Immigration: If I Am in the US for 10 Years, Can I Become Legal?

There is an immigration process called Cancellation of Removal.  The word “Removal” is the new word for “Deportation”.  If a person is detained for Removal Proceedings (deportation) and is brought to Immigration Court before an Immigration Judge, then a process called Cancellation of Removal may be available. 

The person must first be in Removal/Deportation proceedings before Immigration Court.  The person must be in the US at least 10 years, and have documentary proof that he/she has been in the US for at least 10 years.  The person must be of good moral character, with no, or only minor arrests.  The person must have a qualifying relative; which is defined as a US citizen or permanent resident parent, spouse or child.  And, there must be extreme and exceptionally unusual hardship to the qualifying relative if the person was to be removed/deported from the US.  A full trial is presented to the Immigration Judge, who can make the determination to allow the person to remain in the US and become a permanent resident.

I call a Cancellation of Removal case, a “WOW” case; because after I present the case, I want the District Counsel and the Immigration Judge to sit back and say, “Wow!”

Years ago I represented a man who had been in the US for 12 years illegally, when he was stopped by immigration officers.  He had never been arrested, and he had a 10 year old US citizen daughter with a withered arm, for whom he was the sole provider.  Classmates bullied the little girl because her arm looked different.  Her father drove her to school, picked her up from school, took her to physical and mental therapy, paid for special French horn lessons because she could rest her arm inside the horn, and supported her.  He worked nights in a factory and had risen to Night Shift Supervisor.  He worked a 2nd job in the afternoons in McDonald’s, where he also had student customers come in so he could tutor them with their math.  He belonged to a local church, participating as a Deacon in the church.  He also volunteered in the local hospital, working with AIDS patients at a time when no one else would.

One night during his shift, one of the machines jammed, and a US-citizen worker leaned in to unclog the jam.  The machine unjammed, but came down on the woman and cut off her arm.  My client was the only one who carried the key to the machine, turned it off, was able to tourniquet her arm, place the severed arm on ice, and called the ambulance. The hospital was able to reattach her arm because of his actions. 

At the immigration trial, his daughter, school officials, his priest, parishioners, members of the community, his bosses, administrators from the hospital and the woman with the severed arm all came to Immigration Court to testify on his behalf.  At the end of the trial, the District Counsel for the Immigration Service, and the Immigration Judge, sat back and said, “Wow, this is the type of person we want in the US.” 

That’s a Cancellation of Removal case.