Deportation proceedings can happen suddenly. Long-time residents can unexpectedly find themselves detained and on their way out of the country.
Who Can Be Deported or Removed?
Anyone who does not have a valid legal status is at risk for deportation (now officially called removal proceedings). Additionally, Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR’s) who are convicted of certain criminal offenses may be subject to removal proceedings. If your legal status is questionable, you may worry every day that Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) will step in and separate you from your loved ones. Foreign nationals in the United States may become the target of removal proceedings if they:
- Are detained or arrested by state or local police officers
- Have been convicted of a felony or serious misdemeanor crime
- Outstay their temporary visas (for work, tourism, or education for example)
- Are reported to ICE by a neighbor or other citizen
- Are involved in an ICE raid
- Fall within certain priority enforcement demographics under current ICE policies
Get Help When Facing Removal Proceedings
Federal immigration courts use removal proceedings to determine if an individual (often referred to as an “alien”) should be removed from the United States. You could find yourself swept up in an ICE raid, or you could simply receive a “Notice to Appear” on a “charge of being removable”. This notice calls non-citizens to appear in front of an immigration court judge for a “Master Calendar Hearing.” You must attend this hearing. If you don’t you will automatically give up any defenses you may have and an order for removal will be entered against you.
You are entitled to a removal defense attorney to present your case and protect your right to be present in the U.S. There are no court-appointed immigration attorneys. If you or a loved one is issued a Notice to Appear, it is up to you to reach out to an experienced deportation attorney who will appear with you and advocate for you and your family.
Removal Defense Strategies
Receiving a Notice to Appear doesn’t have to mean automatic deportation. There are several possible defenses and strategic choices you can use to protect you, your family, and your long-term immigration interests. If you are facing deportation, you need an experienced immigration attorney who will review your circumstances, looking for removal defense strategies such as:
- Challenges to the statements made in the government’s Notice to Appear
- Qualification for family-based immigration status (link pointing to 1st menu item)
- Qualification for asylum or other humanitarian status
- Mistaken identity
- Cancellation of removal defenses based on your time in the U.S., your moral character, and hardship your removal would cause to relatives who are legal residents or citizens
- Voluntary departure options that allow you to control the circumstances of the move and protect your right to legally seek a visa in the future.
Many immigrants whose status is in question are not aware of defenses that exist that could save them from removal from the United States. Without an experienced immigration removal defense attorney at your side, you could be separated from your family and your loved ones even though legal reasons exist to allow you to remain in the United States.
“WHEN YOUR IMMIGRATION MATTERS – CALL”
Eugene Lumelsky
153 Worthington Ave, Shrewsbury, MA 01545
Call 508-798-5757
Email: eugenelumelsky@yahoo.com