My name is Elizabeth Blandon.

I'm an immigration attorney specializing in asylum law. This video in particular is about

a procedure known as Motion to Reopen that hopefully will help you or someone you know

get a green card through asylum.

Now asylum is basically protection given by the United States government to foreigners.

Only to those who are in the United States,

regardless of how they arrived. Whether they arrived through the airport with authorization

or crossing a border without authorization. People can apply for asylum usually within

the first year of arrival, which is very important. That's the one-year deadline. But in some cases,

they apply much later. The two general ways to apply are to file an application directly

with immigration and request protection - and request a work permit and green card - or the

other way to file is as a defense to being deported. So a person has been caught in the

United States - they don't have authorization to stay here - and as a defense to not being

removed to their home country, they say, "If I'm removed to my home country, I'm going to

suffer serious harm." In order to get asylum, the serious harm that a person fears suffering

has to be on account of five protected grounds: race, religion, nationality, political opinion

or something called the particular social group, which is explained in another video.

This video discusses: what about a person who had their case denied perhaps at immigration

or perhaps had their case denied at immigration court, and now they have an order of deportation

in their hand. Well, incredibly enough, they can still apply for asylum based on something

known as a Motion to Reopen. Now, a Motion to Reopen generally has to be filed within 90

days of that order of deportation, but there are some exceptions as to why it can be filed

after the 90 days. I'll explain what those exceptions are, but generally they have to

do with changed circumstances either of the country or of the person. In some cases -

the ones that we win the most often or we see the most often - are a person simply didn't

know they have to go to court. If a foreigner does not appear in court when they're supposed

to appear in court, a judge will issue an automatic order of deportation. It's known as an "in absentia."

order of deportation. If the reason the foreign national was not at the hearing is because

they never received a paper that said they had to go to the hearing, or, what sometimes

sadly happens, they hired an attorney and then the attorney didn't tell

the foreign national they had to go to the hearing. In both of those cases or in other

cases that are similar to that - that the foreigner didn't know - we can do a Motion to Reopen, even

after the 90 days, which is what's important. Other cases where it's been over 90

days and it's been approved is, for example, marrying a US citizen. That's a change in the

person's personal circumstance. Perhaps before the order of deportation they weren't married,

and now after the order of deportation they are married. There are immigration benefits

for marrying a US citizen, and we might be able to do a Motion to Reopen based on that.

In some cases, we specifically ask for asylum because the fact that the person is now married

to a US citizen increases the risk that the foreign national him or herself will be harmed

in their home country. In addition to that, there are other personal circumstances that

might change. One that we see, for example, is persons from Muslim countries who might have

converted to Christianity. For example, in some countries such as [the Republic the Islamic

sorry] Republic of Iran, if a person changes from their religion to any other religion,

they will be killed. It's a crime of capital punishment in Iran. So, obviously, a conversion

to Christianity would result in death. Another similar kind of case is when a person perhaps

had not come out before. They had been in the United States for several years, but only recently

came out in public as - you know - either lesbian, gay, questioning, bisexual or transgender person.

And now that they've come out publicly, they can't return to their home country because

they might be harmed. And in some countries, serious harm or death might result. In those

cases, likewise, it could be years after a person has an order of deportation we can do

a Motion to Reopen - reopen the case - file an asylum and again get the work permit and hopefully

get the green card, if we win it. A little gold nugget that I also like to discuss, because

it's not - it's not a program that's used very often, but it is very important - it's an important

way of getting a green card, is for those people who have either Temporary Protected Status

(TPS) or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (known as DACA). Those two programs give people a

work permit, but there's something more valuable that it gives them. They can also travel outside

the United States with something known as Advance Parole. If you leave the United States -

and again this is with an order of deportation we're talking - leave the United States, you

go to another country and you return to the United States. When you return, you are now

entering with authorization. One of the main reasons - in fact the main reason - that some

people can't get their green card in the United States, even though they might have children

who are US citizens over 21 or spouses who are US citizens - one of the main reasons is

because they entered illegally. Well, if you enter with parole and you have an order of deportation,

we can now reopen your case in court and get you the green card. That's something that's

worth considering for many, many people. Also, one of the things that needs to be considered

is changed country conditions. I always ask my clients to let me know what the situation

is in their home country today versus what it was when they were ordered deported. Some

countries - in particular Russia and the Ukraine - we have been able to win Motions to Reopen

because the situation in those countries has seriously deteriorated, and we were able to

prove it. It doesn't apply, however, in a case where the situation of the country was terrible

at the time the person got the order of deportation, and it's only much more terrible [now]. It has to

be a very drastic change between then and now. So I also - what I'm stressing to people - what cases

might win - I also would like to stress what kinds of cases won't win. A case such as that

where the condition of the country has worsened significantly, but it was terrible

before also. It won't - you won't win that case. Also, if you're now more afraid because, say,

you know somebody who died - there was a case where the death of a friend - the foreign national

said, "Well, now I'm really afraid. I wasn't afraid before. I knew the situation

in my country was bad, but it hadn't affected me personally until my friend was murdered." That also is not a reason to do a motion to reopen because the situation in the country

was bad when the person was ordered deported. Most importantly, if the reason you were given

a deportation order is because you did not appear at the hearing, but you knew about the hearing,

that is not a reason to do a Motion to Reopen. The only types of cases where a person will

be given a second shot at the "asylum apple" is because they didn't appear the first time

because they didn't know. Whether - through no fault of their own, generally. The thing

to remember about everything that has been spoken in this video is:our job here with

the Blandon Law team is to prove to the court that the totality of the circumstances under

all the circumstances that we're presenting to the court, it would be really unfair

for a person who fears being harmed in their home country to have to return just because

of one minor error. So, if we can prove that, we can win the Motion to Reopen on your behalf

and hopefully get you a green card. It's been a pleasure and good luck