Reversing Removal Order: Assisting Client Absent from Immigration Court Due to Medical Emergency
August 30, 2023

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We want to share a successful case from our firm with you today. Our client did not attend their immigration court hearing on time due to a medical emergency and received a removal order. Our team submitted a motion to reopen for the client so that the client's case was successfully reopened and back on the court's calendar.

The client entered without inspection into the United States in early 2019 and was released after passing the credible fear interview and paying bail. Later, the client lived in a relative's house in Los Angeles, and the case was transferred back to the Los Angeles Immigration Court. However, the client did not attend his court hearing. On the same day, the court issued a removal order. One month before the court hearing, we had already notified the client about the hearing and explained the details about attending his hearing in court. The client was also motivated to attend his hearing. We believed that client would not be absent for no reason. After multiple attempts, we managed to get in touch with the client and learned that the client had an accident at work at the factory two weeks before his hearing. He, unfortunately, lost a finger and was taken to the hospital. After the client was discharged from the hospital, he still had to take a lot of painkillers, resulting in a flustered mind, and he did not appear in court. After understanding the whole situation, we quickly submitted a motion to reopen the client's removal order. The client's experience also received sympathy from the judge, and his case was reopened soon.

If you were ordered removed from the U.S. in absentia, you might be able to have your removal proceedings reopened. If successful with that request, you will be rescheduled for a new hearing in Immigration Court and will be able to apply for any form of relief for which you are eligible. You can file a Motion to Reopen if one of the following circumstances applies to you:

  1. you did not receive a Notice to Appear (NTA) giving the date and time of your hearing, or
  2. you did not appear at your hearing because of exceptional circumstances, and you file your Motion to Reopen within 180 days of the date of your scheduled hearing.

This motion is based on an extreme exceptional circumstance. The law provides exceptions for extreme exceptional circumstances (such as battery or extreme cruelty to the alien or any child or parent of the alien, serious illness of the alien, or severe illness or death of the spouse, child, or parent of the alien, but not including less compelling circumstances) beyond the control of the alien.

Luckily, we helped the client to reopen the removal order successfully. If you have received a removal order in absentia and need help to reopen it, please contact our office.

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