article_snippet.sent: Despite Dr Salomon Melgen writing a letter to the embassy in Santo Domingo, the sisters' applications were initially denied due to the fact that the sisters' applications were unemployed and therefore more likely to overstay the sisters' applications visas.
article_snippet.sent: New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez then told New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez senior policy adviser Mark Lopes that New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez planned to personally call the ambassador and, if that didn't work, a contact at the State Department.
article_snippet.sent: An unidentified high-ranking member in the State Department allegedly responded by telling Menendez that An unidentified high-ranking member in the State Department agreed with the visa decision.
article_snippet.sent: Nevertheless, a few weeks later the sisters' were re-interviewed and this time the sisters' visas were approved.
article_snippet.sent: Mark Lopes emailed a colleague after and wrote that it was 'ONLY DUE to the fact that RM intervened.'
article_snippet.sent: In a letter in the woman's favor, lopes wrote that Leite '(no relation to me)  has Menendez visa application appointment in Brasilia, Brazil, tomorrow . . .
article_snippet.sent: the State Department got back to Menendez's office in just a few hours later and the following day Leite's visa was approved.
article_snippet.sent: Leite's visa graduated from the University of Miami in 2011, and still resides in the city as a lawyer.