Deportation Defense Lawyers

Last Updated on: 15th October 2025, 06:27 pm

Deportation Defense Lawyers

Thanks for visiting Spodek Law Group – a second-generation law firm managed by Todd Spodek. We have over 50 years of combined experience defending immigrants in removal proceedings. If you’re here, it’s because you’re facing deportation or you’ve been arrested by ICE.

Deportation (officially called “removal”) means the U.S. government forces you to leave the country. Immigration judges conduct removal proceedings at immigration courts. If the judge orders removal, ICE deports you. You’re barred from returning – five years or ten years, twenty years or permanently depending on circumstances.

Removal Proceedings

ICE initiates removal proceedings by serving a Notice to Appear. The NTA lists the charges – you entered without inspection, you overstayed your visa, you committed crimes making you deportable. The NTA tells you when and where to appear in immigration court.

If you don’t appear, the judge issues a removal order in absentia. ICE can execute that order anytime – five years later, ten years later. You have no warning. They arrest you and deport you.

Master calendar hearings are status hearings. The judge asks if you admit or deny the charges. You tell the judge what relief you’re seeking. The judge sets dates for individual hearings.

Individual hearings are trials. You testify. You present witnesses and evidence. The ICE attorney argues you should be deported. The judge decides whether to grant relief or order removal.

Defenses to Deportation

Even if you’re deportable, you might qualify for relief allowing you to stay. Cancellation of removal requires 10 years continuous presence, good moral character, and exceptional hardship to U.S. citizen or LPR family members (for non-permanent residents). For permanent residents, it requires five years with your green card, seven years continuous residence, and no aggravated felony.

Asylum protects people fleeing persecution based on race and religion, nationality and political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. The asylum deadline is one year from arrival – missing this deadline creates major problems. You can apply for asylum defensively in removal proceedings even after the deadline if you show exceptional circumstances.

Adjustment of status works if you have an approved family or employment petition and a visa number is available. You file Form I-485 in immigration court. If approved, you become a permanent resident and the deportation case is terminated.

Withholding of removal and protection under the Convention Against Torture are higher standards than asylum but available even if you’re past the asylum deadline. Withholding requires proving you’ll more likely than not be persecuted. CAT requires proving you’ll more likely than not be tortured.

ICE Detention and Bond

ICE arrests people at their homes and workplaces, at courthouses and during check-ins. They take you to detention facilities – county jails with ICE contracts, dedicated ICE detention centers. You’re held until your removal hearing or until you’re deported.

Immigration judges can set bond for most detainees. Bond amounts range from $1,500 to $25,000 or more. The judge considers flight risk and danger to community. We file bond motions immediately when clients are detained. We present evidence of family ties and community connections, employment history, lack of criminal record or rehabilitation.

Some people are subject to mandatory detention with no bond – people with certain criminal convictions, people arriving at the border. Even in mandatory detention cases, we explore all options including habeas corpus petitions in federal court.

Old Deportation Orders

Many immigrants have old deportation orders from years ago. You appeared in court in 2008, the judge ordered removal, you never left. You’ve been here fifteen years since then, had U.S. citizen children, built a life. ICE can execute that order anytime unless you reopen your case based on changed circumstances.

We file motions to reopen based on new evidence – U.S. citizen children who would suffer exceptional hardship, changed country conditions making return dangerous, new relief you now qualify for. If the immigration judge grants the motion, your old deportation order is vacated and you get a new chance to fight your case.

Criminal Convictions and Deportation

Criminal convictions trigger deportation proceedings even for green card holders. Aggravated felonies bar almost all relief. Drug offenses and crimes of moral turpitude make you deportable. Domestic violence and firearms charges create problems.

Not all criminal convictions that seem like aggravated felonies actually meet the immigration law definition. We analyze your conviction under immigration law – challenging whether it’s categorically an aggravated felony, whether it meets the elements. Sometimes we find the conviction doesn’t make you deportable under immigration law even though it was serious under state criminal law.

Appeals

If the immigration judge orders removal, you have 30 days to appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals. The BIA reviews the record and the judge’s legal conclusions. They can affirm, reverse, or remand for further proceedings.

If the BIA affirms the removal order, you can appeal to federal court – the Circuit Court of Appeals. Federal court reviews whether the BIA applied the law correctly. Appeals take months or years. During the appeal you’re usually allowed to stay in the U.S.

Why We Handle These Cases

Todd Spodek is a second-generation attorney – his father practiced law before him. After graduating from Pace Law School, Todd started appearing in courts throughout New York daily. He’s represented clients in high-profile cases including Anna Delvey – the case that became a Netflix series. Our firm has been featured in The New York Times, Newsweek, Bloomberg.

We appear at 26 Federal Plaza immigration court regularly. We handle deportation defense across all circumstances – asylum cases, cancellation of removal, criminal convictions, old deportation orders, ICE detention. Whether you’re in removal proceedings or worried about an old order – call us. We’re available 24/7.