Category: Removal & Deportation

I am oftentimes asked by people who are ineligible to get Lawful Permanent Residency (LPR/greencard) in the United States about going overseas to complete a waiver process, known commonly as an I-601. The risk and fear is that it will take too long and may get denied. Both are reasonable concerns and many people feel that if they leave it […]

Yes! According to USCIS-NBC in meeting held in October 2011 with AILA, even if your case has been denied by USCIS, and then subsequently denied by an Immigration Judge, you can still apply and get your work permit while your case is on appeal before the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) or later if your case is with the Cirucit […]

In the Federal Register on Monday, January 9, 2011 a new proposed provision will be published allowing many undocumented immigrants to process their waivers while inside the United States. For many years, certain immigrants were afraid to leave the United States to process their “greencards” because they feared their waivers (pardons) would be denied thereby barring re-entry into the United […]

There is a major proposed announcement changing the Immigration process for many foreign nationals who are illegal in the United States. At present, many people must travel outside the United States and wait months if not years to seek forgiveness (a waiver) to re-enter the U.S. Now, the Obama administration is proposing to allow certain relatives of U.S. Citizens to […]

The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) further limited a non-citizen’s ability to apply for Cancellation of Removal issuing a decision disallowing a 212(h) waiver to be used to overcome certain criminal grounds. Cancellation of Removal for non-greencard holders is available to stop the removal (deportation) of an immigrant who can prove s/he has been in the United States for 10 […]

United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a memo on November 7, 2011 providing guidelines to officers describing when a Notice to Appear (NTA) is to be issued. An NTA is the document that starts removal (deportation) proceedings against a non-citizen. It is sometimes referred to as the charging document and receiving one of these is usually bad news […]

The BIA in Matter of E-R-M-F- & A-S-M-, 25 I&N Dec. 580 (BIA 2011) determined that “Until an alien who is arrested without a warrant is placed in formal proceedings by the filing of a Notice to Appear (Form I-862), the regulation at 8 C.F.R. § 287.3(c) (2011) does not require immigration officers to advise the alien that he or […]

The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) in Matter of Bautista, s 25 I&N Dec. 616 (BIA 2011) determined that: “Attempted arson in the third degree in violation of sections 110 and 150.10 of the New York Penal Law is an aggravated felony under section 101(a)(43)(E)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)(E (i) (2006), even though the State […]

The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) in an immigration case, Matter of Islam, 25 I&N Dec. 637 (BIA 2011) dealing with the issue of when do criminal acts arise out of a single scheme of criminal misconduct for purposes of whether someone should be removed (deported) for committing two crimes involving moral turpitude (CIMT). The Immigration Laws require the removal […]

Since the groundbreaking Morton Memos of June 17, 2011 and the announcements from the White House and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, finally ICE and the Immigration Courts responded with some methodology about the “working group” review to determine high priority vs low priority deportations (enforcement priorities). There were several releases, all of which are featured in this article, […]