We recently received a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA or commonly referred to as the Dream Act) approval for a case I am particularly proud of.
Some background first. We had a client who while detained and without a lawyer, was very unfairly ordered removed (deported) by an Immigration Judge. We appealed his case to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) on the grounds that he was denied due process and was not given a full and fair hearing under the Immigration and Nationality Act, and even supplemented his appeal when the BIA issued its holding in Matter of C-B, 25 I &N Dec. 888 (BIA 2012).
While the appeal was pending, the DACA program was announced and we went through all of our client files to determine who could benefit, including this client. Unfortunately, we could not get any proof that he was physically present in the United States on the DACA continuous presence date of June 15, 2007. Not wanting to let this get in my way, I remembered when I read his Immigration Court transcript, the Judge had asked him under oath, when he entered the United States, to which he responded October 2006, well before the date needed.
We submitted his testimony which he gave 5 months prior to the DACA announcement and without anyone’s knowledge at the time that June 15, 2007 would be a relevant date. We argued the statement was given under oath and under penalty of perjury and at the time our client gave that testimony he could not have known or taken advantage of the DACA program, so the statement was sincere and accurate.
It worked and his DACA was recently approved! We’re always looking for creative ways to represent our clients. We’ve even used Facebook and social media posts to prove physical presence for DACA cases. We’re always keeping our clients in mind (old and current) when a new precedential case or a new immigration program is announced.
Ricky Malik, Esq.
