Facts: On August 15, 2025, a native and citizen of El Salvador came to the firm seeking help with his residency application that had been denied with another attorney.
The Firm’s Representation: The firm immediately recognized that USCIS did not have jurisdiction over our client’s residency application because he had an old removal order. Our client’s prior attorney filed the residency application with an I-212 Application for Permission to Reapply for Admission into the United States After Deportation or Removal waiver presumably to “waive” the inadmissibility for our client’s prior removal order. However, that waiver was not appropriate, and USCIS properly denied our client’s residency application. The firm quickly filed a request to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to join a motion to reopen and dismiss our client’s removal order through Prosecutorial Discretion (PD). DHS agreed, and the subsequent joint motion to reopen and dismiss was granted by an immigration judge in the Baltimore, Maryland Immigration Court. Then, the firm filed an I-290B, Motion to Reopen our client’s denied residency application with USCIS because USCIS now had jurisdiction over the residency application since our client’s removal proceedings had been dismissed. But, USCIS denied the motion to reopen. Because the firm believed that USCIS denied the motion to reopen unfairly, the firm recommended a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. That lawsuit was successful and as a result USCIS agreed to reopen our client’s residency application.
Outcome: On June 6, 2025, our client’s residency application was approved.
Comments: PD from DHS is no longer available under the current presidential administration, but the firm prides itself on finding ways to reopen old deportation and removal orders, one way or another, so our clients can move forward and finally obtain lawful status in the United States.