Stopping Removal (Deportation) With an Asylum Application
Applying for asylum during a deportation proceeding may offer some immigrants a means of staying in the United States.
If you are facing removal (formerly known as deportation) proceedings — meaning that the immigration authorities are trying to expel you from the United States — but you fear returning to your home country, one option may be for you to apply for asylum as well as withhold removal. However, the application process is different now than if you were filing without the threat of removal hanging over you.
People who are not in deportation proceedings can first file their application for asylum and withholding (which is done on Form I-589) with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). After the I-589 has been accepted for processing, they will attend an interview at a USCIS asylum office. Only if the interviewing officer does not grant asylum to the person will he or she be referred to immigration court proceedings to present the application all over again.
But if you are already in immigration court proceedings, you will have to skip this step and file your application for asylum straight with the immigration judge.
Grounds for Receiving Asylum and Withholding of Removal
Asylum is granted to aliens who can prove they are unable or unwilling to return to their home country due to having faced past persecution or having a well-founded fear of future persecution based on their race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.
Withholding of Removal — which you ask for at the same time as asylum — is granted to aliens who can prove that, if returned to their home country, their life or freedom would be threatened on account of one of the five protected grounds listed above. The applicant must show a “clear probability” of persecution, meaning that it is “more likely than not” that he or she will be subject to persecution.
There is a separate ground of withholding of removal provided under the United Nations Convention Against Torture, for applicants who would be tortured if returned to their home country.
The standards for withholding of removal are harder to meet than those for asylum. But withholding is a useful option in cases where the person is barred from a grant of asylum for some reason (perhaps due to the past commission of a crime) but would truly be killed or tortured if returned home. Some people are even barred from a grant of withholding of removal, however, including those who have participated in the persecution of others or those who have committed a particularly serious crime.
A grant of withholding of removal is not, however, as beneficial as a grant of asylum. It doesn’t lead to a green card — it is just the U.S. government’s way of saying, “We won’t deport you for now.”
Based in San Diego, Solana Beach and Fallbrook, Immigration Lawyers at Law Offices of Hasbini specialize in immigrant and non-immigrant visa processing, U.S. permanent residence, green card, working visas, H-1B’s, business and investment visas, naturalization, corporate and business immigration, political asylum, as well as deportation and removal matters.
San Diego immigration lawyer Habib Hasbini and his associates truly understand what it takes to get our clients the legal help they deserve. By remaining open and honest with our clients, we are consistently able to provide the highest quality of care and service. We are familiar with the emotional investment clients make in the immigration process.
San Diego immigration defense lawyer Habib Hasbini and his associates combine personal experience, knowledge of the immigration system, and extensive legal experience to provide the immigration services you need.
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