IMMIGRATION LAW

Seasonal Workers

For more than a decade, we have represented employers who have a periodic or seasonal need for workers to perform services for nine months out of the year or for a one-time need of up to three years. The H-2B program is a complicated process that requires interaction with and approvals from the Department of Labor, Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of State. This process is fraught with technical rules and frequent rule changes, domestic recruitment requirements, challenging timing requirements, and severely restricted visa number limitations each year.

We are deeply experienced in all of these challenges and procedures and successfully navigate this process year after year for our clients to give them the best chance possible to compete for the limited H-2B visas issued by the U.S. Government each year.

Victims of Crime & Abuse

United States immigration law is intended to provide protection to vulnerable persons and victims of crimes and abuse. There are provisions for U-Visas intended to encourage immigrant victims of certain crimes to come forward and report the crime and cooperate in the prosecution of the perpetrator of the crime. After a period of time, U Visas can result lead to a green card over time.

It is also possible for an immigrant spouse who is the victim of domestic violence to complete their green card through the VAWA (Violence against Women Act) process without their spouse abuser.

Our office has extensive experience in both of these programs. They are long processes and are very complex and require careful planning very early in the client’s case. When successful, these programs allow vulnerable people to emerge from their nightmare of abuse and to stand strong as new Americans on their own. We are always happy to work with our clients to make this a reality.

Family Based Petitions

The immigration story of so many people begins and ends with family. US Citizens and Legal Permanent Residents (green card holders) can petition to bring their qualifying family members to the United States under US immigration law. Each petition is unique and often the process can be complicated for many applicants. Having the expertise of a skilled immigration attorney to guide you through the immigration process is extremely important. We bring exactly the necessary experience and skill needed to advise you of your best options to move forward with a family-based immigration process including:

• • Petitions from United States citizens to immigrate their fiancées, spouses, children, and siblings.
  • Petitions from Lawful Permanent Residents to immigrate their spouses and unmarried children.
  • Waiver Applications for potential beneficiaries who are in the United States or abroad and who may be subject to one or several grounds of inadmissibility.

DACA

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is a program that grants deferred action and the related benefit of work authorization in the United States. Eligible applicants must meet the program’s requirements for both an initial-first time or a renewal application.

We have one of the largest clientele of DACA recipients in the region and we have represented individuals in the DACA program since its inception in 2012. We have extensive experience successfully navigating the DACA program from its beginning and through its many challenges and its evolution through three presidential administrations and numerous legal challenges. When you hire our office to evaluate your candidacy for benefits under the DACA program, we bring the skill and the judgment forged from that extensive experience to your case in the following ways:

• • Assessment of your complete immigration history and evaluation of your particular eligibility for DACA benefits.
  • Preparation and submission of an initial application.
  • Renewal of a prior DACA Application.
  • Requests for Advance Parole (Travel Documents) as a DACA recipient.

Citizenship

Many immigrants have the goal to become United States Citizens after living in the United States as a Lawful Permanent Resident for some time. This is a process known as naturalization. Citizenship provides a number of rights and benefits, such as voting in elections, but it also holds enormous symbolic value for many people as the ultimate end of their immigration story.

For some individuals, there are also significant risks to the process. Permanent Residents who decide to move forward with naturalization must understand that the naturalization process will, for one final time, place them in front of the U.S. Government immigration agencies. It will likely be the last opportunity for the U.S. Government to closely examine their immigration journey for any discrepancies in their past immigration journey or to challenge a person’s status in the United States. If you would like to pursue citizenship, we can bring the experience and judgment necessary to carefully review the individual circumstances of your case and advise you of any potential issues. We also prepare our clients for their citizenship test, for the interview, and accompany them to the interview in case problems arise.

Asylum

Asylum seekers who fear for their lives and who have come to the United States from all over the world or who present at the U.S. Southern Border have braved unspeakable hardship and challenges just to make it to our country and the safety it promises. Unfortunately, in many ways, their struggle only just begins once they reach U.S. soil.

United States asylum law is far more technical and restrictive than understood by most people and asylum approval rates in the United States have plummeted in the last four years. Applications for asylum generally must be filed within one year of the seeker’s entry into the United States, subject to certain exceptions. Articulating a Particular Social Group that explains to an Asylum Officer or an Immigration Judge exactly why a person’s past persecution or well-founded fear of future persecution qualifies them for asylum protection becomes harder each year. Particular Social Group definitions are the single most litigated issue related to our asylum law.

Alternatively, if a person’s fear of return home is based on their national origin, race, religion, or expression of political opinion proving the required nexus is equally difficult and often requires the assistance of expert opinion testimony and an expert understanding of our immigration law and Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) precedent cases.

Whether an asylum seeker will be able to legally work temporarily while their case is pending is subject to complicated timing issues and can be a difficult question to assess.

Our team has worked with asylum seekers in family detention at the U.S. Southern Border to prepare them for credible fear interviews since 2015. We have represented mothers, fathers, and children throughout the Midwest who seek asylum protection before the USCIS Asylum Office, as well as before the various Immigration Courts as they navigate these difficult and complicated barriers to obtain the safety and protection of the United States that they seek and deserve.

Removal Detention

If you are undocumented or if the U.S. Government believes it has the right to take your green card away, you may find yourself in before the Immigration Court. These proceedings are not criminal, they are an administrative/civil process. A person before an Immigration Court is not a criminal defendant. However, it is very likely that if you find yourself in this situation, it will not feel that way.

If you are in immigration detention, sometimes an immigration judge has jurisdiction to consider your release from detention under certain conditions. Sometimes an officer with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can consider your release. In other circumstances, because of the way our immigration law is written, people in civil removal proceedings are mandatory detainees and the government is required to detain you until the end of your case. Whether you are likely to remain in jail throughout your case is often a difficult and complicated question that requires experience and skilled advocacy to give you the best chance to avoid detention.

Before the immigration court, there may be options for you to challenge the government’s attempt to remove you from the United States. Even if you are removable, there may be defenses that you might have which could allow you to keep your green card or even to cancel the removal proceedings and permit the immigration judge to give you a green card at the end of your case. These defenses are complicated and require extensive preparation. Our office has years of experience in successfully preparing these defenses and giving our clients the best opportunity possible to win and preserve their livelihoods and futures in the United States. We work with experts from across the United States and outside the United States, where necessary, to explain how your removal would severely impact your children and your family.

Whatever your circumstances, when you find yourself served with a Notice to Appear or are detained by ICE, it is critical that you seek experienced and skilled legal counsel immediately to assess your situation and defenses. Our office stands ready to stand with you and to assure you have the best opportunity possible to maintain your freedom and to avoid removal.