Okay, so you have been placed into deportation proceedings (also known as removal proceedings) in NYC. So, what can you do? What choices and/or options do you have? We are obviously presuming that you do not want to go back to your country of origin or cannot go back.

You may have some relief available in front of the immigration judge in NYC. I can tell you from over a decade of experience handling immigration cases in many states, that the Immigration Courts in NYC have some of the fairest Immigration Judges in the country. I’m always confronted with questions such as “How is my Immigration Judge?” This is actually a very good question. What I can tell you is that if you have a deportation and/or removal case in front of the Immigration Courts in NYC located at 26 Federal Plaza, NY, NY, you likely have an Immigration Judge that will be intelligent, fair and unbiased. The Immigration Judges in NYC will give a person a fighting chance to present their case and try to defend oneself from deportations or removal out of the country.

What this means is that whether you have an asylum application in NYC or are in removal proceedings due to a criminal convictions in NYC, you will have a meaningful opportunity to present your case. In fact, NYC is at the forefront of administratively closing and/or terminating deportation/removal cases. This is commonly referred to as “prosecutorial discretion”.

In any event, if there is ever a good place to be placed in removal proceedings (wait . . . did I just say that? . . . Is there ever a good place to be in removal proceedings? . . . Perhaps, there is . . .), I would say NYC is probably the best place.