To honor Global Beatles Day which is celebrated on June 25 each year, Comedy Central’s Drunk History looked back at the impact and importance of Senior Partner Leon Wildes’ most famous clients – John Lennon and Yoko Ono. The episode explained “What do John Lennon and Yoko Ono have to do with DREAMers?” In short the answer reveals that Leon Wildes used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain files that provided insight on the use of Prosecutorial Discretion and Selective Deportation in prior immigration matters and he utilized this information to win his case and allow John and Yoko to remain in the United States. 37 years later, in 2012, President Barack Obama relied on this precedent when he implemented the Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals Program (DACA).
To watch the episode click here: http://www.cc.com/episodes/pql9cg/drunk-history-legacies—uncensored-season-6-ep-610
Leon Wildes is best known for his successful representation of former Beatle John Lennon and his artist wife Yoko Ono in deportation proceedings.
Between 1972 and 1976, Leon represented Lennon and Ono in their struggle to remain in the United States, despite the concerted attempts of the Nixon Administration to deport them.
The case (which included bringing four separate Federal lawsuits) not only resulted in John and Yoko getting their green cards and being able to remain in the United States, but it also led to substantial changes in immigration law and brought to light secretive government practices and undue political influence, that has resulted in greater transparency in the U.S. immigration system and which paved the way for DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals immigration policy.
Leon Wildes long-awaited memoirs of the case, aptly titled John Lennon vs. the U.S.A ., is published by Ankerwycke Books, an imprint of ABA Publishing, a division of the American Bar Association.
Since the books launch in August 2016, nearly 5000 copies have been purchased, Leon and his son, Michael Wildes, the Managing Partner of the firm, who also wrote the foreword to the book, have appeared on dozens of TV and radios shows including Good Day NY, The Michael Stolar Show, The Lawrence O’Donnell Show, and more than 1000 people have attended a “Conversation with Leon Wildes”, at noteworthy institutions such as The Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun, and The Lower East Side Tenement Museum. The book has been reviewed and discussed by Rolling Stone, Billboard Magazine, The NY Post, and many other impressive periodicals.
Michael Wildes, the firm’s Managing Partner, was sworn in for a third term as Mayor of Englewood, New Jersey on January 1, 2019, just released his newly authored book, Safe Haven in America: Battles to Open the Golden Door, which draws on over a quarter of a century of his practice in the immigration field, is an Adjunct Professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York, and serves as Counsel to Lincoln Center and several international/corporate law firms.
More than fifty nine years since its inception Wildes & Weinberg continues to serve a distinguished domestic and international clientele and covers all areas of U.S. immigration law, including employment and investment-based immigration, work permits, permanent residence for qualified individuals, family-based immigration, asylum applications and all temporary and permanent type visas. In addition, the firm is internationally renowned for its successful representation of distinguished individuals and corporate clients such as performing artists, directors, writers, models, actors/actresses, athletes, race car drivers, fine artists, art dealers, curators, musicians, literary agents, and Fortune 500 companies. Some of the firm’s recent clients include First Lady Melania Trump, famed artist Sarah Brightman, several Miss Universe winners as well as soccer icon Pele and Chef Jean-Georges.
Today, the firm of Wildes & Weinberg, maintains offices in New York City, New York, Englewood, New Jersey, Miami, Florida, and by appointment in Los Angeles, California.
To learn more about Wildes & Weinberg, please view the firm’s website at www.wildeslaw.com or contact Managing Partner Michael Wildes at michael@wildeslaw.com to schedule a consultation or for media inquiries.