Florida Immigration Lawyer Blog

The Supreme Court tied on U.S. v. Texas, DAPA and expanded DACA are still frozen, where do we go from here?

Published on: July 28, 2016 | by Lasnetski Gihon Law

Anyone who follows immigration news or politics has probably heard that late last month, the Supreme Court in a 4-4 tie, left in place the lower court’s order freezing DAPA and expanded DACA. What this means is that for the rest of President Obama’s term, there will be no Deferred Action for Parents of Americans or an expansion of the already-in-place Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program begun in 2012.

This does not mean that DAPA and expanded DACA are dead; rather, it means that the Supreme Court has not yet decided if any president has the authority to create and administer expansive immigration policy measures like these. Obviously, if a candidate who does not support DAPA and DACA wins the White House, these programs will never see the light of day. If a candidate who supports these measures or even more ambitious measure reaches the White House, we can expect that we will see a new push for DAPA and DACA or programs like them in 2017.

These programs are not the only way that people in the United States without a lawful immigration status can seek immigration relief. There is always prosecutorial discretion, stays of removal, temporary protected status, asylum, withholding, and cancellation of removal, among others.

Updates from the Board of Immigration Appeals and Good News for Immigrants held in Detention more than Six Months

Published on: July 15, 2016 | by Lasnetski Gihon Law

Over the last two months the Board of Immigration Appeals has released a handful of new published decisions. I have summarized them and provided my insight into what the cases mean for the immigration practitioner. Also, since my last post on the case of Maxi Sopo there has been a very interesting interpretation of the ruling. In my blog on that case https://www.floridaimmigrationlawyerblog.com/2016/06/eleventh_circuit_court_of_appe_1.html, I interpreted the decision to require that immigration attorneys who wished to have a bond hearing when their clients were detained for more than six months pre-final order, would have to go to federal court with a habeas action first. However, that is not how the ACLU interpreted the case and not how it is playing out in court. The ACLU practice advisory says that immigration attorneys who believe their clients have been detained unreasonably long, pre-final order, can file their bond motions directly with the immigration courts. https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/practice-advisory-prolonged-mandatory-detention-and-bond-eligibility-eleventh-circuit. That is a huge time and cost saver for clients. The ramifications of the Sopo case are still shaking out in practice, so I will try and keep you posted on what happens in the filed going forward.

Now, back to the summaries of the published BIA cases for the last few months:

Matter of Gonzalez Romo, 26 I&N Dec. 743 (BIA 2016):

Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals Says Mandatory Detention is not Mandatory if your Immigration Case takes too long to Complete.

Published on: June 24, 2016 | by Lasnetski Gihon Law

As a non-citizen in an immigration detention facility, you may or may not be eligible for release or a bond. Unlike in criminal court where you have a Constitutional right to a reasonable bond (with very few exceptions), in Immigration Court, an immigration judge often has no authority to grant you a bond in your case, even if you have never been arrested for a crime.

In our office, we handle many cases involving clients who are detained in immigration detention facilities. Some are in removal proceedings fighting to keep their green cards, obtain some form of immigration relief or are simply trying to get a bond so they can get out of detention. There are many ways that we can help a client get out of immigration detention, whether its by asking ICE to parole them from custody or grant them a bond, or filing a bond motion in immigration court or asking the ICE attorneys handling the case to agree to a bond. Now, we have another way to try and secure the release of clients detained for more than six months thanks to a new decision by the 11th Circuit.

You may ask, how is that fair, why am I not eligible or a bond? Let me explain the law on this issue. If you already have a final order of removal and the government detains you to execute that order, you are not eligible for a bond from an immigration judge. If you are stopped at a land border or airport or seaport and considered an arriving alien and detained, you are not eligible for a bond. If you are removable or inadmissible for almost any criminal ground of removability, you are not eligible for a bond. It makes no difference if you are a flight risk or a danger to the community; if the law says you are not eligible, there is nothing an immigration judge can legally do to grant you a bond.

Summaries of Unpublished BIA Decisions from Florida

Published on: June 13, 2016 | by Lasnetski Gihon Law

This part of the latest issue of the AILA Georgia-Alabama and Central and South Florida Chapter 11th Circuit Litigation Newsletter summarizes unpublished BIA decisions from Florida. The summarized cases are for April and May 2016.

This is a group effort of a number of attorneys – John Gihon, Marshall Cohen, Roberta Cooper, Kathleen Schulman, Mariana Munoz-Parsons and myself. I would like to commend everyone for their hard work. Any feedback from members may be sent to me, Bruce Buchanan of Sebelist Buchanan Law PLLC at bbuchanan@sblimmigration.com or John Gihon of Lasnetski Gihon Law at John@slgattorneys.com.

Miami, FL

Summaries of Unpublished BIA Decisions from Alabama and Georgia

Published on: June 9, 2016 | by Lasnetski Gihon Law

This part of the latest issue of the AILA Georgia-Alabama and Central and South Florida Chapter 11th Circuit Litigation Newsletter summarizes unpublished BIA decisions from Alabama and Georgia. The summarized cases are for April and May 2016.

This is a group effort of a number of attorneys – John Gihon, Marshall Cohen, Roberta Cooper, Kathleen Schulman, Mariana Munoz-Parsons and myself. I would like to commend everyone for their hard work. Any feedback from members may be sent to me, Bruce Buchanan of Sebelist Buchanan Law PLLC at bbuchanan@sblimmigration.com or John Gihon of Lasnetski Gihon Law at John@slgattorneys.com.

Atlanta, GA

District Court Immigration-Related Decisions from the 11th Circuit and Published BIA Case Summaries

Published on: June 7, 2016 | by Lasnetski Gihon Law

This is part of the latest issue of the AILA Georgia-Alabama and Central and South Florida Chapter Newsletter summarizing important immigration-related cases decided in District Courts in Georgia, Florida, and Alabama, and published BIA decisions nationwide. The summarized cases are for April and May 2016.

This is a group effort of a number of attorneys – John Gihon, Marshall Cohen, Roberta Cooper, Kathleen Schulman, Mariana Munoz-Parsons and myself. I would like to commend everyone for their hard work. Any feedback from members may be sent to me, Bruce Buchanan of Sebelist Buchanan Law PLLC at bbuchanan@sblimmigration.com or John Gihon of Lasnetski Gihon Law at John@slgattorneys.com.

District Court Decisions

June 2016 AILA Georgia-Alabama, Central Florida and South Florida Litigation Newsletter is now available

Published on: June 3, 2016 | by Lasnetski Gihon Law

This is the latest issue of the newsletter summarizing important immigration-related cases decided by 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, District Court decisions from Georgia, Florida, and Alabama, OCAHO decisions, and published and unpublished BIA decisions The summarized cases are for April and May 2016 except for unpublished BIA decisions, which date back to March 2016.

This is a group effort of a number of attorneys – John Gihon, Marshall Cohen, Roberta Cooper, Kathleen Schulman, Mariana Munoz-Parsons and myself. I would like to commend everyone for their hard work. Any feedback from members may be sent to me, Bruce Buchanan of Sebelist Buchanan Law PLLC at bbuchanan@sblimmigration.com or John Gihon of Lasnetski Gihon Law at John@slgattorneys.com.

11th Circuit Decisions

I am not a U.S. citizen, What are the Immigration Consequences of my Criminal Case?

Published on: May 19, 2016 | by Lasnetski Gihon Law

The scary truth for most immigrants is that until you become a citizen, there are serious and negative immigration consequences for every criminal arrest or prosecution, the only question is, how serious and how negative. Once a non-citizen immigrant is arrested for any crime, there will be negative consequences; some are more immediate and direct than others. The only thing that you can do after your arrest is find the best attorneys to help you mitigate the negative immigration consequences associated with every criminal arrest.

I provide trainings to criminal defense attorneys and public defender’s across the state of Florida on this exact issue. They all want to know the immigration consequences for a client charged with a specific crime and what charges to try and plead them to or what sentence to get them to keep them from being deported. The quick and dirty answer is always, “it depends.” Some questions are easy, “my client has a green card and he is facing a DUI, will he get deported?” The answer is, no not for the DUI, but that same DUI may get his citizenship application denied in the future.

Some questions are more complicated; for instance, “my client has a work permit, will this grand theft plea with no jail time get her deported?” That one is much more complicated . . .why does she have a work permit, what is her immigration status, does she have any other convictions and if so, for what? There are so many variables that no criminal defense attorney can possibly be expected to know or be able to find all of them. That is why we are here to help (check out our dedicated crimmigration consultation page for more information: http://www.floridacrimmigration.com)

I am a Lawful Permanent Resident and when I came back from a trip outside of the United States, immigration officers took my green card, what do I do now?

Published on: May 10, 2016 | by Lasnetski Gihon Law

This is a scary and surprising fact pattern that all to many green card holders find themselves in after a short or long trip outside of the country. No matter how long you have had your green card and how many times you have traveled outside the country in the past, on any given return trip, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Officers can stop you at the air or sea port, take your green card and try to deport you. The ugly truth is that until you become a U.S. citizen, immigration officers can come knocking at your door on any given day and try to detain and deport you for a variety reasons.

As usual, I am not trying to scare anyone with this blog, but I have seen it hundreds of times both as an immigration attorney here in Orlando and in my former role as a Senior Attorney with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (check out my webpage for more info: https://www.slgattorneysflorida.com/john-gihon.html). If you have a green card and you think it can never happen to you, they will never take my green card and detain me and try to deport me, you could be sadly mistaken.

Whenever anyone (including green card holders) enters the United States and they are not a citizen, they run the risk of being forced to “seek admission” to the country just like every tourist, student, and other non-resident who comes to our border. Usually, if you have a green card, when you come back to the U.S., you get to show your foreign passport and green card, they ask you a question or two and you are then free to enter and return to your home here in the great United States. However, if you fall into one of many categories found in section 101(a)(13)(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, even if you have a green card, you will be deemed to be “seeking admission” and will be judged by the same standards as someone who has never been to the country before.

I am a Lawful Permanent Resident with a Criminal Record, what are my Immigration Options?

Published on: April 28, 2016 | by Lasnetski Gihon Law

If you have a green card and have been arrested in the past, you may have many questions about your immigration options. If I renew my green card will they find out about my record and deport me? If I file an N-400 and try to obtain my citizenship, am I eligible and if I am denied, will they try to deport me? What happens if I travel out of the country, even for a short trip? If I do nothing is that a good idea?

These are all common and valid questions and ones we deal with on a regular basis when doing immigration consultations in our office-for more information about how to schedule a comprehensive immigration consultation with our office, check out our webpage at http://www.slgattorneys.com

The only way to truly give a lawful permanent resident (LPR) accurate advice on what to do and what not to do when they have a criminal record is to find out everything there is to know about their criminal, immigration and family history. You should probably only rely on an experienced immigration attorney (like me: https://www.slgattorneysflorida.com/john-gihon.html ) to tell you your options.