Speaker 1: Hello, my name is Marina Shepelsky, and I'm the Managing Attorney of Law Offices of Marina Shepelsky. We're a leading New York law firm, and our main focus of the practice is immigration and family law. For immigration law, I would like to discuss today the topic of what are immigration court removal and deportation proceedings, what happens in immigration court. First of all, what are immigration courts? Immigration courts are courts operated by the American government agency called the Executive Office of Immigration Review, and the acronym is EOIR, and you might see it in court documents if you have to deal with them. The judges are federal level judges, and they're appointed by the Attorney General of the United States, who of course is appointed by the President of the United States. These proceedings are quasi or half administrative and half judicial, mostly these proceedings interpreted the administrative law of immigration statutes, and those are federal statutes, as well as using state cases or state precedent for deciding each specific case, and the Board of Immigration Appeals decisions. What types of matters come in front of immigration court? Well, first of all, immigration courts deal with matters of deportation, exclusion, visas, status termination, and generally the decision of who gets to stay in the United States and who has to go. Are immigration court proceedings criminal in nature? Because people often hear that people are getting arrested for immigration violations. Are these proceedings like criminal court? The answer is that immigration court removal proceedings are quasi-judicial, and they are not criminal, however, immigration court does have the power to detain or arrest and jail certain individuals, and those are people who have certain crimes that they have been convicted of, which are considered mandatory detention type crimes, or if they had a prior order of deportation, if they have other serious immigration violations in the past, and those are the kinds of people that immigration judges decide to detain. Immigration court decides also the issues of whether people who are detained or jailed should be released on bond, which is a common term for that is also bail, but in immigration law it's called bond, released on bond, and if they should be removed, deported, excluded, or have their immigration status rescinded, or basically annulled. Immigration court generally decides who should stay or remain in the United States, who can get immigration status to remain in the United States, or who should be removed or deported. Some orders of deportation and removal are basically served or handed to someone personally in open court, some things are mailed, and some are not just served, but also ICE, which is Immigration and Custom Enforcement, is involved and they actually physically deport or remove people to their country of origin by putting them on a plane. So there's a whole gamut of things that can happen in immigration court proceedings. Are all immigration courts the same? Immigration courts exist in almost every state of the United States, certain courts handle several states, but they interpreted precedent law from the jurisdiction where the court is located geographically. So what does that mean for people or respondents who come in front of the judges? That basically means that with the same set of facts and circumstances, a family who lives in Florida might get a different outcome or a different court decision than a family that lives in New York based on how the court in Florida or a court in New York interprets their law, what the standards of evidence are, and other legal procedures. How do people even end up in immigration court proceedings? How do people get to the removal proceedings or deportation stage? Well, every immigration court is started by a document served by the government, and that is called a Notice to Appear. People who are basically foreign nationals that have to come to immigration courts are called respondents. They're not called defendants because defendants would be in criminal court, but they are called respondents because they have to respond to the government's process. And the Notice to Appear is a charging document that lists basic facts that the government is trying to prove or has already proven or some things are already facts. For example, the government has in the Notice to Appear the date the foreign national entered the United States. What kind of status did they enter? Did they have a visa or did they cross the border illegally? Some people have immigrant visas, which means they're immigrants. They're coming to the United States permanently to stay here permanently. So that legal term in immigration law means they're coming to live in the United States and relocate here. Some people have non-immigrant visas, which often covers work visas or tourist visas or some sort of a travel visa to be here temporary. And it's always anticipated by the government that those temporary visas will end at some point and the person will return to their country of origin. So people end up in immigration court when they violated their immigration status, when they violated their visa, when they were denied immigration benefits, like for example, people filing for a green card if they're denied, and when their stay is considered illegal. Sometimes, believe it or not, we immigration attorneys put our clients specifically on purpose in immigration proceedings because there are certain types of relief or defense from deportation that only an immigration judge can give or grant. For example, cancellation of removal for families with children born here who have lived here longer than 10 years and have been paying taxes, have not had any criminal convictions. There is a chance that if the kids have medical or other kinds of hardships and they're U.S. citizen kids or a spouse who is a U.S. citizen and they couldn't live in the country of origin, we ask the judge to grant something called cancellation of removal and those people would be eligible for a green card or permanent residence. We do a lot of those cases, so if you have a situation like that, it's important to speak to a lawyer. The questions continue. People often ask me, my clients, well, who's our adversary when we go to court? In immigration court, it's similar to criminal court in that in criminal court, you'd have to deal with a prosecutor or district attorney. In immigration court, we're dealing with the Department of Homeland Security litigation unit and we call the attorney who comes to court from DHS or Department of Homeland Security trial attorney. The trial attorneys, actually their job is to make sure to prove to the court that you should be deported to your country. We often speak to them and have a conference with them and sometimes we're able to work out certain things even before the court hearing. A lot of legal things can be worked out ahead of time, but nevertheless, remember their job is to make sure you're deported. Another question people will ask me, are all immigration judges the same? The answer is no, absolutely not. Some judges statistically deny 97% of their cases and have an approval rate of only 3% or 2% sometimes. That means only 2% of people who file with them any kind of relief like asking for asylum, legalization through other venues, only 2% will be approved. Other judges are more liberal and will go with 40, 50, 60, even 70% approval rates and your attorney should understand your judge, what they like, what kind of procedures they have. Every judge has their little quirky rules and someone who practices law all the time, immigration law that is, should know all this. What are some important things to do for respondents placed in immigration court proceedings? What are some basics to know? Well, first of all, and it seems like it should be self explanatory, but some people don't understand is that the judge, the court must have your correct address. They must have the right address of where to mail you information that includes the number of the street, the street name, the apartment number, the town and the zip code. If something is off, you are not going to receive important mail that the court and the government is sending to you. Also, the court must understand what is your best language and some people have two or three best languages and some people just have one, but you have to understand that the court has to get an interpreter for you so that everyone is speaking in the same language during your court proceeding or your trial, your bench trial, which is called an individual hearing in immigration court. Also very important is to tell the truth to the judge and think before answering. Think of the question and think of the answer. And the final question that people often ask me is, do I need a lawyer to represent me in immigration court proceedings? The question is yes, absolutely. You should have a lawyer and you should have someone who practices immigration law on a regular basis, who goes to the court where you will be heard, who knows the judges, knows their procedures, who knows who to reach out to locally and the trial attorneys and will be able to discuss your case even ahead of the court date and get you good results. At Shepelsky Law, our law firm, we handle all types of immigration court removal proceedings from asylum, family unification cases, the cancellation of removal cases I had mentioned earlier and other cases where it's very important to have good experts by your side and we're just that. Our approval rate is very high. We win. We welcome you here. We welcome new clients. Our phone number is 718-769-6352. Find us on Facebook under Law Offices of Marina Shepelsky and please subscribe to our YouTube channel. Have a good day and good luck to you with your court cases.