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Hill & Piibe, Immigration Attorneys Blog
Your Family Member’s Illness: Should You Put Yourself Into Deportation Proceedings?
August 28th, 2017
At our law firm, some new clients make an appointment to ask us about starting a “Cancellation of Removal,” or a “Ten-Year Case.” Most of the time, they have heard about this from a friend, or even from a notario (non-attorney) or an attorney…
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A Maze of Laws: Government "Typo" Error Prevents Green Card 20 Years Later
August 18th, 2017
You’ve heard this exclamation: “Why don’t all the ‘illegals’ just go ahead and get legal immigration status?” Well, the answer is that the immigration laws throw up many technical difficulties, and work against common sense. Take a case i…
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A “Nolo Contendere” Criminal Plea Can Have Unintended Consequences Without the Right Guidance
July 12th, 2017
A couple of weeks ago we filed a Ninth Circuit appeal that demonstrates how a sharp attorney can make a difference where criminal records are involved. Even minor criminal convictions could have serious consequences on an immigration case, after the…
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Ninth Circuit Criticizes The BIA For Failing To Exercise Thoughtfulness When Analyzing New Evidence In An Ethiopian Torture Case
June 27th, 2017
Last Friday, the Ninth Circuit ruled on a case that gives good guidance on two potentially complex issues. In Agonafer v. Sessions, the Court first examined its jurisdiction to consider a late-filed Motion to Reopen a removal/deportation case for pur…
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More Details on How Ice Will Target Immigrants for Arrest/Deportation
June 7th, 2017
In a recent meeting with attorneys from the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), ICE answered questions and clarified how it is interpreting President Trump’s new directives for increased immigration enforcement. Hill & Piibe’s ea…
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Ninth Circuit Judges Sound Off In Two Cases, Highlighting The Debate Over Justice And The Future of Immigration Law And Policy
June 2nd, 2017
On Tuesday May 30, 2017 the Ninth Circuit published two decisions, wherein two judges on opposing sides of the spectrum weighed in with their opinions and comments to underscore different viewpoints of immigration policy. Habitual Drunkards, and How…
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Ninth Circuit Revokes Asylum Status After Complicated Analysis of the Effect of a Criminal Conviction for Attempted Sexual Abuse
May 27th, 2017
Asylum status protects a person from being sent back to a country where he would be persecuted. However, that status can be revoked due to subsequent criminal behavior that amounts to an “aggravated felony” as defined by immigration law. In Diego…
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New BIA Case on "Family" as a Particular Social Group for Asylum Persecution: Hatfields Versus McCoys?
May 25th, 2017
Today’s decision from the BIA is a head-scratcher. In Matter of L-E-A-, the BIA examined the claim of a man who was persecuted because his father owned a grocery store. The persecutors were members of La Familia Michoacana, a criminal cartel in Mex…
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Another BIA Decision on Persecutors: How Much Proof is Needed
May 18th, 2017
The “persecutor bar” prevents immigration benefits from being granted to applicants who persecuted others in the past. Today, the immigration appellate court (BIA) confirmed just how far the government must go to invoke the bar. In Matter of M-B-…
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New BIA Case: Guarding a Tortured Prisoner is "Persecution," Even If You Had No Intent To Harm
May 5th, 2017
The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) is the first appellate court for all deportation/removal cases nationwide. Today in a decision titled Matter of J.M. Alvarado, it denied a green card to a man who served in the El Salvador National Guard, becaus…
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