Immigrants lose right to stay if they do not appeal

Greetings Jorge Rivera, immigration attorney.

Today we will talk about a recent Supreme Court decision: a resident who ended up being deported for a DUI was an error by the Immigration Judge. He was physically deported, he returned and is now appealing to regain his residency.

The supreme court says that since he did not appeal the error at the time, he has now lost the opportunity to regain residency and resolve his case.

When we heard this decision, we panicked and thought that this then affects all the people with deportation orders who did not appeal at the time. Remember: we have over one million people with deportation (which is 10% of the immigrant population) without papers in the US.

A distinctive decision

In this case, I took the time to read the decision and comments of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. It turns out that there are several points under which this Supreme Court decision can be distinguished from the vast majority of people's deportation cases.

The resident who was deported for a DUI and by mistake, was physically deported from the U.S. The difference with most people with deportations in the U.S., is that they usually have a deportation order from an Immigration Judge, but in the end never left the country. So, we can argue that this decision is different than most cases.

Another issue is that there was an error on the part of the Immigration Judge. However, in most cases the most common strategy is not to appeal the case years later claiming that a mistake was made. The strategy for resolving a deportation case five, ten, fifteen, or twenty years later is a motion to reopen. The motion to reopen is presented directly to the judges and prosecutors (join motion to reopen: waiver I212).

Why is a motion to reopen presented? They are presented byThere is a change in circumstances. The person now qualifies for something they did not qualify for before. They are not made on the basis of an initial Immigration error.

Immigration Lawyer

Therefore, with those two points, we have distinguished this Supreme Court decision over the vast majority of cases with deportation orders. This is why you need a good lawyer, who can rely on these types of arguments so that your case does not affect you. 

For help with these strategies call me at 88 85 78 78 22 76.

If you are looking for an immigration lawyer in Miami, you can find us at 5820 Blue Lagoon Dr, Miami, FL.
It also provides counseling for immigrants in Houston.