Removal defense involves representing and advocating for immigrants facing deportation from the United States. For many immigrants facing removal from the United States, the process involves appearing before an immigration judge in immigration court. Most immigrants cannot afford to have an attorney represent them in court. Sadly, legal representation is the single most important factor in determining whether someone will win or lose their case.

The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) builds the capacity of practitioners to represent clients in immigration court proceedings. As national experts in immigration law, the ILRC publishes a hands-on comprehensive manual, Removal Defense: Defending Immigrants in Immigration Court, and offers trainings on this topic. We also support practitioners and pro bono attorneys in their specific cases through our Attorney of the Day (AOD) technical assistance service.

Latest in Removal Defense

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Notice to Appear (NTA)

06/30/2020
Asylum
Enforcement
Removal Defense
U Visa/T Visa/VAWA
Family-Based
A Notice to Appear (NTA), Form I-862, is a charging document that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issues and files with the immigration court to start removal proceedings under section 240 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) against an individual, known in removal proceedings as the “respondent.” The NTA serves many functions in an immigration case, like explaining why the...
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Flow Chart on Penalties for Crimes Involving Moral Turpitude

06/29/2020
Crimes
Detention
Removal Defense
Post-Conviction Relief
U Visa/T Visa/VAWA
Penalties for crimes involving moral turpitude (CIMTs) are based on several factors, such as the number of CIMTs, date of commission, imposed and/or potential sentence, and whether there was a conviction versus admission of the conduct. The result is that determining whether a CIMT penalty actually applies can be quite complex. This set of four flow charts can be used to answer four questions...
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Practice Advisory: Avoiding the Stop-Time Rule after Barton v. Barr

06/29/2020
Crimes
Removal Defense
Detention
Post-Conviction Relief
Prosecutors
This Practice Advisory is a detailed follow-up to our prior Practice Alert on the Supreme Court's April 23, 2020 decision in Barton v. Barr , 140 S. Ct. 1442 (2020). In Barton , the Court held that committing an offense “listed in” the inadmissibility grounds at INA § 212(a)(2) triggers the "stop-time" rule for purposes of cancellation of removal eligibility, even for an admitted LPR who cannot...
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Proving Medical and Psychological Hardship for Non-LPR Cancellation of Removal

06/24/2020
Removal Defense
Non-LPR Cancellation of Removal is an important deportation defense for eligible individuals in removal proceedings who have resided in the United States for many years. Proving “exceptional and extremely unusual” hardship to a qualifying relative can be difficult, but when medical or psychological conditions are present, they are often the strongest hardship factor. This advisory explains how to...
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All Those Rules About Crimes Involving Moral Turpitude (June 2020)

06/18/2020
Crimes
Removal Defense
Family-Based
U Visa/T Visa/VAWA
A conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude (CIMT) may or may not hurt an immigrant, depending on a number of factors set out in the Immigration and Nationality Act: the number of CIMT convictions, the potential and actual sentence, when the person committed or was convicted of the offense, and the person’s immigration situation. A single CIMT conviction might cause no damage, or it might...

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