Contested Removal Hearings

Handled by Oakland Deportation Defense Attorneys

When Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), or sometimes the other branches of the U.S. immigration system, charges you with being “deportable” or “removable,” they list various factual allegations. Sometimes, those allegations are not true! Sometimes, we strategically ask the government to prove them to be true on the record.

If we want to challenge or contest these allegations and the basis for your removability, we often will request the judge to give us a “contested removal hearing.”

In that hearing, we will challenge the government to prove that you are in fact subject to deportation. If the government is unable to show this and to meet its burden, you might be able to terminate proceedings against you completely.

This often happens in the context of fraud cases. In cases of immigration fraud, ICE alleges that you violated immigration laws by misrepresenting some material fact. But, the government must prove this at a removal hearing, and sometimes, we want to contest and challenge the government’s position – especially if we believe that it is untrue.

Contested removal hearings also often happen in the context of crimes. Crimes can sometimes make a person deportable. But, the government bears the burden of showing that a specific criminal conviction makes a person “removable” under the Immigration and Nationality Act. We have the right to contest or challenge that allegation and to ask the judge to rule on the initial issue of deportability. Landerholm Immigration, A.P.C. serves individuals across the Bay Area.