17 Minutes – Cancellation of Removal

How do you measure success as an immigration attorney? Is it the same way as how someone would measure a year? Five hundred, twenty five thousand, six hundred minutes or is it something deeper.

We recently appeared before an Immigration Judge and our case for cancellation of removal from start to finish took approximately 17 minutes of court time.

As a matter of context, for some people without legal immigration status in the United States, cancellation of removal is a form of relief that may be available if certain requirements are met. Those requirements include being physically present in the United States for a continuous period of not less than 10 years immediately preceding the date of filing for cancellation of removal; having good moral character; no disqualifying convictions for any criminal offense; and that the person’s removal would result in exceptional and extremely unusual hardship to their spouse, parent, or child, who is a citizen of the United States or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence.

Reviewing these requirements, I can tell you that most of the legal work is spent on explaining and documenting to the Immigration Judge and the opposing government attorney from the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) the exceptional and extremely unusual hardship. This took many sessions over a period of time and hours filled with both laughter and tears in preparing the spouse’s declaration, who was the qualifying relative. She shared with us her emotional trauma, fears, and dreams of having her husband being able to stay in the United States.

Her story contained things and tidbits that she wasn’t quite ready to share with her children. Information that we will not share with her children because we promised her that everything that she tells us is confidential and that we will ask that her children leave the courtroom if she has to give any testimony at her husband’s court hearing.

Besides the declaration, we also spent hours searching, locating, and organizing supporting documents such as country conditions reports, tax returns to show the 10 years of physical presence, and other hardship documents.

Moreover, to have a “well prepared” case, it is not uncommon for us to drop everything so we can submit some previously requested supporting documents but only received days prior to the hearing. In order to submit these untimely filings, we would have to draft a motion to accept late filings because the qualifying relative wasn’t quite ready to open the pandora’s box to obtain those supporting documents such as the prior Domestic Violence Restraining Order (“DVRO”) or her proof of seeing a therapist, which is needed to corroborate her story. She was either too worn down or finally ready to start trusting people again by taking that leap of faith in believing that the immigration attorneys can actually help her husband stay in the United States and that these requested evidence may be the key document to keep her husband in the United States.

When the court date finally arrives, 17 minutes was all it took for us to finish preparing the case and have the Immigration Judge retain this case for the granting of the cancellation of removal once a visa number is available.

30 seconds was how long it took for this client to cry with relief as he finally understood that his journey is close to the finish line and that he just has to stay out of trouble and wait until his visa number is available. We don’t worry about him staying out of trouble because he has not only stayed out of trouble for the last 10+ years but been a productive member of our society by paying his taxes, supporting his wife and children, and community.

Disclaimer: The names has been changed in this story to protect the identity of our clients. Certain elements within this story may have been changed to flow better and this post should be treated as a work of fiction. Immigration law is constantly changing and certain law and strategies may no longer work. Past successes do not guarantee future results.