Case Results
Our Successes
NOTABLE CASE – EB-5 Success
Our team recently guided an EB-5 investor through the supplemental filing process after it was discovered that the initial EB-5 petition, I-526, was not properly prepared by the client’s previous lawyer. Not only was the initial petition lacking basic requirements by the California Corporations Code, but the business plan was not EB-5 compliant, and the company’s HR practices were unconventional, which put the client’s investment at risk. We worked closely with the client to ensure that he understood the impact that an inaccurate petition could have on his investment. Additionally, we brought in several professionals to help gather and compile over 200 pages of evidence for the supplemental filing.
Learn more about our successes here.
NOTABLE CASE – EB-5 for New Direct Investment Business
Our direct investment EB-5 client had received an EB-5 I-829 RFE or Request for Evidence from the USCIS during a period of low employment when he had worked with a different law firm. He hires us to solve this serious threat to his green card application. Despite the success of our client’s company, we had to work diligently to create a strong case to protect our client because he only had five, not ten employees at the time of the request. We gathered evidence of the company’s work history and demonstrated that it was simply experiencing the real problems that any startup business faces and that keeping 10 positions permanently filled was not always possible. We worked closely with the client to ensure that he could accurately present his business and its current situation to the USCIS. We were all thrilled when his petition was approved by USCIS. Learn more about how we succeed in our cases here.
Learn more about how we succeed in our cases here.
NOTABLE CASE – Client Facing Deportation
We are thrilled to announce success in a very difficult U visa case. In this case the wife called us to save her husband from deportation. He was detained, had been previously deported (three times) and had a couple blemishes involving rather minor crimes. Previous deportations are always difficult cases to win. We did a very thorough intake with the wife, interviewed the husband a few times in detention (through telephone calls), and learned about the troubled relationship he had with the mother of his child. As always, I gave my client my cell phone number and one day he called me. He had just remembered that in the previous year he had a small altercation with his ex-partner in the parking lot of the store when he was dropping off his child to her. Because of past conflicts with her, he decided to record their interaction and he was able to give us an audio file. He also attested that she grabbed his hand violently at one point to try to stop him from recording the incident. While that grab of his hand was not visible, we could hear the sound of it. He had not gone to the police – – as most men who are victims of domestic violence do not – – and now he was detained. Meanwhile, we were fighting his imminent deportation. After a valiant struggle we finally convinced the police to take the complaint and actually go to the immigration detention center. We uploaded the video/audio file to a password-protected site and accumulated dozens of documents that showed our client was a loving father who only sought to protect his daughter from the abusive mother and dangerous living situation.
Learn more about how we succeed in our cases here.
NOTABLE CASE – Continued Legal Success
Our client received her final order of removal in 1994. She has lived in fear – – at many different addresses – – for the 19 years since then, always trying to stay one step ahead of immigration finally removing her. She tried many times to fix her situation but always met with either unscrupulous or indifferent immigration professionals who charged her too much money for the little work they did. When she came to our office she had already lost at the Ninth Circuit twice. We were able to garner national attention for her case, which may have helped slow down what looked like an inevitable deportation. We were then able to find a provision in the law that allowed us to reopen her case. The notice that was sent to her in 1994 was not translated into Spanish, our client’s native language. And while a Spanish version may have been given to her in court – – the record was unclear – – we had evidence that they did not mail one to her house. This had been in the record for 18 years and no one else found it. We found it. The Ninth Circuit listen to us. We were able to then resuscitate a very old petition filed for our client by her now United States citizen sister. With the Ninth Circuit clearing the way, USCIS finally issued the green card to our client. Twenty years of struggle and our government finally acknowledged that this woman deserved and had a right to stay in our country. This client had successfully raised her daughter who was attending UC Berkeley and was a stellar member of the community. It was a well-deserved victory.
Learn how we succeed in our cases.
NOTABLE CASE – Facing Complications in H1B Visa Renewal
Our client is a multinational corporation who had very little experience hiring foreign national workers. This is only the second worker they employed for which they needed a permit. Her three-year H1B was expiring and management had changed since their original submission so they were not quite sure what they needed to do. They had the worker call our office to hire and pay our fees. We politely informed the worker that that was no longer allowed by USCIS. Current rules require the employer – – in almost all situations – – to pay for both the USCIS and attorney fees. Second, the employer had only budgeted a rather small salary for the position that the H1B worker had just started. Our analysis was clear that this would not be enough money. We also noticed, however, that many of the job description items did not necessarily fit the job title. They had picked the job title perhaps to attract a higher quality applicant pool but in the H1B context they would have to pay a premium for this title. After some discussion and our attorney showing the company that there was a more appropriate job title, the company changed job titles. The job title we settled on was not one that was found in any of the job comparison resources used by immigration services. This has the disadvantage of us having to do more work, but it also has the advantage for us to prove that the salary amount was in compliance with regulations.
Learn how we succeed in our cases.
NOTABLE CASE – H1B Promotion Application
As happens so often with our H1B clients, the first call we received was from the nervous immigrant hoping her employer would go through with her H1-B extension. And as we always do, we informed this prospective client that we would not accept any money or payment from her. The law has changed and requires the employer – – in most cases – – to pay for the government fees and attorney fees for H1B cases. This prospective client told us she did not think her employer would want to pay for any of the fees, especially the attorney fees. We told her leave it to us and we would make it happen. That is what she did and we made it happen.
Learn how we always succeed in these cases.
NOTABLE CASE – Success in Canceling Removal by Immigration
Our client built a fine life here in the U.S. for his four U.S. citizen children. Unfortunately, he did not have his legal status. As often happens, a random event led to being in removal/deportation proceedings after more than 20 years of not having any problems. He was driving within 75 miles of the border, was randomly stopped by ICE, questioned and detained. He was then interrogated by ICE without an attorney and ICE’s account suggested there were misrepresentations made by the client. We deny this of course. Client was not married, one of his children was already over 21 years of age (which means she couldn’t help him in removal proceedings). We had no option but to try non-permanent resident cancellation of removal– not an easy case to win. In our office, however, we do win these cases. Often we win them by showing that our client’s deportations would result in a hardship to family members because of ill-health. Here though, his children were athletic champions and dancers. So we built our case around the hardships they would suffer from missed opportunities. Fortunately, this occurred right when President Obama changed the law on seeking waivers from inside the United States, instead of through consular processing. Our client’s bright daughter asked if the change in law could help her father. While that was part of our defense strategy, her suggestion was fast-forwarded in our case. Neither the immigration judge or the prosecuting attorney quite knew how to handle our request. After a recessed hearing, we were able to get the prosecutor to agree to close the deportation case so our client could apply for the provisional (aka stateside) waiver.
Learn one of the ways we succeed in our cases.
Watch the client tell the story on YouTube.
NOTABLE CASE – Difficult Marriage Case
This month’s featured case is a “marriage visa” case where the U.S. citizen wasn’t really sure that he wanted to get married. Unfortunately, our immigration laws are so difficult to navigate and punitive for the smallest infractions, that the couple really did not know what they should do. She had trouble the last time she came in due to an aggressive Customs Border Protection (CBP, formerly known as INS) agent who questioned all her entries. She was not sure whether she should tell him that she was visiting her boyfriend, her fiancée or just seeing the sights of California once again.
NOTABLE CASE – Work Permit and Salvation
Our client had a hopeless immigration history. He wanted to bring family from his native country but had no legal standing to file such a petition. One day someone tried to carjack him. This crime took place in less than a minute. The assailant reached into the car with a small knife and tried to take control of the car. Our client fight him off, got a small cut, and drove away.
Read more to know how we helped him.
NOTABLE CASE: From Victim of Crime to Work Permit & U Visa
Another victim of crime comes to our office, another U visa granted. Our client received his U visa in August and his work permit (one day later). Our client came in because he had some vague idea that a petition had been filed for him many years prior, but he didn’t have any of the documentation. We investigated it but could not find anything. But, in our thorough intake process, we found out that he had been stabbed in a bar in an unprovoked attack by a drunk psycho. This was– as you can imagine– a very disturbing incident for our client. Though he was released from the hospital the same day, he continues to have flashbacks and flinches when people move around him rapidly or unexpectedly.
Read more to know how we helped him.
NOTABLE CASE – Criminal Conviction Overturned, Deportation Stopped
Our client unfortunately had a drug possession conviction from 12 years ago. He had served a few days in jail for it . But now our government wanted to hand down a life sentence by exiling and deporting him from the United States, even though he’s lived an exemplary life since that sole conviction so long ago. He was randomly picked up at his house due to that conviction – – 12 years after he’d already served his punishment– – and put into removal proceedings. ICE would not allow him to have a bond, so he was locked up in detention at Otay Mesa.
Learn how we helped him & saved his family.
NOTABLE CASE – Unprecedented Victory for Client Who Entered Without Visa
We are thrilled to announce what may be the first ever green card given by USCIS to a foreign national who crossed over at the Mexican border without any type of visa or other authorization to enter the United States. While cases like this are not that uncommon on the Canadian border due to different procedures, it is unheard of for individuals who have crossed over from Mexico. We have many clients in this situation and we tell them that we can win the case in immigration court after they have been put into deportation proceedings, but winning at a USCIS green card hearing just isn’t done. Until now. As the agent told us, this was the first time that USCIS in San Bernardino had ever issued a green card to an individual in this situation.
Learn what we did to win this case.
NOTABLE CASE – Client Returns to Family
We are happy to welcome home a wonderful father and great husband. Our client had a flat tire on the 10 freeway just outside of Palm Springs last year. A California Highway Patrol officer came by to “help” him. A few questions later he was in the custody of ICE {see Morale of the Story below}. He accepted voluntary departure after having been picked up by ICE and before anyone contacted us (Never, ever accepted voluntary departure until you have talked to a reputable immigration attorney first!!). As a result he was separated from his U.S. Citizen spouse and their children. He was sent to his “home” country– a place he had not seen in 15 years since he was barely a teenager.
Learn what we did to win this case & reunite his family.
NOTABLE CASE: Canadian Citizen in Three Months
A United States citizen came into our office trying to establish his Canadian citizenship. He told us that he had started the process almost 4 years prior and still had not received approval. This was a smart man, a professional, but even he was unable to navigate around the immigration processes and systems of our friendly neighbor to the north. We analyze the situation, determined that indeed he was eligible for citizenship and got straight to work.
Learn how fast he obtained his citizenship by working with us.
NOTABLE CASE – Victory at Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA)
In one of our most complicated– and fastest– cases of 2011, our client went from imminent deportation (she was literally on the bus headed toward the airport) to a full restoration of her green card and rights as a legal permanent resident. In between, our office won a hard-fought battle against ICE to release this mother of two U.S. citizen children from detention; we beat the Office of Immigration Litigation in a successful federal district court habeas action; we beat the L.A. County district attorney’s office and overturned her criminal conviction in state district court; and, we then had the ultimate victory at the BIA after our first motion was incorrectly denied.
Read more about this amazing case.
Watch the client tell the story on YouTube.
NOTABLE CASE – Detained 21 Years After Deportation, Released on Christmas Eve
The call came in eight days before Christmas. The caller’s life-partner had been arrested and detained by ICE. He had lived in the U.S. for 26 years, since 1985. He had applied for and been denied asylum in 1990 and was to be deported. He didn’t leave. Over the years he had applied for TPS, work authorizations and done an unsuccessful motion to reopen. He had worked with multiple attorneys and notarios, none of who spotted the one issue that would save him. 21 years later, inexplicably, ICE came to his house and arrested him.
NOTABLE CASE – Brother & Sister From Guatemala
Our two clients– brother & sister from Guatemala– received their green cards today at an interview at USCIS in downtown Los Angeles. We were the ninth immigration law office they went to. Their cases stretched back 25 years with literally decades of disappointment. Denied asylum applications; revoked work authorizations; approved I-130s nonimmigrant petitions but with a wait of 10+ years. Then their petitioner died. Fortunately, we were able to show them how the law has evolved over the past years so that now they could take advantage of “survivor” rights in cases with deceased petitioners. It was a long process– 25 years– but finally this great brother and sister couple are officially welcomed in the United States. We look forward to naturalizing them in 5 years.
This case emphasizes the importance or working with dedicated immigration attorneys who have kept current with changes in the immigration laws.
NOTABLE CASE – We Get Our Client Out of Detention
As with most of our cases, this client came to us on a referral. An immigration rights activist here in Los Angeles knows of our office’s dedication to and success for immigrants. Her best friend called her to ask for a referral for her cousin’s husband in Denver. He had just been picked up by ICE at their house in front of his wife and two small children. The wife was in despair– they already had gone to one of Denver’s most prominent immigration attorneys who told the wife that she would never see her husband again except at the detention center or in El Salvador. Wrong!
Read what we did to keep this family together.
NOTABLE CASE – From Detention to Green Card
It took a year but our client received his green card today. Last year his wife came to us after ICE detained him. He had an outstanding order of deportation from 2006 and ICE said he would be back in Mexico within two weeks. His wife also informed us he served time for possession of cocaine in 2000.
We scrambled, put together a very convincing narrative for the chief counsel in ICE, showed how his deportation order was wrongly decided, how his U.S. Citizen wife had already an approved I-130 for him, and showed ICE the adjustment of status (I-485) that we had ready to file. Our client was rel;eased from detention after a few weeks. A few months later an immigration judge agreed with us and terminated the deportation case. After we filed the application with USCIS the 9th Circuit overturned the Lujan case that allowed individuals with a drug conviction to wipe out the immigration consequences of it if they go through a rehabilitation program. Fortunately, the decision was not applied retrioactively and we were able to use the Lujan case today in our hearing with the USCIS officer.
You cannot imagine how happy my client and his wife are!
MORAL OF THE STORY
Keep fighting for yourself– never sign voluntary departure until a professional has analyzed your case. And, forgive yourself– if you have committed a crime in the past and served your time, you deserve a second chance. Everyone deserves second chances after they have “served their sentence”– it’s in our constitution under the ban against double jeopardy. It is a shame that the Lujan case is overturned, but a least people who were rehabilitated for a drug crime before July 15, 2011 can continue to be protected from it. Everyone else will suffer double jeopardy.
NOTABLE CASE – Felony Conviction Overturned, Deportation Halted
Major Victory: We overturn an unjust 10 year old criminal felony conviction, deportation halted. [Update: Client received her naturalization in April 2013.]
Read what we did in this case.
For more on picking immigration attorneys, please see http://goo.gl/XZkcw
Watch the client tell the story on YouTube.
MORAL OF THE STORY
Hire an attorney who will thoroughly research both your case + the law and you can succeed in this immigration system.
