Great victory -- probably

I recently had a great victory in immigration court. But it was not so much a victory for me as it was for my country. My client came to me about a year ago. He was an illegal alien who had been present in the US for 15 years. His wife, for much of that time, was a US citizen. She never took any steps to gain his permanent residence. The couple had two children, boys, eight and 12. When I met my client his children were being held illegally out-of-state by his US citizen wife who assured him that his lack of status meant that she kept the kids and that the bully wins.

Not while I have anything to say about it.

I encouraged my client to contact a family attorney to get the return of his kids. He did have them pursuant to a lawful court order, and his wife's seizure of his children was against the law. The fact that he had no legal status here did not make any difference, I am happy to say. The children were returned to him within a reasonable time.

My client initially had custody of his kids because a judge in another state had found their mother to be dangerous and hazardous to them. For the same reason I believed the US government would look favorably upon application for cancellation of removal from my client. This application requires my client to prove he has been here more than 10 years, and that his deportation would work an exceptional and extremely unusual hardship upon his US citizen children or spouse.

Once we collected evidence in the case, it appeared clear that my client saved his children from a very dangerous mother. We went to court, explained the circumstances, and I am very confident that when the judge makes his decision we will win (bizarre court rules mean he cannot rule until October). It is not often that I am so proud of the people I represent. But something about this client was special to me.

One of the great things about being an immigration attorney is seeing how important it is to some parents that their children have a chance at success.

CIS sure has changed!

I had a couple inteviews today at CIS. One was an adjustment case that was fairly complicated. My client got voluntary departure and left the US more than 20 year ago and returned illegally after 7 years in his home country. His original application for Permanent Resident was pending from 1996-2006 before it was denied, because he failed to appear for a fingerprint notice. The ISO today (ISO Hon) could not believe it had been pending ten years -- I had to explain to him the "pocket veto" technique of years past when an immigration officer who was not sure what to do on a case could just stick the file in his cabinet and wait.

Clearly such delays are no longer allowed, and CIS gives decisions quickly. Today, for example, my client was told he needed a waiver, because of unlawful presence issues. I was pretty sure that unlawful presence did not apply to my client, and the officer invited me to let him know what I discovered when I returned to my office. I e-mailed the officer and the supervisor (Ms. Warner) two hours later, and let them know what I found, and I was contacted within 5 minutes by the supervisor, letting me know that I was right, and that my client would be approved immediately.

Ten minutes after that I got an e-mail from the ISO, telling me that my client could come down today for his LPR stamp, if he wished. My client, who has been waiting 13 years for his residency, and who has an ill mother in Colombia, does wish to get that stamp today!

I am incredibly impressed with the efforts of ISO Hon and Supervisor Warner. They were never concerned with defending the decisions they made, they just wanted to be right. And that is the right way to do it.