Ineffective Assistance Claims
Did your immigration attorney fail to present evidence that would have helped you win your case?
Did your attorney miss crucial filing deadlines in your deportation case?
Was your attorney disbarred?
If this has happened to you, you may have grounds for a new hearing and an opportunity to reopen and challenge your removal order.
Just as a defendant in a criminal case depends on a defense attorney, a respondent in an Immigration Court case relies heavily on their immigration attorney to present the necessary evidence and make the appropriate legal arguments. You may have been ordered deported as a result of the failure of your former attorney to properly represent you. Even if this happened many years ago and you are long past your 30 day appeal window following your removal order, you may still be able to reopen your old case.
At SGG, our attorneys can help you gather the necessary paperwork from your immigration court case and analyze the facts of your immigration history to determine whether an argument can be made that you would not have been deported if your former attorney had, for example, provided sufficient evidence or made better arguments to the judge. The process for successfully re-opening a deportation case based on the ineffective assistance of counsel is a complex matter that includes filing a complaint with your former attorney’s state bar association, preparing a lengthy and detailed motion to file with the Immigration Judge or the Board of Immigration Appeals, and then, if the motion is successful and your case is re-opened, representing you at hearings before a new Immigration Judge to present the defense that should have been done in the initial proceedings.