CASE: Asylum in Immigration Court
CLIENT: Chinese
LOCATION: Elizabeth, New Jersey Immigration Court

Our client, through his relative in the United States, retained us in May 2011 to help him with his asylum case. He is from China and came to the United States with a fraudulent passport.  He was not inspected nor admitted into the United States, and was detained in the Elizabeth New Jersey CDF facility.  He passed his credible fear interview and at his Master Hearing, with our firm representing him, he applied for asylum, withholding of removal and relief under CAT.  Our client is scared to go back home to China, fearing that he will be persecuted on account of his political opinion against the “one-child policy (forced family planning)” in China.

Our client lived in China with his wife and son.  However, he learned that his wife was pregnant again early this year.  Fearing forced abortion against her, our client told his wife to hide and did not report her pregnancy to the local Family Planning Office. According to our client, forced abortions and sterilization surgeries are common in his village in China.   Later, the Family Planning Office personnel came to his house and looked for his wife several times.  When they could not find her, they forced to take our client for sterilization surgery.  Our client opposed the Family Planning Office and its personnel, and he had a physical altercation with them.  The officials punched and beat him.  Eventually, our client managed to escape and fled his home town.  He left China and arrived in the U.S. in April 2011.

Once retained, we helped him prepare his asylum application.  We also asked him to provide supporting documents corroborating his claim, some of which were a letter from his wife, the notarial birth certificate of his son, medical records of his wife, and a family planning procreation and birth healthcare service booklet for his wife.  Our firm also did some research on articles pertaining to his particular claim, and the type of persecution he will experience in China if sent back.

Our client’s individual hearing was scheduled on September 12, 2011 at the Elizabeth Immigration Court in New Jersey. Attorney Sung Hee Yu represented our client at the hearing. During the hearing, our client testified credibly as to his past persecution in China and likelihood of future persecution. On September 20, 2011, the Immigration Judge granted asylum relief for our client and our client was subsequently released. He is now an asylee and will be eligible to apply for permanent resident status in one year. He also would obtain his work permit in about two weeks.

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CASE: Motion to Reopen and Rescind an In Absentia Order of Removal Based on Exceptional Circumstances
CLIENT: Moldovan
LOCATION: Baltimore, Maryland

Our Moldovan client came to the United States in 2008 with a J-1 visa.  Her ex-husband filed for asylum and she was a derivative applicant for this asylum application. After the application was filed, our client attended all necessary appointments related to her immigration applications.  She went to the CIS office to do her fingerprinting, and attended her asylum interview at the Arlington Asylum office.  Our client also attended her first Master Calendar hearing on March 2010 after her ex- husband’s asylum case was referred to the Baltimore Immigration Court.  Eventually, Respondent and her ex-husband’s individual hearing dates were scheduled on May 19, 2011.

Due to marital difficulties between our client and her ex-husband, her previous lawyer filed a Motion to Deconsolidate in October 2010.  Since our client was a derivative asylum applicant with her ex-husband, the Motion stated that she had her own independent grounds for seeking asylum relief.  Nonetheless, since she filed the Motion to Deconsolidate, she never got a response from her previous attorney nor the Court regarding the possible deconsolidation.

From May 16, 2011 to May 24, 2011, our client was in a great deal of pain with headaches, fever, and other symptoms that resulted from the extraction of her tooth on April 30, 2011.  On the days leading up to the hearings, our client got very sick, including May 19, 2011, the individual hearing date. Thus she did not appear before the Court on her individual hearing date.

She later learned about her order of removal on August 3, 2011.  On that day, the divorce between our client and her ex-husband was finalized.  When our client met her ex-husband, he informed her that she was ordered removed on May 19, 2011 because of her absence at the hearing. Her ex-husband was in that hearing and actually won his asylum case. Once she learned about the order of removal, she immediately contacted her previous attorney and explained to him that she was not able to attend her hearing due to illness.  Our client never received anything pertaining to her order of removal.  She intended to attend Court on May 19, 2011 but was too sick to do so.

Our client contacted and retained our office on August 15, 2011 for the Motion to Reopen and Rescind her in absentia order.  After listening to her reasons and learning the surrounding circumstances pertaining to her non-appearance in Court, our office determined that the Immigration Court will most likely grant our client’s Motion to Rescind an in absentia order based on exceptional circumstances.

We contended that our client could not attend at the hearing due to her medical condition and her absence was inevitable due to her sickness.  Our office included supporting documents such as a doctor’s letter, copies of her medical prescriptions, a letter from her employer stating her absence from work around the time of the Individual Hearing, etc.  Our office filed the Motion on August 18, 2011 within the statutory time frame.  The DHS, however, opposed our Motion, so we filed a response on August 31, 2011.   On September 20, 2011, the Baltimore Immigration Court granted our client’s Motion and rescinded the order of removal.  Our client’s case is re-opened, and she can now pursue her asylum claim.

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CASE: Bond Redetermination Hearing
APPLICANT: Chinese
LOCATION: Florence, AZ

A family relative of a Chinese individual detained in Florence, Arizona contacted our office at the end of August.  This Chinese client tried to enter the United States without valid documents and was incarcerated by immigration officers. He was given a credible fear interview which he eventually passed.

Prior to retention, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement already set a very high bond amount. Our client wished to have that reduced so we filed a motion for bond redetermination with the Florence, Arizona Immigration Court.  Despite being in jail in Florence, we communicated with him and gathered as much information regarding his relief, equities, criminal record, family ties, and financial ability to post bond. We contacted our client’s several relatives and friends in Atlanta, Georgia. We also gathered supporting documents from those relatives, from proof of their status and residence, to bank statements and tax returns.

On September 1, 2011, we represented our client for his Florence Arizona Immigration Court bond hearing. At oral arguments, we explained that our client was eligible for asylum relief, passed his credible fear interview, was not a flight risk, had established his residence upon release, had established his financial ability to post bond, and that he had ample family ties in the United States who submitted proof of their residence and immigration status.  Our office contended that his lack of criminal record, designated address with contact information from his relative in the United States, ability to post bond, and eligibility for asylum relief clearly demonstrate that the bond should be reduced.  The Judge took our arguments and evidence into consideration and reduced the bond amount in half. Our client’s relative has thereafter posted bond and he is now out of detention to pursue his asylum claim.

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CASE: Asylum
CLIENT: Saudi Arabian
LOCATION: Dallas / Houston

Our client retained us on June 2011 to help him with his asylum case. He is from Saudi Arabia living in Dallas Texas. He is scared to go back home to Saudi Arabia, fearing that he will be persecuted on account of his social group.

We helped him prepare his asylum application, going over several drafts until his claim was as detailed as possible. Names, addresses, dates, and all possible issues relevant to his asylum claim were addressed. We also asked him to provide supporting documents corroborating his claim, some of which were letters from Saudi Arabia and friends from other states who were part of his social group. Our firm also did some research on articles pertaining to his particular claim, and the type of persecution that members of his social group suffer in Saudi Arabia.

The asylum application was filed in August 5, 2011. On August 7, 2011, the CIS issued an interview notice for his asylum case, scheduled for August 29, 2011 in Houston, Texas. Prior to his interview, our office prepared him thoroughly for his case, going over practice interviews by phone to make sure he is able to address questions the asylum officer would ask. On August 29, 2011, we accompanied our client at his interview in Houston Texas. The interview went well and our client was able to answer all questions accordingly. There were no requests for evidence prior to nor after the interview. Everything went smoothly.

On September 8, 2011, the CIS in Houston approved our client’s asylum case. He is now an asylee and will be eligible to apply for permanent resident status in one year. He also would obtain his work permit in about two weeks.

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CASE: Asylum.
NATIONALITY: China.
RESIDENCE: Virginia.

Our client is a Chinese national on an F-1 visa. He now resides in Virginia. He became a Christian a few years ago while away from China. As he moved to the States, his faith strengthened when his daughter was diagnosed with leukemia. He had turned to God for help, for his daughter to survive. With his prayers and the support of the Christian community, his daughter has done well with her treatment. Our client and his wife would spend days in the hospital with their baby daughter.

A few months ago he had to go back to China to visit his ailing mother-in-law. His wife could not go back as she was pregnant. Our client brought some bibles with him and was arrested at the airport in Beijing. He then was caught a few days later while in prayer service, was detained, and was persecuted.

Upon his return to the U.S., he contemplated on filing for asylum. His daughter is sick, and he had a new child coming up. Our office was retained to file an asylum application for him. We made sure his application was detailed and that he provided all dates, places, and names specifically. We made sure all questions in the asylum application were properly answered, and that possible questions of the officer were anticipated and answered in the application.  We also made sure he properly corroborated his claim with evidence from Church, from China, and everything he had in the U.S. to help his case.

After filing the case, he was scheduled for his asylum interview in Arlington Virginia, about a month from filing the application. Prior to his interview, we prepared him for several hours, conducting mock interviews to make sure he is ready. We accompanied our client to the Arlington Asylum Office and the interview lasted for more than an hour.

Two weeks later, our client obtained his asylum approval. He is now in valid status, can stay in the United States, and has authorization to work.

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