Advance Parole for people who skipped court

Hello Folks,

Even thought DACA does not give the benefits of a green card, it has opened many doors to us that would otherwise have been closed.

I am wondering if any one can clarify something for me. I would like to apply for Advance Parole to visit my mother in Brazil, who is very sick, but I am paranoid that I will not be allowed back in.

My Case: I apologize if this has been answered but I could not find any similar posts.

My mother brought me into the U.S when I was 10 years old through the U.S/Mexico border in 2005. They released us on the condition that we would go to court a few months later, and we did not. The immigration officers took my mom's fingerprint but they never took mine.
Now , I am doing some research on Advance Parole so that I can go visit my mother in the summer and while reading the guidelines I came across this ,"However, for those individuals who have been ordered deported or removed, before you actually leave the United States, you should seek to reopen your case before the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) and obtain administrative closure or termination of your removal proceeding".

Does anyone has any insight if this would apply to me? I would like to visit her but I am scared that they would not allow me into the U.S again because we skipped court when we first arrived.

Thank you very much for the help.

Well here is the thing, I am assuming you already have DACA. In that case, don't you think they would have questioned you when you applied for DACA? Having DACA is what qualifies you for AP. Once you have AP, there is nothing stopping you from coming back to this country get that absolutely straight. If there are any issues, they will come up when you apply for AP. But if you have AP, you are good man. Once you arrive here, they just look at your docs and let you in as long as you left and arrive at appropriate dates. Can you point out specifically where you read that quote? Plus you were only 10 years old, you probably don't even remember this stuff all that well. My advice, apply for AP immediately! When you apply for AP or DACA, your parents name do not show up anywhere. Count them out of the picture. You're the main individual right now.

Hey ,

You have a very solid point. Thanks for sharing your information. I got the quote from the guidelines on the USCIS website, http://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/co...sked-questions.

I wanted to see if any one had a case similar to mine. Actually, I think I will apply for advance parole so that I can go see my mother.

Thanks again!

First order of business in your case would be to see if you have an in absentia order of removal. You were likely released on supervision and given some kind of paperwork, that paperwork should list your A-number, which may be different from the one given to you via DACA. Then you should call the EOIR hotline, punch in that A-number and see what it gives you, if nothing, you're set, otherwise you'll hear "on [date] judge ordered removal", which means that you have an outstanding removal order.

From what lawyers told me, generally they do not order children to be removed, but I wasn't so lucky...

Alternatively you can do a FOIA request with the court that had jurisdiction in your case, and see what they'll give you.

Now, if you do have a removal order, then well, you have a problem. In absentia orders can only be re-opened if:
1) The notice of the hearing was never delivered to you.
2) There was some exceptional circumstances as to why you couldn't attend (though this can only be done within the first 180 days).
3) ICE agrees to a join motion to reopen.

We can assume that 1 and 2 do not apply in your case, so that only leaves 3. Re-opening proceedings without a available legalization pathway is hard, the lawyer that you'll hire to do it won't be too optimistic, and it's unlikely ICE would consent to the reopening.


Matter of Arrabally never aswered the question if other re-entry bans trigger if you travel on AP, and the assumption is that they do. Leaving after an in absentia order causes an unwaivable 5 year re-entry ban. If CBP denies you entry because of it - you are screwed.

Hello Demise,

Thank you very much for the very insightful response.

I talked to a lawyer, and as you said, they do not usually order children to be removed.

Unfortunately, I do not have the paper we received when we first arrived.

Now, were you ordered to be removed even though you arrived here as a child? Also, If I do have a outstanding removal order, How would they know that it is me? I never left any fingerprints but a couple of documents in Portuguese.

Thank you once again.

Yeah I was the unlucky one.

In your case I'd play it safe and do a FOIA request with the court that had jurisdiction in your case, or if you do not know, all the ones that might've had it. Basically the ones in the state where you entered and got busted.

The fact they can't connect it to you immediately if you have a removal order is a risk you're taking yourself. You might be lucky and no one will ever notice, but if they do - your permanent residency or even citizenship will be rescinded because you got everything in error.

Yes, I was ordered removed despite the fact that I was 11 at the time. So just because it doesn't usually happen, doesn't mean it didn't.