On August 2, 2010 a Legal Permanent Resident who had been in ICE detention for eleven months finally had his day in court. The Department of Homeland Security wanted to deport this man, and I was his attorney. This was not only my first pro bono client, but also my first official file. The most significant first to me, however, was this first experience with immigration law.
(It bears mentioning, therefore, that immigration law is beyond the scope of my general practice. This means at this point in my career I will refuse to represent a private immigration client.)
Last February I agreed to represent this individual. As an attorney, the private details of his circumstances are strictly confidential. The court record, however, reflects the most impotant result of this ordeal. The Immigration Judge granted our application to cancel his removal. This means the Department of Homeland Security may not exercise any authority to deport him now.
I learned many things during this experience. In a previous post I blogged about the importance of pro bono service as a means to learning. Similarly, I blogged about the relationship between a criminal conviction and immigration consequences under federal and state law. My upcoming posts are intended briefly to describe the factors an immigration court considers in determining whether to prevent DHS from deporting a Legal Permanent Resident.
