Immigration Legal Services
If there is a way to win your case, be assured we will find it. Our experienced attorneys will prepare a strategy to give you the best chance to remain in the United States and to obtain legal status.
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Commonly Asked Immigration Questions
CONSULTATION FEES. Does Chicago Immigration Advocates offer free consultations? Why not? Is there a quick and easy way for me to learn how much it will cost for an attorney to represent me? Must I really spend a consultation fee to learn about my case? What if I pay the consultation fee only to learn that the attorney cannot help me?
Short Answers: (1) No we do not offer free consultations. (2) The reason we do not is because we spend considerable time educating our potential clients about their cases, sometimes up to :45 minutes per consultation and we must be compensated for our time like in other service industries. (3) There is not a “quick and easy” way to determine what legal representation will cost for an immigration case. (4) Yes, you ought to be prepared to pay a consultation fee to get a good attorney to sit down with you and educate you about your case. (5) Yes, there is the risk that the attorney will not be able to help you, but that is likely because you have a difficult case not because the lawyer, if he or she is experienced in the immigration field, is unable to figure out what to do for you. In the end, you will have paid to learn more about your case. Explanation: Assessing what it will cost to hire an attorney for your case requires time and individualized attention. Any attorney who gives you a quick estimate for the cost of services without taking the time to learn about your case will do so in a way that only will harm you in the end. Because he or she has not learned about your case at the outset, the attorney will likely discover additional issues or problems later on which will result an increase to your fee (to your surprise) and, thus, the quick inexpensive fee you thought you received was definitely quick but no longer inexpensive. Therefore, we recommend that you find an attorney who is willing to sit down with you for at least :30 to :40 minutes, review your documents, explain your options, and answer your questions. Each case has individualized issues and concerns for which different services are required to deal with them.
Should I be concerned if I have a criminal conviction if I am not a U.S. citizen?
Yes, you should be concerned. First, the designation of a crime as “felony” or “misdemeanor” is, many times, not relevant because someone can still be removed for the commission of a single misdemeanor. Generally, the Immigration law authorizes the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to “remove” (i.e., deport) non-citizens who commit certain categories of crimes. Essentially, there are three categories of convictions under the Immigration and Nationality Act: (1) those which make no difference, i.e., you can be convicted of these and DHS will not care, (2) those which are serious enough to remove you from the United States, but not so serious where you cannot ask for forgiveness, and (3) those which are serious enough to remove you from the United States and for which you cannot ask for forgiveness. Obviously, you must be concerned about those in category 3. Therefore, if you have a criminal conviction and depending upon your immigration status, even driving under the influence of alcohol could fall under category 3. Therefore, you ought to consult with a good immigration attorney before filing any document or having any interaction with the U.S. immigration agencies if you have a criminal conviction.
Do I need to be concerned that the Trump administration, starting January 21, 2025, will engage in “mass deportations” to remove people without status from the United States?
Under the current state of the law, mass deportation would be illegal. The people who have already entered the United States have been given varying degrees of rights under the U.S. asylum and inadmissibility provisions of the Immigration Law. If the Trump administration engaged in illegal mass arrests and deportations, it would end in a matter of days in light of the numerous pro-immigrant right organizations who could seek injunctions before the judiciary. It does remain possible, however, that the Republican controlled House and Senate could change the laws to create an expedited process to remove people from the United States who have recently arrived during the Biden years. But any set of laws of this kind would likely take at least one year to be enacted and, even then, the laws would be subject to considerable court challenges and, thus, court injunctions. Lastly, to circumvent this, the Trump administration could elect to temporarily suspend the writ habeas corpus, but that seems unlikely.
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