Musings on Immigration

The Charlotte immigration court plans to implement an orientation program, run by volunteer immigration attorneys, for everyone who is in immigration court for the first time and who does not already have an attorney. This program will mirror the volunteer attorney programs in the San Francisco and San Antonio immigration courts. Each person will have an opportunity to speak with a volunteer immigration attorney for about ten minutes. The attorney will do a quick analysis of each case and provide each person with a list of documents to bring to an immigration attorney. They will also be provided with a list of immigration attorneys who have meet certain competency requirements. The program is scheduled to start sometime in October of 2010.

Charlotte, North Carolina opened its new immigration court on November 4 th , 2008. We have an experienced immigration judge who has been adjudicating cases for over the past 10 years. She is fast and she is smart. She is also a former prosecutor who has NO TOLERANCE for domestic violence or marriage fraud. If your case has either of these two issues, hire a lawyer and get it taken care of LONG before you enter into her court room. If you have a conviction for domestic violence, find a lawyer and get it reopened and plead down to anything else. Disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct, jay-walking, whistling under water…anything…! Or make sure that you get lawyer that can explain that there was never an actual conviction for domestic violence. For example, the lawyer will explain that you were charged with domestic violence and took some anger management classes but you never actually admitted any guilt. Under this scenario you do not have a “conviction” for domestic violence. ...