Deportation Defense Lawyer in San Antonio, TX

Two courts, two very different cases

A removal case in San Antonio runs on one of two tracks, and the track is set the day the Notice to Appear is issued. If the person was released, or was never detained, the case goes to the San Antonio Immigration Court at 800 Dolorosa Street, Suite 300, a few blocks from our office. The court's public window is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, and that is where motions, evidence and applications for relief are filed when they are not filed electronically. Non-detained cases move slowly: a first master calendar hearing, then one or more resets, then an individual hearing that may be a year or more out. ICE check-ins during the case are at the ERO San Antonio Field Office, 1777 NE Loop 410, and we prepare clients for those too.

If the person is being held at the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, the case is on the detained docket of the Pearsall Immigration Court, which sits inside that facility. Detained cases move fast, often with hearings weeks apart, and the client is not in the room with the attorney unless we drive there. The hearing notice is what tells you which court has the case; if you have only an A-number, we can find out. People held at Karnes County or Dilley, or at T. Don Hutto in Taylor, are also under ICE's San Antonio field office, and their hearing notice names the court assigned to them.

What we do at Dolorosa Street and at Pearsall

Most non-detained clients come to us after a first hearing where they were told to find a lawyer. We enter our appearance, pull the record of proceedings and the government's file, and decide whether the Notice to Appear itself is defective before we concede anything. Then we build the application that fits: cancellation of removal for someone with ten years here and a qualifying relative, asylum or withholding for someone who cannot return, adjustment of status before the judge for a client with an approved family petition, or an I-601 or I-212 waiver where an old order or a misrepresentation stands in the way. An old removal order, including one entered in your absence, does not always end the case either. A motion to reopen or a stay of removal can change the outcome, so bring every notice you have, even the ones you did not understand, and let us read the court file before anyone surrenders to ICE.

For a client at Pearsall the first job is custody. We request a bond hearing where the law allows one, assemble the sponsor letters, proof of address and employment the judge expects, and argue it. Whether a judge can set bond at all depends on how and when the person entered and on the custody rules in force on the hearing date, which have shifted in the past year; we tell the family at the consultation which rule applies. If bond is denied or not available, we prepare the merits case on the detained timeline, which means getting declarations, country evidence and documents from Mexico or Central America in weeks, not months, through our Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua offices. Many of our clients at both courts are Mexican. The Consulate General of Mexico at 127 Navarro Street, downtown, issues the passports and consular IDs a bond application often requires, and when a client decides that voluntary departure is the right choice, our Juárez office receives them on the other side of the El Paso bridge and we keep representing the family on the petition or waiver that brings the person back lawfully.