There are a number of different reasons that a foreign-born person might be slated for deportation and removal from the United States, but all of them boil down to not having a legal right to be here. A person may be deported as a result of violating U.S. immigration law, and that may be a result of being in the United States illegally or having violated the terms of their visa or green card. If you are an undocumented person who is in the United States with no immigration status and you are facing removal proceedings, things may look hopeless – but they are not. There are several different options for effective defenses that may be available to you, but they are best made by a person who is experienced in immigration law. At Erik B. Jensen & Associates, we have a successful record of providing legal representation to those facing deportation.
If you have been charged with being an undocumented person residing in the United States, you have a few defenses available to protect you from being deported. The most effective of these is simply to prove that you are not actually removable and that the charges filed against you were incorrect in the first place. The opportunity to offer this defense arises at your first hearing in immigration court, when the judge will ask you from the bench whether you are guilty or wish to deny the factual allegations that have been made against you. Contesting the charges is almost always the best choice, as if you confess to being deportable actions can be taken against you immediately, while opting out of conceding to removability puts the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) into the position of having to provide evidence that you are undocumented. There are many instances where they are unable to provide proof of this, or may have charged you with being undocumented for the wrong reason. In either case, if the DHS is not able to provide this proof, you have the right to ask that the charges against you be dismissed.
Should the DHS provide proof of your removability, you are still able to request relief from removal. This is one of the reasons that it is so important that you never fabricate information when you are in court. Lying will provide the judge with reason to believe that you should be remove, where simply requesting that the DHS provide proof of their case is a legal right. Though the judge will be able to provide you with information about relief from removal, they are not necessarily in possession of all of the pertinent information about your case, and may provide you with information that is incomplete. Your best road to avoiding deportation and getting relief from removal is to have a knowledgeable legal advocate working on your behalf. Call the immigration law attorneys at Erik B. Jensen Associates at Law to learn more about how we can help.
