Low-Cost Immigration Law Services

Affordable immigration attorneys in Denver

What’s the most all-American food? Some say apple pie. Some say hot dogs. We say peanut butter and jelly (PB&J) – the most affordable all-American food.

That’s the idea behind PBJ Law (pro bene & justice law). We’re all later-career immigration lawyers with a calling – to lower the hurdles to newcomers chasing the American dream.

Below are some of the areas in which we work. To learn whether we might be able to help you, a loved one or a friend, please consult our “Request a Consultation” page.

Immigration Detention

Certain non-citizens may be held in custody in a detention facility while awaiting immigration court decisions on their immigration status.

Detainees are often held because they entered the U.S. unlawfully as citizens of countries – without visas or American passports. Some non-citizens may also be detained for overstaying the time limit of a valid visa. Still others may be detained while applying for asylum.

It’s important to note that immigration detainees are held under civil law, not criminal law. The difference is that immigration law is administrative law, based on long standing Supreme Court rulings that deportation is a way of returning non-citizens to other countries.

In contrast, criminal law generally imposes punishment on convicted criminals. Like those convicted of crimes, non-citizens who’ve committed immigration offenses can be subject to fines and imprisonment. However, under administrative law, non-citizens don’t have the same constitutional rights as accused criminal offenders, such as the right to a jury trial and the right to a government-paid lawyer.

Detention centers are jail-like facilities often operated by government contractors. Some lawyers avoid detention cases due to a time-consuming process of having to visit detained clients during restricted visitation hours and sometimes having to travel great distances to distant detention centers.

Asylum & the Convention Against Torture

Non-citizens may sometimes gain the right to live in the U.S. after proving they fled their home countries due to a “well founded fear” due to at least one of five reasons:

1. Race
2. Religion
3. Nationality
4. Political opinion
5. Membership in a particular social group

Refugees seeking asylum face a daunting process. In immigration court, they must prove they fled their home country due to past persecution or fear of future persecution based on one or more of the above grounds.

This burden differs from criminal court, in which a state or federal prosecutor bears the burden of proof. At the same time, in an asylum hearing, a government lawyer tries to discredit the refugee’s testimony and evidence. The government attorney attempts this through cross examination, a type of interrogation meant to challenge the refugee’s account and evidence.

However, the refugee’s burden of proof is only “credible fear.” The U.S. Supreme Court has held that the refugee must demonstrate only a “reasonable possibility” of future persecution should the refugee return to his or her home country.

A broader alternative for refugees is to seek protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT), a United Nations human rights treaty adopted in 1984. The CAT approach requires demonstration of a fear of persecution for any reason involving a public official, not just the five grounds under U.S. asylum law.

However, CAT imposes a higher standard of proof on the refugee, who must demonstrate that return to the home country would “more likely than not” result in torture.

Special Immigrant Juvenile Status – SIJS

For young, unmarried non-citizens under the age of 21, SIJS offers a pathway to citizenship when they have suffered abuse, abandonment, or neglect by a parent.

SIJS involves a two-step process. First, a state court must issue an order that a candidate qualifies for SIJS status and awards custody to an adult (often a family member) or a state agency. Alternatively, the young person may also become a ward of the court.

State courts have jurisdiction over non-adults (here, those younger than 21) under the Constitution’s delegation of certain powers to the states in keeping with the Tenth Amendment.

Second, the candidate files an I-360 form with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The form is a “Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant.”

Instead of a judge making a decision on the form, a USCIS officer reviews the petition and may approve or deny or ask for more information.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals – DACA

In 2012, President Obama created the DACA program following the failure of the “DREAM Act” in the U.S. Congress. The act would have initiated a process for immigrants to apply for conditional residency for young immigrants leading to permanent residency, based on the time of their arrival in the United States.

The DREAM Act would have required arrival before age 16 and a residency of at least five years.

In the Act’s place, DACA allows young people who grew up in the U.S. but lack lawful immigration status to live and work legally. To avoid deportation, immigrants with DACA protection must renew their status every two years. They also receive an “Employment Authorization Document,” also known as a work permit (form I-766).

DACA is a policy, not a law, and it does not grant legal status or citizenship. Currently, new DACA requests are on hold due to a lawsuit by the state of Texas. However, current DACA recipients can continue to renew their DACA status and work permits.

Petition for Alien Relative – the I-130 Form

U.S. citizens or Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR) can sponsor certain family members to immigrate to the United States and qualify for a Green Card, which grants permission to live and work permanently in the U.S.

Although success in obtaining a green card also protects the recipient under U.S. law, the immigrant does not have citizenship with the right to vote or hold certain government jobs.

Nonetheless, a green card can afford a significant step toward naturalization, the process of becoming a citizen with the same rights as a native-born American.

An important aspect of an alien relative petition is that the “alien” – i.e., a non-citizen who comes to the U.S. to live – does not have the right to file the petition. Rather, the petitioner must be in one of two categories:

1. A citizen 21 years of age or older seeking lawful immigration for a spouse, a child, or a parent or a sibling if the citizen is at least 21 years old.
2. An LPR seeking lawful immigration for a spouse or an unmarried child.

Application for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility – the I-601 Form

For some non-citizens, success in submitting this application allows them to overcome a bar (prohibition) to immigrant status or to re-entering the U.S. by proving extreme hardship to a relative who is a U.S. citizen or Lawful Permanent Relative (LPR).

Common reasons for the bar include specific criminal convictions, infection with certain communicable diseases, and various immigration violations such as misrepresentation, fraud, or entering the country “without inspection.”

Entry Without Inspection (EWI) not only includes sneaking into the country by avoiding a port of entry but also use of a passport or visa that is a forgery or belongs to another person.

Generally, non-citizens who have arrived in EWI status and then leave the country at any time less than 180 days cannot return for three years. Those who leave the country at any time after 180 days cannot return for ten years.