Family remains intact by obtaining adjustment of status to lawful permanent resident for Mexican national client
Client(s) Client A
On March 5, 2007, in connection with Mr. Aguilar-Cerda’s attempt to seek adjustment of status to lawful permanent resident, an immigration judge found Mr. Aguilar-Cerda removable from the United States for (1) procuring admission to the United States by fraud and (2) entering the United States without having been admitted. The Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed Mr. Aguilar-Cerda’s removability on the latter grounds. When Mr. Aguilar-Cerda appealed the BIA’s decision to the Seventh Circuit, the National Immigrant Justice Center referred the matter to Jones Day Chicago.
Jones Day filed a brief with the Seventh Circuit, disputing that Mr. Aguilar-Cerda had entered the United States without being admitted. The Government agreed with Jones Day’s argument and sought remand of the matter back to the Board of Immigration Appeals. There, the Government similarly agreed with Jones Day and moved the BIA to vacate the finding that Mr. Aguilar-Cerda had entered without being admitted and to remand to the Immigration Court.
Before the Immigration Court, Mr. Aguilar-Cerda continued to face the charge that he had procured admission to the United States by fraud. In addition to disputing that charge, Jones Day asked the immigration judge to grant a waiver of the fraud charge, based on Mr. Aguilar-Cerda’s bona fide 10 year marriage to a U.S. citizen and the extreme hardship that his U.S. citizen wife would suffer due to her husband’s separation from her and their two young children. Jones Day also submitted an application for adjustment of status on Mr. Aguilar-Cerda’s behalf.
At a merits hearing on March 5, 2012, the immigration judge allowed Jones Day to examine Mr. Aguilar-Cerda and his wife and make an offer of proof regarding the extreme hardship that removal would cause. After hearing this testimony and the offer of proof, the judge agreed that Mr. Aguilar-Cerda’s U.S. citizen wife would suffer extreme hardship upon her husband’s removal due to the length of their marriage, the fact that Mrs. Aguilar had lived in the U.S. for her entire life, that all of Mrs. Aguilar’s family lived in the U.S. and she had no family in Mexico, Mrs. Aguilar’s inability to afford childcare if her husband were removed, and the fact that Mr. Aguilar-Cerda had not been convicted of a crime or arrested. The judge therefore waived the fraud charge against Mr. Aguilar-Cerda, making him eligible for adjustment of status. The judge then granted Mr. Aguilar-Cerda’s application for adjustment of status, and Mr. Aguilar-Cerda can now continue living in the United States and taking care of his wife and two small children.
In the Matter of Juan Carlos Aguilar-Cerda, FIle No. A075819055
