Chicago Deportation/Removal Attorney Free Email or Phone Consultation with a lawyer

Because of actions by Congress there are a limited number of options for individuals in removal proceedings.

Adjustment of status as a defense to removal:

Individuals who entered the U.S. lawfully and marry a U.S. citizen are generally allowed to adjust their status to that of a permanent resident (Green Card) even if they are in removal proceedings.

A visa petition from the U.S. citizen must be filed and approved by the U.S.C.I.S. - who will likely apply a heightened burden to the case because of the pending removal proceedings - and the beneficiary must be otherwise admissible to the U.S. In other words, the beneficiary cannot be inadmissible because of some criminal conviction or other bar.

Additionally, lawful permanent residents who have committed an offense that renders them removable may be able to re-adjust their status to that of a permanent resident.

Cancellation of Removal:

If you are a permanent resident in removal proceedings please see our page on Cancellation of Removal to see if you may be eligible.

If you are in removal proceedings but a.re not a permanent resident but have been in the United States for at least 10 years and have an immediate relative who is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident please see our section on Cancellation of Removal for non-residents to see if you are eligible for relief.

Battered spouses, in removal or not in removal but out of status, may be eligible for VAWA Cancellation of Removal so please see our page to see if there relief available.

Voluntary Departure:

To avoid a removal order an individual may be eligible for Voluntary Departure but this form of relief comes with many catches and problems of its own and an attorney should be consulted before accepting or requesting voluntary departure.

Asylum - Withholding of Removal - Convention Against Torture protection: Call our office!

Deportation defense cases are very fact specific as well as very difficult. The list above is not exhaustive and there may be a remedy for your case not listed here. If you are in removal proceedings it is always good to call an immigration attorney to see if you have a defense to your case. As a Chicago Deportation Lawyer our office defends cases at the Chicago Immigration Court and offers free email or phone consultations to determine if we may have a way to assist you.

Removal/Deportation

Current immigration law with regards to Removal (Deportation) is quite unforgiving and the results for committing even minor criminal infractions can be devastating to families and long-time residents of the United States. Although fewer and fewer exist, Lawful Permanent Residents and undocumented immigrants have some defenses to being removed from the United States. The remedies depend on the length of time present in the United States, the family ties, and the criminal offense committed, if any.

Additionally, cases may be reopened, after an order of removal has been entered, for a few reasons such as being ineffectively represented by previous counsel.

Even if an individual has been deported, there may be a waiver available that would allow that individual to return to the United States if granted permission by the government.

Deportation defense cases are very fact specific as well as very difficult. Our office offers free email or phone consultations with a lawyer in Chicago to determine if we may have a way to assist you with your case at the Chicago Immigration Court.

Relevant Links:
Executive Office of Immigration Review
EOIR Online Law Library
Chicago Immigration Court
Immigration Court Practice Manual
[PDF] Board of Immigration Appeals Index of Recent Cases

News:

Immigration courts filled with cases, not judges "The nation's immigration courts are choked by the largest backlog of pending deportation and asylum cases in history, more than 18,000 of them in Texas, a Syracuse University-based data research i...

The Traumas of Immigration Law "It began as an ordinary academic presentation. Backed by a power-point, sociologist Alison Newby showed a crowd at New Mexico State University (NMSU) in Las Cruces how more than 400 public and pri...

ICE can't be bothered to inform detainee of pardon "After four months locked in a New Jersey immigration jail facing deportation, Qing Hong Wu, 29, was told by guards to pack his things on Tuesday evening. Fearing that he was being abruptly transf...

New ICE memo explains how officials should address detained U.S. citizens "On the heels of several reports documenting U.S. citizens who have been detained or even deported by federal immigration officers, a top Homeland Security Department official in November issued a ...

Unpub. BIA Non-LPR cancellation victory "We conclude that the health difficulties faced by one of the respondent's children present the type of very serious health issues to which we referred in Matter of Monreal-Aguinaga, 23 I&N Dec. 56 ...

Starving for Reform "Inmates in a South Texas detention facility began a series of staggered hunger strikes in January, hoping for better conditions and fewer transfers, as advocates pleaded for the federal government...

Center for Immigrants' Rights and PIRC release a toolkit on LPR cancellation ... "Today, the Center and PIRC released a toolkit for practitioners on cancellation of removal for lawful permanent residents (LPR), a form of relief available to certain lawful permanent residents (g...

Rethinking Immigration Detention Anil Kalhan, Drexel University - Earle Mack School of Law, Columbia Law Review Sidebar, Vol. 110, 2010.

Unpub. BIA cancellation victory ""In considering the totality of the evidence, we find that the respondent's removal would cause his qualifying relative mother the degree of hardship required for a grant of cancellation of remova...

Free Webinar: How to Get Your Client Out of Detention Following an ICE Enforc... Tuesday, April 6, 2010 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM PDT. "This webinar will present information on the law regarding bond and detention from the perspective of assisting clients in obtaining release from cu...

Dignity Not Detention A campaign of the Detention Watch Network.

Immigration Detention Centers Interactive list, including results of annual inspections. NYT, Feb. 2010.

Morton: Superseding Guidance on Reporting and Investigating Claims to United ... ICE, Nov. 9, 2009: "In all cases, any uncertainty about whether the evidence is probative of U.S. citizenship should weigh against detention."

Visiting immigrants in detention "Visitors seek to provide a compassionate face and an affirmation of humanity in the midst of a dehumanizing scenario. We don’t visit as social workers or lawyers, but simply as friends."

The Shadow Prison Industry and Its Government Enablers "A shadow prison industry has spread to all parts of the federal detention and prison system. It is, with a few exceptions, in complete charge of all immigrant imprisonment and detention at both DO...

LOST SOULS (Animas Perdidas) Broadcast premiere March 23, 2010 on PBS; Augie and Gino were living the American dream––raised and educated in the United States and proud veterans of the military. But in 1999, these two brot...


Justin Randolph - Chicago Deportation Assistance

A Separate Reality Posted on 11 Mar 2010 at 10:01am  
Images: (c)iStockphoto/Simon McConico; (c)iStockphoto/helenecanada

There was a happy ending recently in the case of a man from China who was to be deported under rules set by an immigration law pa...

Matching Funds for Due Process Posted on 15 Feb 2010 at 10:30am

Our friends at the National Immigrant Bond Fund recently posted a video recalling an immigration raid that was conducted on a printer factory in Van Nuys, California (Southern California) two year...

Operation Streamline a Waste of Taxpayer Dollars Says Judge Posted on 11 Feb 2010 at 3:29pm

Last week, U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks decided he had had enough.  The three defendants in his Austin, Texas, courtroom, prosecuted under 8 U.S.C. § 1326 for illegal re-entry into the United Sta...

In the Wake of a Raid, How do Families Survive? Posted on 8 Feb 2010 at 1:00pm

What happens to family members, primarily children, who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents once one or both undocumented parents are swept up in a raid?

On February 2nd, the Urban Institut...