IMMIGRATION UPDATE: Chicago Hearing Postponed

4/8/2020 Asylum Hearing Postponed

Asylum Hearing - Chicago Postponed

In the midst of the global Coronavirus Pandemic, our April 8th hearing in Chicago has been postponed. No further information is available at this time, however, our legal team has advised that we will continue with the timely submittal of all documentation.  

7th Circuit Appeal Still Pending

In addition to the pending and postponed asylum hearing, we are still waiting to hear if the 7th Circuit Court will take up our appeal for termination of the illegitimate deportation order.  We have brought the case forward not only to pursue our legal right to terminate the deportation proceedings on the basis of recent Supreme Court rulings Pereiras v. Sessions and Ortiz-Santiago v. Barr that held that a Notice to Appear (NTA) is defective if it does not contain the date, time, and location of a hearing and if, subsequent "Notice of Hearing" had not been received. 

In our case, the Notice to Appear had only, "To Be Set." No subsequent notices could be sent as border agents refused to retrieve Enrique's uncle's U.S. address from the pocket of his earlier-confiscated jacket - illegally and unethically entering, "Failed to provide U.S. Address" on the official government forms.

The combination of the missing date and time of his supposed hearing and border agent's refusal to retrieve the address, set Enrique up to fail nearly 15-years ago.  Believing he was notifying the gov't of his whereabouts, he filed for and was issued a Federal tax ID which has enabled his payment of income taxes since his arrival. The combination of misleading documents provided by U.S. immigration, his presence in the U.S. for more than 10-years, his consistent demonstration of good moral character and paying income taxes year-after-year, and our immigration-approved marriage, establish solid grounds for termination or cancellation of the discovered deportation order.  

That said, sadly, the recent "admission to the allegations" - a coerced confession that a Texas judge illegally and unethically forced our attorney to admit in exchange for a change of venue to Chicago immigration courts, resulted in our Motion to Terminate being denied in an August 2019 hearing. On the basis, the admission may impact the stop-time rule thus preventing the court to recognize Enrique's presence in the U.S. of more than ten years, the Judge denied the call for termination, refused to excuse the earlier admission that was the only path to obtain the much-needed change of venue, and scheduled a (now postponed in the wake of the pandemic) full hearing for April 8th. 

Follow our full story at http://deportinglove.com, a website and blog dedicated to seeking justice and human-centered immigration reform - not just for ourselves but on the behalf of the tens of thousands of voiceless immigrants in America. Please share!