After being placed in deportation-removal proceedings due to her felony fraud conviction involving a $10,000.00 loss to the government, we were able to overcome the aggravated felony bar to cancellation of removal and win our lawful permanent resident a grant of cancellation of removal.
Our client, a single mother, pleaded guilty to felony larceny for under-reporting her income when renewing her public housing contract. She was ordered to pay $10,000.00 in restitution, and although a lawful permanent resident, she was placed into deportation-removal proceedings for having been convicted of a fraud aggravated felony. Several immigration attorneys advised her she had in fact been convicted of an aggravated felony, and would almost certainly be deported despite having lived in this country in excess of 20 years and despite having minor U.S. citizen children; they turned her away. Her two prior convictions for D.W.I. were more salt in the wound. She was referred to our firm.
A Dollar’s Difference Spares Deportation!
Attention to detail won her case and spared her deportation! Our review of the deportation statute revealed that before her conviction could be classified as a fraud aggravated felony, the loss or attempted loss would have to be shown to have exceeded $10,000.00, and so the Immigration Judge granted our motion to dismiss the aggravated felony charge since the loss amount never crossed that threshold. Our client remained subject to removal due to her convictions for crimes involving moral turpitude, however, at trial we demonstrated her rehabilitation and many favorable factors. Last week the Immigration Judge granted our client cancellation of removal as a lawful permanent resident. The difference between deportation and a second chance turned on attention to detail and one slim dollar! We review all of our clients’ cases with that same attention to detail and a fundamental commitment to refusing to give up on even seemingly hopeless cases.