Teplen & Associates, PLLC is fully experienced and capable to handle your needs for Applications for Asylum and Deportation\Removal Defenses.

Asylum Applications

The United States, in accordance with international agreements on refugees, has made it possible for people fleeing persecution in their home country to seek asylum in the United States. To qualify for asylum, you must either be physically present in the United States or at a land border or port of entry to the United States. Asylum may be granted to an applicant who can establish past persecution or a “well-founded fear” of future persecution in their home country. The basis of the underlying persecution must fall into one of five different categories: persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.

Additional qualifications for a grant of asylum include: 1) the application must be filed within one year of the applicants arrival in the United States (this rule does not apply if the applicant can either show that the application was not filed because of extreme circumstances or if the applicant can show that during their time in the United States conditions have changed in the applicant’s home country which have created a situation where the applicant now has a well founded fear of persecution); 2) the applicant does not have another safe country which he/she can go to seek safe haven; 3) the applicant has never ordered, incited, assisted, or otherwise participated in the persecution of any person on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion; 4) the applicant has never been convicted of an aggravated felony as defined by the immigration laws of the United States, or any other serious crime; and 5) the applicant is not deemed to be a threat to the security of the United States.

Applications for asylum can be made affirmatively, i.e. as soon as you are present in the United States or at a land border or point of entry, or defensively in removal proceedings. Defense filings are still subject to all of the restrictions of an asylum application including the one-year filing deadline.

The granting of asylum is discretionary, which means an applicant may not be granted asylum despite being prima-facie eligible. Even if you can establish a well-founded fear of persecution, the judge can take into account a number of negative factors, including past violations of immigration or criminal laws. There are many benefits to winning asylum, for example: an asylee cannot be removed from the United States unless the government can show that there has been a fundamental change in circumstance in the home country which would allow the asylee to safely return. An asylee may also obtain work authorization within one-hundred and fifty of making the application and may apply to adjust his/her status to lawful permanent resident one year after the grant of asylum. Further, an asylee’s spouse and unmarried children under the age of twenty-one can obtain asylee status notwithholding their own individual national origin.

For the purposes of a claim for asylum the applicants well founded fear of persecution does not have to stem directly from the home country government. However, for the claim to be successful, the applicant must be able to show that the government of the home country is unable to protect the applicant.

Another option to an asylum application is to make a claim under the United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT). As a signatory to this convention the United States will grant CAT status to any person who can prove that they have been or will be subject to torture by a representative of the government of their home country.

If you do not meet the requirements set forth by the Immigration and Naturalization Service to be granted asylum, there still may be other options available to you. For example, the Immigration and Naturalization Service offers temporary visas for victims of person trafficking, victims of criminal abuse, and informants to a United States law enforcement authority.

A representative from Teplen & Associates, PLLC will be more then willing to explore any of these options and assist in the proactive development of your application and supporting materials.

Deportation\Removal Proceedings

Any person who is in the United States either illegally, as a temporary visitor, or as a permanent resident can, under specific conditions, be deported or removed from the United States. Until such time that you become a United States citizen, no matter what your status, you can be subject to deportation or removal if you are found by a court to be removable for violating the laws of the United States.

Removal proceedings are formal court proceedings which allow the person charged with removal to rebut or accept the charges and apply for an available form of relief. The removal process begins with the “issuing of a Notice To Appear”. The “Notice To Appear” is your notice that you have been put in Removal proceedings. Failure to follow the instructions listed on the “Notice To Appear” can result in your being ordered removed from the United States without the opportunity to rebut the charges or request an available form of relief.

Removal proceedings are an incredibly complex process that requires the skills and experience of a qualified attorney, such as the staff of Teplen & Associates, PLLC. It is important to realize that once the Immigration and Naturalization Service has issued you a “Notice To Appear” your previous status remains the same until the courts reaches a final decision on your case. This means that you cannot, with few exceptions, be ordered removed from the United States without first hearing the charges against you and having the opportunity to rebut those charges, or in the alternative accept those charges and apply for an available form of relief from the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Although, given the new Special Registration and other security guidelines being reviewed under the Department of Homeland Security it is possible to be held in INS custody pending proceedings.