ASYLUM AND REFUGEE ATTORNEY

If you are afraid to return to your home country. . .

We’ll help you fight to start a new life

If you’re like most immigrants seeking asylum, the United States is not just a land of opportunity. 

It represents your freedom. 

		Perhaps you seek protection from extreme abuse and discrimination because of your ethnic origins, gender, or sexual orientation.
		Maybe you seek shelter from retaliation, imprisonment, or physical harm due to your religious beliefs or your personal characteristics.
		Or you may need refuge from the threat of death because of your political opinions or your membership in a particular organization.

The stakes are high. 

If you lose, you will be forced to return home and face exposure to great harm. 

If you win, you have the chance to become a lawful permanent resident and later, apply for naturalization to U.S. citizenship. 

Winning Your Asylum Case Is Difficult

Asylum cases are a special type of immigration attorney services. 

Immigrants seeking asylum come from countries across the globe. 

In 2009, the largest number of immigrants granted asylum in the U.S. were from: 

	China Ethopia Haiti Colombia Iraq		Nepal Venezuela Russia Guatemala Egypt

But these are not the only countries with asylum-seekers. 

Everyday, in countries across the globe, people live in daily fear for their lives and the lives of their family members.  They have to escape their home countries and and try to begin a new life in another country. 

As the need for asylee and refugee protection has increased, the requirements for winning asylum cases have grown stricter.  It is not enough to just be a member of a minority political party, disliked ethnic group, or disfavored religion. 

To win asylum status, you must: 

Prove your fear of persecution by the government in your home country.  Ordinary harassment and discrimination is almost never strong enough to meet this requirement.  But various types of harm, when added together, may equal persecution.  For example, you may have been prevented from obtaining work, stopped from attending higher education, forced to live in unhealthy living conditions, deprived of your right to privacy, or made into a social outcast. 

Demonstrate the likelihood of harm by parts of the government.  If you can show you will be harmed by the police or army, your asylum application stands a strong chance of being granted.  You can also prevail if you can prove that you will suffer persecution by political zealots or religious groups that your home country’s government is unable or unwilling to control. 

Show your exposure to persecution is related to specific conditions.  In particular, to win your asylum case, you must be able to prove the harm you will face is directly related to at least one of five conditions: your race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.  The last category refers to your personal characteristics, such as your gender, sexual identity, or HIV status. 

Two Roads To Asylum – Asylum Applications And Asylum Deportation Defense

There are two roads to asylum. 

(1) The First Road – USCIS Asylum Interviews

The first road takes you to an interview with a government officer.  This is called an “affirmative” application. 

As lawyer for asylum green cards, a unique immigration service, we will help guide you through this immigration process.  We send your asylum paperwork to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office which handles asylum cases for the area where you live. 

Since most of our clients live in the Southern California and Arizona regions, their cases are handled at the USCIS Asylum office in Anaheim, California. 

After your fingerprints are taken, a date is set for your asylum interview.  At your interview, a USCIS officer will decide whether to approve or deny your asylum application. 

(2) The Second Road – Immigration Court Trials,  Asylum Removal Defense, And Immigration Asylum Appeals

The second road takes you to immigration court.  You will need to present your asylum claim to a judge.  If you lose, the immigration judge will order you to be deported.  Because you face deportation, this is called a “defensive” application. 

You do not start these types of cases.  The government starts the immigration process.  This happens (a) if your affirmative application is denied by the USCIS officer after your asylum interview or (b) if you are detained by immigration officers because you do not have legal documents to live in the United States. 

The government sends your case to immigration court.  These are called removal hearings.  At immigration court, the government attorney will ask the immigration judge to deport you. 

At your hearings, even if your asylum case was denied by a USCIS officer, you can start over.  You can ask for asylum again.  You can present new evidence. 

And if the judge decides against your asylum claim, you are entitled to file an immigration appeal challenging the decision. 

You should not try to handle your asylum-based deportation and removal defense case on your own.  The odds are stacked against you. 

 

Choosing The Right Asylum Attorney Is Essential To Your Success

Whichever road you take, few asylum cases succeed without an experienced immigration lawyer. 

Our approach is based on three principles.  

Every asylum case is different.  

As we have handled cases from our Southern California immigration attorney offices in San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, Escondido, Hemet, as well as our office in Avondale, Arizona, we have learned no two asylum claims are the same. 

Even if the asylum seekers are from the same country . . .  faced persecution for the same reasons . . . or are members of the same family, the same religion, or the same political party. 

Your asylum and refugee attorney must be able to develop a close relationship with immigrants from many unique cultures.  Without this relationship, your lawyer will not be able to gather the personal and family history needed to win your asylum case. 

Every asylum case requires an understanding of international affairs. 

Your asylum lawyer should understand the political and social conditions of  countries causing asylees and refugees to flee for their safety.  This is not something which can be learned overnight. 

It takes many years to grasp the causes of ethnic rivalries and political disputes around the world – and to be able to demonstrate the key factors to an immigration judge or officer as part of your asylum case. 

Every asylum case requires specialized knowledge of immigration law. 

Asylum law has developed almost independently from other areas of immigration law. 

In many instances, asylum cases rely more heavily on the ability to bring together different pieces of evidence, from outside the United States, to demonstrate why an immigrant deserves to be granted the right to live in the United States. 

Because many new applications for asylum protection are filed each year, asylum law continues to tighten.  These changes impose new obstacles for asylum seekers.  Only an immigration specialist keeps up with all the changes for asylum law. 

If you or a loved one needs help with any type of asylum case . . .