Removal Defense
Facing removal or deportation proceedings can be very difficult for the individual and the family. When you or a family member is arrested, DMCA can help. Our attorneys understand the importance of keeping families together. Furthermore, our attorneys regularly work to achieve immigration bonds and contest immigration holds and detainers.
Once in removal or deportation proceedings, each client’s case is thoroughly examined to determine the best course of action. Often, our clients can avoid deportation because they are eligible for adjustment of status, asylum, cancellation of removal, deferred action, temporary protected status, waivers of inadmissibility and deportability, and other forms of immigration benefits. A DMCA attorney will thoroughly investigate your immigration history to determine your options and a recommended legal strategy.
Additionally, our attorneys regularly handle challenging cases involving arrests and criminal convictions. When the government contends that you have been convicted of an aggravated felony, a crime of domestic violence, a crime involving moral turpitude, a drug trafficking offense or other offense relating to a controlled substance, you need an attorney who knows how to fight these charges. DMCA has a solid record of success in these types of cases, we stand ready to help you and your family.
Federal Immigration Litigation
In order to comprehensively represent our clients, we regularly bring cases in federal district courts seeking money damages for tortious conduct or declaratory or injunctive relief.
Habeas
Immigration statutes purport to empower the government to hold persons in detention under a wide variety of circumstances in connection with immigration matters, but the courts have made clear that this power has constitutional limits which must be exceeded. The writ of habeas corpus, which is perhaps the most fundamental instrument for safeguarding individual freedom against arbitrary and lawless government action, is most commonly used by DMCA to challenge the length or conditions of a person’s detention as beyond constitutional limits. However, DMCA has also used the writ on behalf of persons who are not physically in the government’s custody as a means of challenging other governmental restrictions on liberty, such as erroneous denials of employment authorization.
Bivens/FTCA
Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971) and the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) are two powerful tools that DMCA uses to seek redress for tortious conduct committed by government agents. Bivens is a Supreme Court case that found an implied cause of action existed despite the general rule of sovereign immunity for an individual whose Fourth Amendment freedom from unreasonable search and seizures had been violated by federal agents. The FTCA is a somewhat similar statutory waiver of sovereign immunity permitting a person to sue the federal government for conduct that violates the law of the place where the conduct occurred. DMCA has made extensive and successful use of Bivens and the FTCA recently on behalf of persons illegally seized by the Border Patrol in what amounted to acts of racial profiling. These can be powerful tools to achieve good results whether money damages or the negotiated termination of deportation proceedings for our clients.
Criminal Defense
In 2011, DMCA officially opened the firm’s criminal defense section to begin a new chapter in providing criminal defense and crimmigration representation. Our criminal defense attorneys collaborate with DMCA’s immigration attorneys to evaluate a non-citizen’s criminal charges in an effort to provide a criminal defense which focuses on maintaining our clients’ immigration status.
For those non-citizens facing deportation or inadmissibility as a result of prior convictions, our attorneys carefully design a defense plan tailored to the specific criminal charges. We have obtained dismissals or pleas that have reduced or eliminated the chances of deportation. In cases where our non-citizen clients have already suffered from prior convictions, our team has obtained a growing list of reversals, through post-conviction representation in both state and federal court, which has salvaged the legal status of individuals and families with life-long ties to the United States.
While non-citizen clients may find competent representation by retaining separate criminal defense and immigration counsel, DMCA provides both, eliminating the problem of having a criminal defense lawyer resolve a criminal case without a proper understanding of the immigration consequences of that resolution for the client.
- Experienced and dedicated criminal defense practice that provides a comprehensive review to ensure the best defense possible for all types of criminal charges.
- Zealous representation of both State and Federal criminal charges, including appeals.
- Developed expertise in the intersection of criminal and immigration law.
