ALEJANDRO ROQUE., ESQ. | IMMIGRATION & CRIMINAL LAW ATTORNEY

Representation in Immigration Court

The general structure of immigration court hearings is actually quite simple. The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) administers the immigration courts. Each immigration court has one or more immigration judges. Your case will be heard by only one immigration judge, even if it takes place over a number of different days.

Immigration proceedings occur in roughly three stages: initial hearings, known as "Master Calendar Hearings"; hearings focused on the individual, known as "individual hearings" or sometimes "merit hearings"; and post-hearing proceedings for anyone who has been granted relief or for orders of voluntary departure or removal.

Removal proceedings begin when the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) chief counsel's office issues a document called a "Notice to Appear" or "NTA" for short. The NTA is an accusatory document, a formal accusation against a person who entered or is present in the U.S. without authorization. An ICE attorney will prosecute the case against you in immigration court.

The NTA is very important: not only does it set out the specific legal reasons why U.S. immigration authorities believe you are in the U.S. illegally, but it also notifies you that you will be scheduled for immigration proceedings before the immigration court.

If you have received an NTA, please call us. In the past, the NTA itself notified respondents of their first scheduled court hearing. Today, with immigration courts facing a large caseload, courts send separate hearing notices to NTA recipients.

If you have received an NTA, you can expect to receive a notice from the immigration court within about a week to a month, telling you when and where your first hearing will be. If you have been detained by immigration authorities, the immigration courts are responsible for scheduling your first hearing and sending out a hearing notice as soon as possible. Make a careful note of the date and time of your first hearing! If you miss a court hearing, you could lose any type of immigration relief and be ordered removed from the United States.

The date of your first hearing depends on how busy the court is. In recent years, most immigration courts have been very busy—there are a lot of people in removal proceedings and not enough judges to hear their cases, so wait times for hearings have been long. Generally, though, your first hearing should be between a couple of months and a year after you get the NTA.

If you are being detained by immigration authorities, things move much faster. Immigration courts are tasked with scheduling your hearings as soon as possible, usually within a few weeks or a few months at most.

Sometimes people are in immigration court for more than just deportation proceedings. For example, if you were detained at the border, applied for asylum, and an asylum officer determined that you do not have a good chance of qualifying for asylum, you can ask that an immigration judge review the asylum officer's determination. These types of immigration proceedings are usually handled in a single hearing and are completed much more quickly than deportation proceedings.

Immigration court attorneys are critical to protecting your interests against deportation. Deportation impacts not only you, but your family and friends as well. If you have been placed in immigration court, it is because the government is attempting to deport you from the United States. The government may be within its rights to do so, but you may be entitled to remedies that will prevent this from happening. Government attorneys are specially trained to remove those the government deems inadmissible or deportable. An immigration court attorney can make the difference between staying in the United States and being deported. A qualified immigration attorney can make the difference between protecting your interests and not being intimidated by the court environment and setting.

Immigration court procedures are extremely complex and difficult to understand. Navigating immigration regulations and processes necessitates the assistance of an immigration litigation specialist. It is critical to have competent representation in this ever-changing field of law, because actions in court can result in the deportation and/or exclusion of individuals, the termination of permanent resident status, or the granting of legal residency or U.S. citizenship.

Alejandro Roque ESQ.'s primary goal is to help immigrants from around the world obtain legal status and achieve their American Dream in the United States by providing customized processes that fit our clients' needs. We offer the best legal tactics, but most importantly, we constantly strive to obtain the best possible outcome for your case.

Our attorneys actively keep up with ever-changing immigration laws, and our combined years of experience ensure that your case is always handled by a specialist in the field.

We offer services such as Representation for Detainees, Citizenship, Deportation Defense, Cuban Adjustment Act, Investor Visas, U Visa, VAWA Visa, Asylum in the United States, Consular Processing, Criminal Waiver, Court Representation, Fraud Waiver, Unlawful Presence Waiver, Waiver for Residents, Bail, TPS, Order of Supervision, Permanent Residence, Family Visas, Residence by Marriage, and Criminal Defense.

At Alejandro Roque ESQ, we provide high-quality services to help you achieve your goals and rights in the United States. Hundreds of success stories attest to our primary goal of enforcing your rights in the United States.

If you are interested in having us represent you, call our immigration professionals for your free appointment at (786) 699-7031 today.