“Jay” was a 2 month old infant when he was admitted to the U.S. with his mother and sister as a refugee. As followers of Judaism, Jay and his family had fled religious persecution in the former USSR. Jay, in fact, had been born in Rome, Italy, while in transit to the U.S. Technically, this made Jay stateless, although he always felt like an American.
As a refugee, Jay’s mother soon was soon able to obtain U.S. Lawful Permanent Residence for Jay. Life was good; Jay’s family was able to earn an honest living in the US; they desperately tried to forget the relentless religious persecution they faced as Jews in the USSR.
Knowing no land other than the U.S., Jay did not remember anything about any religious persecution. Although he had been in the US for over 30 years, a series of arrests led to several non violent convictions which landed Jay in removal/deportation proceedings from the U.S. Shocked by these developments, Jay’s family contacted Andrew Slepian, Esq. of Slepian Law to represent Jay in his removal proceedings.
Although there were many negative factors pertaining to Jay’s desirability as a permanent resident of the U.S., Andrew was able to deliver such a powerful evidentiary packet that the Judge decided that testimony would not be necessary and that Cancellation of Removal must be granted. Specifically, Andrew highlighted the extreme hardships that Jay’s immediately family would endure if Jay was deported, including the documented medical hardships to Jay’s mother. After spending over 10 months in jail, Jay was granted Cancellation of Removal, released from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody that same day, and permitted to keep his U.S. Permanent Resident Status!
