First of all i want to say hello to everybody in this community and big thanks for letting me post here and kind of vent out my frustration.
I was admitted to the US in Feb 2000 and overstayed my visa. I have been fully aware of possible consequences of my actions and such violation of the law would very likely bring me into problems sooner or later. Anyway i decided to stay and here is the story.
Friend of mine got detained by ICE few months ago and this Wednesday had a court hearing. I was told that affidavit of good moral character would help him(he is a good father of 2 daughters) so i wrote one, had it notarized and drove to submit it in person in the Immigration Court.
Once i got there instead of submitting the affidavit to the court clerk i decided to testify in person in front of the immigration judge on behalf of my friend. I was under oath so when the judge asked what is my immigration status i replied that i have no status. Anyway long story short i was done with testifying in 10 minutes and walked out of the court building and was talking few minutes to a lawyer leaving the same building. Woman walked out behind me and kind of waved at me to come closer, i couldn't hear her so i approached her and walked beside her back to the building while she was asking me questions about my identification. I showed her my DL and she asked for green card, obviously i couldn't show one because i have none. By that time she was already signaling ICE officers standing close by
and they locked the doors.
They handcuffed me and brought me down to the basement. The woman was a supervisor(not going to mention her name) and begun filling arresting paperwork. This woman called me a criminal with a warrant, schizophrenic,
marriage fraud, welfare leach and the last comment i remember was something about not turning it out for me how i wanted kind of nonsense. Yes she said all this to me without even looking at me or asking any questions. I saw her laughing face expression and could tell she really enjoys this demeaning talking. I replied to her that i'm not a criminal(visa overstay is civil infraction) with or without a warrant, i don't have schizophrenia nor i have been in fraudulent marriage and never asked the government for a single penny. After she checked my DL(i obtained DL and SSN legally while my visa was still valid and i had never any problem with the local or federal law) with local and federal databases(i guess that's hat she was doing) and found out my slate is clean she asked me if i want to get out of detention she has to have my passport. Although surrendering your passport is not legal as it actually is property of the issuing government and not your own property i agreed to surrender it. The problem was my passport was locked up in my house safe so i had to call my friend to drive all the way to pick up my passport and back to the ICE office. Anyway he could't make it on time so i ended in detention center more than 3 hrs drive from my town assured that next day morning as soon as she has the passport they will let me out. The night in that greasy, stinky hell hole they call detention center is another story and i won't be getting into that now.
Next day morning i was transferred back to the field office and i was out driving home exactly 24 hours since the arrest.
No bond, no days(months) spent in detention centers. First i was called a criminal, accused of marriage fraud and not using my real name(yes that too) and then released without bond.
So as i understand and according to the paperwork i was given i'm in removal proceedings already with no court hearing date set yet. I know the eligibility of the cancellation of removal for me is slim almost non existent but i think i will try and fight. I will seek legal advice from an attorney give it a try.
Thanks for reading!
I was admitted to the US in Feb 2000 and overstayed my visa. I have been fully aware of possible consequences of my actions and such violation of the law would very likely bring me into problems sooner or later. Anyway i decided to stay and here is the story.
Friend of mine got detained by ICE few months ago and this Wednesday had a court hearing. I was told that affidavit of good moral character would help him(he is a good father of 2 daughters) so i wrote one, had it notarized and drove to submit it in person in the Immigration Court.
Once i got there instead of submitting the affidavit to the court clerk i decided to testify in person in front of the immigration judge on behalf of my friend. I was under oath so when the judge asked what is my immigration status i replied that i have no status. Anyway long story short i was done with testifying in 10 minutes and walked out of the court building and was talking few minutes to a lawyer leaving the same building. Woman walked out behind me and kind of waved at me to come closer, i couldn't hear her so i approached her and walked beside her back to the building while she was asking me questions about my identification. I showed her my DL and she asked for green card, obviously i couldn't show one because i have none. By that time she was already signaling ICE officers standing close by
and they locked the doors.
They handcuffed me and brought me down to the basement. The woman was a supervisor(not going to mention her name) and begun filling arresting paperwork. This woman called me a criminal with a warrant, schizophrenic,
marriage fraud, welfare leach and the last comment i remember was something about not turning it out for me how i wanted kind of nonsense. Yes she said all this to me without even looking at me or asking any questions. I saw her laughing face expression and could tell she really enjoys this demeaning talking. I replied to her that i'm not a criminal(visa overstay is civil infraction) with or without a warrant, i don't have schizophrenia nor i have been in fraudulent marriage and never asked the government for a single penny. After she checked my DL(i obtained DL and SSN legally while my visa was still valid and i had never any problem with the local or federal law) with local and federal databases(i guess that's hat she was doing) and found out my slate is clean she asked me if i want to get out of detention she has to have my passport. Although surrendering your passport is not legal as it actually is property of the issuing government and not your own property i agreed to surrender it. The problem was my passport was locked up in my house safe so i had to call my friend to drive all the way to pick up my passport and back to the ICE office. Anyway he could't make it on time so i ended in detention center more than 3 hrs drive from my town assured that next day morning as soon as she has the passport they will let me out. The night in that greasy, stinky hell hole they call detention center is another story and i won't be getting into that now.
Next day morning i was transferred back to the field office and i was out driving home exactly 24 hours since the arrest.
No bond, no days(months) spent in detention centers. First i was called a criminal, accused of marriage fraud and not using my real name(yes that too) and then released without bond.
So as i understand and according to the paperwork i was given i'm in removal proceedings already with no court hearing date set yet. I know the eligibility of the cancellation of removal for me is slim almost non existent but i think i will try and fight. I will seek legal advice from an attorney give it a try.
Thanks for reading!