GLAD Event: "Access Denied, DOMA and Immigration A Community Forum"

Specialists from GLAD, Immigration Equality, and Iandoli and Desai P.C. will discuss the latest developments in the fight against the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) as it relates to immigration tomorrow, Saturday Oct. 29, 2:00-5:00 p.m. at Harriet Tubman House, 566 Columbus Avenue, Boston, MA 02118. See GLAD website for more information and to RSVP.

Report Highlights Laws and Policies That Fail to Protect Children With LGBT Parents

A report recently released by the Movement Advancement Project, the Family Equality Council, and the Center for American Progress, highlights the hardships faced by children of LGBT parents in the United States. The report is entitled All Children Matter: How Legal and Social Inequalities Hurt LGBT Families, and explains that current laws create barriers to achieving "loving, stable homes for children" by denying children of LGBT parents legal ties to one parent, parents' ability to act as effective guardians of their children, denying LGBT families financial protection when a parent dies or is disabled, and denying children of LGBT parents the protections of family unity under federal immigration law. The report also illustrates that LGBT families are more likely to fall through government safety net programs, and are more likely to be poor. The report concludes with "recommendations for policymakers to help reduce or eliminate inequities, and improve the lives of children with LGBT parents." A copy of the full report can be found here. Also see video of panel discussion of the report hosted by Center for American Progress Event:

NY Highest Court Rules Deported Immigrants Entitled To Appeals

The New York Court of Appeals, in a decision on two companion cases (People v. Gardner and People v. Ventura), ruled yesterday that the Appellate Division, Second Department, abused its discretion by declining to hear appeals in criminal cases because the defendants had been deported after being released from jail. Carlos Ventura was deported to the Dominican Republic in 2008 after being convicted of stealing a car. Damian Gardner was deported to Jamaica for overstaying his visa in 2009 after being convicted of seventh-degree drug possession and serving 60 days in jail. The Court of Appeals ordered review of both cases on the merits and stated: "Ventura and Gardner had an absolute right to seek appellate review of their convictions...[they] were involuntarily removed from the country and their extrication lacked the scornful or contemptuous traits that compel courts to dismiss appeals filed by those who elude criminal proceedings...they, and other similarly situated defendants, have a greater need to avail themselves of the appellate process in light of the tremendous ramifications of deportation." See article in Wall Street Journal. The opinion can be found here.

Obama to Unveil Refinance Program

Obama will discuss on Monday a new housing program to be implemented by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. "[T]he initiative will relax eligibility standards for a federal refinancing program, "allowing those who owe more on their house than it is worth to take advantage of loans with lower interest rates." The new rules will apply to homeowners with federally guaranteed mortages who are current on their payments. Obama will be disussing the initiative during a meeting with homeowners on Monday in Las Vegas. See Associated Press article.

DNA Test Clears Charges Against Henry James

A judge late yesterday vacated the rape conviction and dismissed the charges against Henry James after DNA testing conducted on the crime scene proved his innocence. The Innocence Project says that James had been incarcerated for almost 30 years, and served longer than any other person in Louisiana who was later cleared through DNA testing. James was sentenced to life in prison without parole after he was convicted in 1982 of rape. Misidentification has played a role in 75% of the DNA exoneration. See recent article in the Boston Globe and the Innocence Project Press Release.

PBS Frontline: Lost In Detention

PBS's Lost in Detention aired last night, revealing the inside of immigrant-detention centers and examining the immigration detention system. Here is a link to the film.

If you are an immigrant in deportation/removal proceedings, our attorneys can review your record and help you understand whether you are eligible for any relief.

Glickman Turley's experienced attorneys represent individuals on a wide range of immigration matters, as well as other legal issues. Please contact our attorneys if you wish to discuss representation on immigration matters, real estate purchase and sales, condominium associations, criminal defense, non-profit law, civil litigation, business litigation, business law, probate matters including wills, powers of attorney, health care proxy, same-sex parent adoptions, guardianships, animal law, or LGBT legal matters.

Deportation Program and Effect on Latino Immigrants

A report by two law schools, released on Wednesday, has found that the immigration program, Secure Communities, has led to a broad and disproportionate impact on the removal of Latino immigrants and has also led to the arrests of hundreds of United States Citizens. About a third of around 226,000 immigrants who have been deported under the program have also had spouses or children who were United States citizens, displaying a" broad impact from those removals on Americans in Latino communities." See recent article in the NY Times.

If you are an immigrant in deportation/removal proceedings, our attorneys can review your record and help you understand whether you are eligible for any relief.

Glickman Turley's experienced attorneys represent individuals on a wide range of immigration matters, as well as other legal issues. Please contact our attorneys if you wish to discuss representation on immigration matters, real estate purchase and sales, condominium associations, criminal defense, non-profit law, civil litigation, business litigation, business law, probate matters including wills, powers of attorney, health care proxy, same-sex parent adoptions, guardianships, animal law, or LGBT legal matters.

Cancellation of Removal of Non-LPR (Non Lawful Permanent Residents) and Abused Immigrants

Glickman Turley LLP attorneys recently won two applications for cancellation of removal of non-LPR residents pursuant to INA Sec. 240A(b).

In one case, our attorneys demonstrated that our client’s young U.S. citizen children would suffer “exceptional and extremely unusual” hardship if their father were deported back to his native Portugal. The client’s sons were pre-school children who suffered medical issues at birth that continued throughout their lives. The children currently suffered from asthma and learning disabilities.

In another recent case, our attorneys represented a woman who had suffered decades of abuse at the hands of her father. Because he was a U.S. citizen, she qualified for special-rule cancellation, which provides green cards to victims of domestic violence from U.S. citizen and LPR spouses, parents and children. The applicant needs to have lived in the U.S. for three years.

Special-rule cancellation of removal provides relief to abused immigrants in ways not available through affirmative VAWA self-petitions to USCIS. In cases of special-rule cancellation for children of abusive LPR parents, cancellation immediately grants LPR status, as compared to VAWA self-petitions that require the LPR children to wait for green cards pursuant to LPR children priority-date waitlists.

In cases of special-rule cancellation of removal for abused spouses, the applicant’s marriage to the abuser could have ended more than two years prior to the application for relief. This is an important distinction from VAWA self-petitions where the self-petition must be filed within two years of the divorce.

If you are an immigrant in deporation / removal proceedings, our attorneys can review your record and help you understand whether you are eligible for any relief including cancellation of removal.

Glickman Turley's experienced attorneys represent individuals on a wide range of immigration matters, as well as other legal issues. Please contact our attorneys if you wish to discuss representation on immigration matters, real estate purchase and sales, condominium associations, criminal defense, non-profit law, civil litigation, business litigation, business law, probate matters including wills, powers of attorney, health care proxy, same-sex parent adoptions, guardianships, animal law, or LGBT legal matters.

Immigration Court & Prosecutorial Discretion

Glickman Turley LLP attorneys’ advocacy resulted in approvals of requests to exercise prosecutorial discretion to terminate removal / deportation proceedings in the Boston Immigration Court. Our attorneys filed compelling petitions to the Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) setting forth reasons why particular clients should not be in removal proceedings. ICE attorneys responded favorably to our requests within two weeks.

If you are an immigrant in deporation / removal proceedings, our attorneys can review your record and help you understand whether you are eligible for any relief including an excercise of prosecutorial discretion.

Glickman Turley's experienced attorneys represent individuals on a wide range of immigration matters, as well as other legal issues. Please contact our attorneys if you wish to discuss representation on immigration matters, real estate purchase and sales, condominium associations, criminal defense, non-profit law, civil litigation, business litigation, business law, probate matters including wills, powers of attorney, health care proxy, same-sex parent adoptions, guardianships, animal law, or LGBT legal matters.

Adjustment of Status (Green card) for “EWI” Salvadoran with TPS

Glickman Turley LLP successfully represented a Salvadoran man who first entered the U.S. without a visa (also known as “entered without inspection” or “EWI”). Two years ago, the client traveled to El Salvador pursuant to “advance parole” issued by USCIS in order to attend to a family emergency in his home country. When he returned to the U.S., he was paroled into to the U.S. This parole cured his “EWI” problem, making him eligible to adjust status through his U.S. citizen wife.

He nonetheless required an I-601 Application for Waiver of Inadmissibility to overcome the 10-year bar for having been present from the U.S. without authorization for over one year. Glickman Turley LLP prepared a compelling waiver application, demonstrating clear “extreme hardship” to his U.S. citizen wife who was pregnant and infant U.S. citizen son. The wife suffers medical issues including post-partum depression and the infant suffered various medical complications resulting from pre-mature birth and also suffers from asthma.

If you are an immigrant with TPS and/or EWI entry, our attorneys can review your record and help you understand whether you are eligible for any relief including a "green card" or adjustment of status.

Glickman Turley's experienced attorneys represent individuals on a wide range of immigration matters, as well as other legal issues. Please contact our attorneys if you wish to discuss representation on immigration matters, real estate purchase and sales, condominium associations, criminal defense, non-profit law, civil litigation, business litigation, business law, probate matters including wills, powers of attorney, health care proxy, same-sex parent adoptions, guardianships, animal law, or LGBT legal matters.