Referral Notice - Notice to Appear (NTA)
- Thread starter pithna
- Start date
Hxhjzjjjzjsksjsb
Member
Haha, just no big deal
HoustonAssi
Active Member
What happens when go to court?
HoustonAssi
Active Member
Move?? How?
HoustonAssi
Active Member
Didn't get you...Move? Like move to diff Judge or state? and how to? Sorry don't know much
Thank you very much for your help.
2023sf
Member
Detailed data on Judge Patti decisions were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2015 through 2020. During this period, Judge Patti is recorded as deciding 422 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, he granted 134, gave no conditional grants, and denied 288. Converted to percentage terms, Patti denied 68.2 percent and granted (including conditional grants) 31.8 percent. Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Patti's denial rate fiscal year-by-year over this recent period. (Rates for years with less than 25 decisions are not shown.)
And, given the required legal grounds for a successful asylum claim, asylum seekers from some nations tend to be more successful than others. For Judge Patti, the largest group of asylum seekers appearing before him came from El Salvador. Individuals from this nation made up 30.1 % of his caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Patti were: Guatemala (23.2 %), Mexico (12.6%), Honduras (10%), China (8.8%). See Figure 4.
I am a graduate of the asylum immigration court system. My advice:
1. Understanding the judge's asylum case approval rate is good. But beyond that, perhaps go to court and see the judge in action. It will give you an idea of how the judge handles the cases, etc. It will help you prepare for some of the questions that the judge might ask. Immigration Court hearings are OPEN to the public. When I was fighting my case, I used to go to the immigration court to do my own research. Most people who got denied couldn't remember basic facts about their case, some of the critical dates, etc.
2. Understand who the govt. lawyer is. Typically, govt lawyers are overworked, with a million cases. The only way to 'defeat' them is to prepare your case well, with an avalanche of evidence. But most importantly, don't give them a chance to question your record, etc. DUIs, felonies, multiple arrests, etc, are bad for your case. They will use these.
3. Understand the US system - like point 1 above, you need to prepare well for your case. But one of the critical elements is that you present yourself well in front of the judge. Sweating, nervousness, jittery, crying, etc demeanors do not help. Inability to speak loudly so the judge can hear you, etc. These are not good things. I watched Dick Wolf's original Law & Order to prepare for my case, to understand how to behave in court - of course, Immigration Court is not as exciting as an episode of Law & Order from the 90s....but when you watch a couple of seasons, the court process becomes less intimidating.
4. Beware - when going through the immigration system, do not introduce weird stuff to your case. If you are not careful, your case can be stuck in the system for decades. I always tell of the case of a man from Iran, who was still fighting his asylum case in 2009, one he had started back in 1995, Judges/everyone in the immigration court system like clean court cases, complex cases they don't like. Missing court dates, arrests, moving to a different state, changing addresses, vanishing acts, etc can quickly make your case complex. Don't do it.
5. Please, be in charge of your asylum case. It is your responsibility to follow-up on everything. Your lawyers, are there to help 'format' the case: Their role is to prepare the case and present it to the judge in a format that the judge understands. But it is your responsibility to look for exhibits to include in the case, to tell your story, etc. Do mock sessions of the hearing ahead of the court date, read and understand and remember everything submitted about your case. Kids from UChicago law helped me put together my case. But I lead the process of discovery, etc.
6. Visit and talk to the immigration court clerk, to understand your case status, see govt. lawyer submissions, etc. The immigration court clerk has all the real, updated details about your case. Asylum office, USCIS, immigration phone line, and your lawyer, do not have the real facts about your case. The clerk has the real, correct, updated facts about your case. Go and see them - ask for your file, and they will give it to you to read and review.
Good luck!
Read my Immigration Court adventures here: https://forums.immigration.com/threads/chicago-interview-decisions.337591/
1. Understanding the judge's asylum case approval rate is good. But beyond that, perhaps go to court and see the judge in action. It will give you an idea of how the judge handles the cases, etc. It will help you prepare for some of the questions that the judge might ask. Immigration Court hearings are OPEN to the public. When I was fighting my case, I used to go to the immigration court to do my own research. Most people who got denied couldn't remember basic facts about their case, some of the critical dates, etc.
2. Understand who the govt. lawyer is. Typically, govt lawyers are overworked, with a million cases. The only way to 'defeat' them is to prepare your case well, with an avalanche of evidence. But most importantly, don't give them a chance to question your record, etc. DUIs, felonies, multiple arrests, etc, are bad for your case. They will use these.
3. Understand the US system - like point 1 above, you need to prepare well for your case. But one of the critical elements is that you present yourself well in front of the judge. Sweating, nervousness, jittery, crying, etc demeanors do not help. Inability to speak loudly so the judge can hear you, etc. These are not good things. I watched Dick Wolf's original Law & Order to prepare for my case, to understand how to behave in court - of course, Immigration Court is not as exciting as an episode of Law & Order from the 90s....but when you watch a couple of seasons, the court process becomes less intimidating.
4. Beware - when going through the immigration system, do not introduce weird stuff to your case. If you are not careful, your case can be stuck in the system for decades. I always tell of the case of a man from Iran, who was still fighting his asylum case in 2009, one he had started back in 1995, Judges/everyone in the immigration court system like clean court cases, complex cases they don't like. Missing court dates, arrests, moving to a different state, changing addresses, vanishing acts, etc can quickly make your case complex. Don't do it.
5. Please, be in charge of your asylum case. It is your responsibility to follow-up on everything. Your lawyers, are there to help 'format' the case: Their role is to prepare the case and present it to the judge in a format that the judge understands. But it is your responsibility to look for exhibits to include in the case, to tell your story, etc. Do mock sessions of the hearing ahead of the court date, read and understand and remember everything submitted about your case. Kids from UChicago law helped me put together my case. But I lead the process of discovery, etc.
6. Visit and talk to the immigration court clerk, to understand your case status, see govt. lawyer submissions, etc. The immigration court clerk has all the real, updated details about your case. Asylum office, USCIS, immigration phone line, and your lawyer, do not have the real facts about your case. The clerk has the real, correct, updated facts about your case. Go and see them - ask for your file, and they will give it to you to read and review.
Good luck!
Read my Immigration Court adventures here: https://forums.immigration.com/threads/chicago-interview-decisions.337591/
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msv5450
Active Member
Thanks for your information and insight.
How exactly moving to another state, for example for work related reasons, would complicate a case?
Moving to another state? Multiple states? Potential complications:
1. The immigration court system is notorious for being slothful when it comes to updating your address. Changing address/state(s) means that some of your court documents/notices will be sent to the wrong address. "I didn't get the notice" is no defense against a deportation order entered into the system without your knowledge. Recommendation: Cancel moves, until your case is concluded. If you do decide to move, then do this: work with both courts to ensure they have the correct address. Visit both clerks of courts to confirm address change, check on new notices etc.
2. Decisions previously made by the old judge/court can become a hindrance. New judges cannot overturn previous decisions by the old judge. Continuance, admissible evidence, etc.
3. Positions, if any, accepted by the previous govt. lawyer fighting you from getting asylum might not transfer. Acceptability of your story, promise not to fight/appeal the judge's decision, etc might not work out, if your case is transferred before it is concluded.
4. Delays? EAD Clock stopping? Etc...always these could happen if you move.
These are some of the issues that might come up when you move. Things get quickly complicated if you move to 1, 2, 3 states. Technically, it is recommended to not move until your case is concluded. If you have no choice, you can move, but ensure you have your ducks in a role.
I think the big issue is the correct address on file with the court - many thousands of people have missed court dates because notices were sent to the wrong address. As a result, the court entered deportation orders against these people. 12 million undocumented? Most started out with simple cases, that quickly turned complex. Moving is one of the contributors to making a case complex.
2023sf
Member
I disagree with 7of9 at multiple points.
Asylum is almost all (90%) about luck. Applying for asylum is a gambling. 90% depends on who processes your asylum case, that is, who is you asylum officer, who is your immigration judge or government lawyer.
Asylum is discretionary, the officers have 1000 reasons to denial you, and they also have 1000 reasons to approve you.
There are no good or bad cases. There are no good or bad immigration lawyers. There are only smart or stupid applicants, good or bad asylum officers or immigrant judges or government lawyers.
If your immigration judge has a grant rate higher than 90% (those judges are in New York City or San Francisco), you will definitely granted asylum. 100%. Even though you are a stupid applicant, or you have an irresponsible immigration lawyer or you do not need an immigration lawyer. The government lawyer may appeal to BIA, may not, most cases not.
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2023sf
Member
An applicant can wait for his/her EAD first and then move to a different (court zone), because some states have two courts. If you are in Northern California, it is San Francisco Immigration Court. Southern is LA. As long as he/she moves before his/her Individual Hearing, it will be Okay certainly.
I am Chinese. We Chinese asylum applicants move at least 1 time (as many as 4 or 5 times) to avoid bad judges. A lot of Chinese choose LA as their starting point, if referred to the terrible Los Angeles Immigration Court, they move to New York.
Example 1: A guy moved to NY from LA, then he met the most tough NY Judge (Alan Vomacka, try to search for him), then he moved to Chicago. The Chicago Judge granted his asylum.
Example 2: A guy moved from NY to NJ, then NJ to NY, then NY to NJ... finally he met Bain, McManus, Khan, Lamb... one of them, you can try to search for these judges.
Sometime the NY immigration court does not want to transfer the case out to NJ because NJ borders NY, so applicants move to IL instead and if they meet a bad Chicago Judge they will move back to NY.
Example 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10...
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msv5450
Active Member
Will they get mad if an applicant moves multiple times until they finally get a favorable judge?