taking place in both English and Spanish. But Trefonas, who is bilingual, had no need to translate her remarks into Spanish.

The Department of Homeland Security website said most unauthorized residents either entered the United States without inspection or else were admitted legally for a defined period of time and simply never left by the date stipulated.

There are legal avenues for an unauthorized immigrant to seek to become a lawful permanent resident – to get a “green card,” in other words, that allows the holder to live and work in the U.S., and is often a first step toward citizenship – but it’s complicated and varies with each situation. Green card holders can’t vote and can be deported if they commit crimes.

Trefonas said there is very little disagreement among those on different sides of the immigration issue that people who commit violent crimes should not be granted citizenship. But she said such violent crimes are rare. It’s far more common for unauthorized residents who are charged with breaking the law to get in trouble for offenses such as driving while intoxicated, which may have to do with the different cultural attitudes about alcohol in their home countries, Trefonas said.