Deportation Defense Guide

When you attend a removal or deportation hearing before an Immigration Judge, make sure that you walk into the courtroom accompanied by the most experienced and knowledgeable immigration attorney that you can find.

Why?

Because the government will be represented by an attorney who has probably appeared in hundreds, or even thousands, of such hearings. (I know – I once served as an INS Trial Attorney.) If your attorney is not knowledgeable or is inexperienced, you will be at a distinct disadvantage.

“I needed a super heavy weight immigration attorney because USCIS denied my naturalization application and started deportation procedures…Mr Shusterman and his team where able to reverse both immigration decisions and I am now a U.S. citizen…It takes a rare lawyer to be able to succeed in reversing BOTH such decisions. He saved my career and my family.” (More client reviews…)

Too many people appear at their deportation hearings without taking the time to find the best and most experienced immigration attorney to represent them. Instead, they look for an inexpensive attorney or, worse yet, appear without an attorney. This is a recipe for disaster. Why? Because you are creating a record before the Immigration Judge. If you lose, and then hire a new and improved attorney to appeal the Judge’s decision, he will be saddled with the record of proceedings that you, or your inexpensive attorney, created before the Judge.

The record of proceedings consists of the transcript of the hearing and the exhibits, including copies of any applications submitted on your behalf. If you do not make a good record before the Judge, it may be difficult for your new attorney to win your appeal.

The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) is located in Falls Church, Virginia. The BIA never sees nor hears from you. They only see the printed record, the decision of the Immigration Judge and the attorneys’ legal briefs. If the BIA rules against you and you finally decide to hire a great immigration attorney to take your case to Federal Court, the court must rely on the record of proceedings. You never get the chance to testify in court.

With this in mind, use the information contained in the following articles and links to help you avoid deportation, and become a permanent resident of the United States.

This page is divided into the following subtopics:

• Success Stories
• Deportation Videos
• Relief from Deportation
• ICE/INS Prosecutorial Discretion Memos
• Criminal Offenses
• Detention
• Immigration Enforcement
• Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR)
• Immigration Courts
• Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA)
• Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer (OCAHO)
• Cancellation of Removal: A Case Study
• Equitable Tolling
• Federal Courts

SUCCESS STORIES

• Using LPR Cancellation of Removal to Avoid Deportation (July 2010)
• Saving a Divorcee from Deportation (January 2010)
• Immigrant Family’s Kafkaesque Ordeal (July 2009)
• Bringing a Deported Spouse Back to the U.S. (April 2009)
• From Deportation Proceedings to U.S. Citizenship (March 2009)
• Saving a Science Superstar from Deportation (February 2009)
• How to Get a Client Out of Immigration Jail (January 2009)
• Helping Unaccompanied Immigrant Children (January 2008)
• Cabrera Family Wins Right to Remain in U.S. (March 2007)
• Relief from Removal – “A Tale of Two Cities” (August 2005)
• Returning to the U.S. After Deportation (July 2005)
• Deportation: Winning Your Case in Immigration Court (May 2004)
• Illegal Marine Gains Green Card
• Honor Student Beats Deportation

Deportation Videos

• Winning Your Case in Immigration Court
• Cancellation of Removal for Non-Permanent Residents
• Asylum: Winning Your Case

Relief From Deportation

• How To Avoid Deportation
• Winning Your Case in Immigration Court
• Grounds of Inadmissiblity and Waivers (State Department)
• Share of Immigration Cases Ending in Deportation Orders Hits Record Low (TRAC) (2-07-12)
• Practice Advisory: Implications of Judalang v. Holder for LPRs Seeking Relief from Deportation (12-16-11)
• Attorney General Vacates Compean Order (6-03-09)
• Attorney General Holder Reverses “No Right to Effective Assistance of Counsel” Decision (6-03-09)
• Immigration Benefits in EOIR Removal Proceedings (USCIS)
• Notice to Individuals Granted Immigration Benefits by Immigration Judge or Board of Immigration Appeals (USCIS)
• Fact Sheet – DHS Procedures for Implemention of EOIR Background Checks Regulations for Aliens Seeking Relief from Removal (8-08-06)
• Immigration Judge Marks’ Comments to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (June 2006)
• Jama v. ICE – Supreme Court Upholds Law Which Permits Alien to be Removed to Country Without that Country’s Advanced Consent (1-13-05)
• Morales v. Izquierdo v. Ashcroft – 9th Circuit Appeals Court Voids INS Re-Instatement of Removal Rules (11-18-04)
• EOIR Press Release: Final 212(c) Regulations (9-29-04)
• Final 212(c) Regulations (9-28-04)
• Forms of Relief From Removal – EOIR (8-03-04)
• Calcano-Martinez vs. INS: Supreme Court Holds That Right to Habeas Corpus Preserved For Persons Challenging Orders of Removal (6-25-01)
• BIA Defines “Exceptional And Extremely Unusual Hardship” For Purposes Of Cancellation of Removal in Matter Of Monreal
• EOIR Regulation Regarding §212(c) Relief (1-22-01)
• Adjudicating Requests for Stays at the Board of Immigration Appeals

ICE/INS Prosecutorial Discretion Memos

• ICE Prosecutorial Discretion Initiative: Latest Figures (4-19-12)
• Guidance to ICE Attorneys Reviewing the CBP, USCIS, and ICE Cases Before the Executive Office for Immigration Review (11-17-11)
• USCIS Policy Memorandum Regarding Case-by-Case Review of Incoming and Certain Pending Cases (11-17-11)
• USCIS Policy Memorandum Regarding Issuances of NTA’s in Cases Involving Inadmissible and Removable Aliens (11-7-11)
• AIC Practice Advisory: “DHS Review of Low Priority Cases For Prosecutorial Discretion” (9-1-11)
• Obama Policy is Not Amnesty (8-20-11)
• DHS Announces Expansion of Prosecutorial Discretion Guidelines (8-18-11)
• Deportation Halted for Younger Immigrants (8-18-11)
• Congressman Gutierrez Calls DHS Deportation Announcement a Major Victory (8-18-11)
• Napolitano Letter to Senators (8-18-11)
• Morton Prosecutorial Discretion Memo (6-17-11)
• Practice Advisory: Motions to Supress in Removal Proceedings: A General Overview- Legal Action Center (5-31-11)
• Understanding Prosecutorial Discretion in Immigration Law – Immigration Policy Center
• Immigration Policy Center: Reading the Morton Memo-Federal Priorities and Prosecutorial Discretion (12-06-10)
• Prosecutorial Discretion: How to get DHS to Act in Favor of Your Client (11-20-10) – AIC Practice Advisory
• ICE Removal Proceedings Memo (8-20-10)
• Julie L. Myers, Prosecutorial and Custody Discretion Memo (11-7-07)
• William J. Howard, Prosecutorial Discretion Memo (10-24-05)
• INS Fact Sheet On Prosecutorial Discretion
• Doris Meissner, Exercising Prosecutorial Discretion Memo (11-17-00)
• INS Memorandum Regarding Prosecutorial Discretion

Immigration Enforcement

• Ban on Illegal Workers is Hard to Enforce (NPR) – 2-17-04
• Office of Immigration Litigation Immigration Litigation Bulletin (Office of Immigration Litigation)
• TRAC – INS (Provides Comprehensive Independent Information About INS Enforcement)

Cancellation of Removal: A Case Study

• Cabrera Family Wins Right to Remain in the U.S. (2007)
• VICTORY! Judge’s Decision Granting the Cabreras’ Application for Cancellation of Removal (January 18, 2007)
• Court Order Granting Respondent’s Motion to Remand (April 11, 2005)
• Respondent’s Motion to Remand (February 9, 2005)
• BIA Dismisses Motion to Reconsider (June 18, 2004)
• Federal Court Grants Stay of Removal and Denies Government’s Motion to Dismiss (May 20, 2004)
• Government’s Motion to Dismiss (January 16, 2004)
• Private Bill Introduced in Senate – S. 1985 (December 9, 2003)
• Private Bill Introduced in House of Representatives – H.R. 3700 (December 8, 2003)
• Immigration Policy Becomes Family Matter – LA Times (October 27, 2003)
• Immigration Judge’s Decision & BIA Reversal

Equitable Tolling

• Mejia-Hernandez vs. Holder (9th Cir. 2011)
• Singh v. Gonzales (9th Cir. 2007)
• Albillo-De Leon v. Gonzales (9th Cir. 2005)
• Fajardo vs. INS (9th Cir. 2002)
• Socop-Gonzalez v. INS – En Banc (9th Cir. 2001)
• Jobe vs. INS – 238 F.3d 96 – En Banc (1st Cir. 2001)
• Varela vs. INS – 204 F.3d 1237 (9th Cir. 2000)
• Lopez vs. INS – 184 F.3d 1097 (9th Cir. 1999)