Just watched my wife cry in the attorney's office....

I'd like to explain my situation and Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

My name is Tony and my wife's name is Luz We've been married 9 years. She was brought here illegally from MX when she was 10 yrs old. At the age of 14, her mom decided to take her back to MX to escape an abusive boyfriend. A year later her mom brought her back in illegally . She's been here since.

At the age of 17 Luz became pregnant with her first child from an older man that she would eventually marry. At 20 she had her second son. Her husband became increasingly abusive mentally and physically and threatened her life if she ever decided to leave. Despite the abuse and threats, she completed her GED while raising the boys and she left him.

I met her shortly after she divorced him. We dated, fell in love, and after 2yrs got married. Her family are all Jehovah's witnesses and disowned her when she left their cult. Around this time she became pregnant w twins, and gave me two beautiful daughters. Now its only us here in Texas.

We like everyone here have been waiting years for CIR to pass. She didn't qualify for DACA because her bday is April of 1981, and the cutoff date was initially June of '81. Now with President Obamas exec action, the cutoff date is no longer an issue. However in speaking to an attorney today we were told that while she qualifies for DACA or DAPA, she can never apply for a green card or citizenship. This is because she has more than one illegal entry, and while they both occurred while she was a minor, the law states that any individual who leaves after illegal entry is viewed by law as someone who self deported which is the same as court ordered deportation. Upon leaving the country, an individual must remain outside of the U.S. For no less than 10 years. Her second entry violated this rule and we were told prevents us from ever being able to apply for any sort of waiver. She has no criminal record, no fraud or identity theft, no back taxes.

While Pres. Obama's exec action is awesome, and extremely appreciated, she will never be able to travel abroad, or visit family in Mexico. If for some reason a future president decides to end this executive order, her status goes back to illegal. We saw a glimmer of hope but now as far as we know, all of that is over. I'm hurting for her because none of this is her fault. Her options are limited to stay here forever on a deferral waiver or leave forever to a country that NONE OF US are familiar with.

Please let me know if you are aware of ANY other option we can pursue to help her apply for residency.
Thank you for reading my story.

Get a better lawyer because this case is fixable and this lawyer's a fuckwit. Even if not for DACA, or DAPA, there's always the hardship waivers. Christ, if I were hear such idiotic shit in person I'd call the bar association on the spot. Forgive my cursing, but the fact that an idiot like that is a lawyer makes my blood boil.



Only leaving while ordered deported counts as self-removal, regardless of age. If she did not have a removal order against her it does not.
A ban from being ordered by a judge to be removed and subsequently leaving or being deported, and a ban from illegal presence are two different things which are not equivalent, do not stack, and if both trigger are served concurrently.

Illegal presence before turning 18 does not count against a person. A minor can technically walk through the border every single day from birth to 18th birthday minus 1 day without triggering any re-entry bans, provided they do not get caught and placed into removal proceedings. A minor cannot trigger a 10 year ban, since a minor cannot trigger the 10 year ban, they cannot trigger a permanent ban for illegal re-entry.


She needs to get either DACA, or DAPA. DAPA would likely be easier since she won't have to prove entry before turning 16, which given the fact it happened ~18 years ago, would require plenty of evidence for the continuous presence, as opposed for about 4 years for DAPA. After getting that, she would need to request advance parole, she will need a valid work, educational, or humanitarian reason for travel. Like a study abroad program, business trip, or an ailing relative or wanting to visit a grave of a deceased family member.

Considering that everyone has some old grand-aunt, this is relatively easy. Though she will need to document relation to the person, as well as evidence that the person is ailing, or deceased (ex. medical records or death certificate, with translation). Once she gets advance parole, she'll need to travel to Mexico, and return to US using the advance parole. That will clear her illegal entry and make her eligible for adjustment of status.



Also, did she, or a parent of hers (or a spouse if any of the time), been sponsored via any means before April 30th, 2001? If so, she most likely qualifies under 245(i) which would allow her to adjust in US without need for travel.

Wow I really hope you're being real with me. If so, thanks so much, just made our night. We were planning on seeing another lawyer anyway because this guy was pretty rude. Told her at 18 she made the decision to remain in the U.S. So a part of the problem was her. That in itself felt unprofessional.
Again, thank you for this input, thanks for taking the time to reply. Very much appreciated.

DEMISE is right. You need a different lawyer.

I am and I know how adminisibilities work. Entering US illegally does not itself carry a ban, it makes one inadmissible, but if one leaves, that will not keep a person from obtaining permanent residence, being in US illegally normally causes problems however, consider a few cases:

All of these cases assume the person was never ordered by a judge to leave US, or apprehended by CBP on the border.

A enters US illegally while 2 years old. Leaves while 14 years old. A has accrued 0 days of illegal presence due to being a minor. A is not a banned for re-entry.

A subsequently re-enters illegally at age 15 and stays in US for the following 10 years. A is now 25 years old. A doesn't have a re-entry ban, however since A entered illegally she's not eligible to adjust status via a US citizen spouse. However A can do one of two things:
Use DACA to get Advance Parole, to clear her illegal presence to adjust status in US, or;
Get a hardship waiver, to waive her 7 years of illegal presence, as a spouse of a US citizen and undergo consular processing abroad.


B enters US illegally while 14 years old. She decides to leave US while she's 18 years and 7 months old. Only 7 months after turning 18 count against her.
B is now banned for re-entry for 3 years due to leaving while having 180 days or more of illegal presence.
If B re-enters illegally within those 3 years, she will trigger a permanent ban.
B waits it out and subsequently meets a US citizen abroad, who after returning to US sponsors her for a fiance visa. B gets the fiance visa due to not having a ban against her anymore, enters US legally, marries her husband, and adjusts status.


C enters US illegally while 15 years old. He leaves a week after turning 18. Due to having only a week of illegal presence he is not banned for re-entry. C re-enters US illegally 2 years later, at age 20. C is illegible for adjustment of status. C marries a US citizen 2 months later and quickly departs US. C only has about 2.5 months of illegal presence against him, so he doesn't trigger a re-entry ban, letting him undergo consular processing abroad.


D enters US legally as a tourist while 29 years old. His stay expires 6 months later. D leaves US through the border into Mexico briefly 3 years later, triggering a 10 year ban due to having more than 1 year of illegal presence. D subsequently re-enters illegally triggering the permanent ban. D's case is the hardest, since the only way for him to become a permanent resident would be to marry a US citizen, and depart US for 10 years before being eligible for a waiver for his permanent ban. Only other saving grace being a presidential pardon, but good luck getting one.



A is the most similar to your wife's case. It is also relatively easy to fix considering that she can fix her illegal entry using advance parole once the new DACA or DAPA get pushed out.

Note that some lawyers are a little weary of it, since Advance Parole does not guarantee admission, but honestly nothing aside US nationality does, even a green card holder can be turned around at the airport. However DHS has recently officialized the "Matter of Arrabally and Yerrabelly", stating that traveling on advance parole does not trigger 3 or 10 year re-entry bans, effectively rending such travel safe. Another thing being that Advance Parole is much easier than a hardship waiver, and doesn't require such hardship to even exist, so not in the lawyer's own best interest considering that they can charge much much more for a hardship waiver.

Wow! So why do you think this attorney lied to us?
What would the motivation be?
Are we safe after we've given him our info?

It's a pretty well known law firm here.

What specifically should I study to get more specific info relevant to my case?

You are the man! Thank you again!!!!

That's in the works right now! And I'm reporting this attorney just as Demise suggested.

I don't think he lied to you, I simply think he's uninformed and a crappy attorney. Which is probably just slightly better than being simply malicious. He cannot report you because that would violate the Client-Attorney privilege, which is generally ground for being debarred, and they are rarely if ever willing to sacrifice their job to screw someone over. Also, even if reported, DHS generally doesn't chase against people who are eligible for relief, awaiting implementation, in fact they rarely if ever chase against anyone, unless there's good evidence that the person in question is committing some form of fraud, or other criminal activity.

Ok Demise what about this cituation "on the way to the usa at age 14 got cough by cbp trying to come to usa. They took me to a station got finger printed and got to walk to mx. Now i have daca and advance parole aproved will this make me inadmisible on the way back even with parole

So you are raising 4 children?