Flatbush Immigration Lawyers

Flatbush Immigration Lawyers

Thanks for visiting Spodek Law Group – a second-generation law firm managed by Todd Spodek. We have over 50 years of combined experience representing immigrants throughout Brooklyn. If you’re here, you’re dealing with TPS termination, deportation proceedings, ICE raids, asylum applications, or family petitions stuck in processing.

Flatbush is the heartbeat of the Caribbean diaspora in New York. Haitian residents make up the largest immigrant community here – bigger than any Haitian population outside Florida. The city designated the neighborhood as Little Haiti in 2018. When you get off at Newkirk Avenue, the subway announces “This is Newkirk Avenue-Little Haiti.” Walk down Nostrand Avenue or Church Avenue and you’ll see Haitian restaurants, shops, beauty salons, money transfer businesses, community centers. This is home.

TPS Termination Threatens 50,000 Families

In February 2025, the Trump administration rescinded Temporary Protected Status for Haiti. Over 50,000 Haitian families who have lived here legally for years – working, paying taxes, raising U.S. citizen children – faced deportation. A U.S. District Court in New York temporarily blocked the termination, ruling it unlawful. Protection extends through February 2, 2026. But that’s a temporary reprieve, not permanent relief.

Then in June, Trump placed Haiti under a full travel ban. If you’re a TPS holder and your status expires, you can’t travel back to Haiti and return. You’re trapped here without a path forward unless you qualify for other relief.

What happens when TPS ends? You lose work authorization. You can’t renew your driver’s license in New York. You fall out of status. ICE can issue a Notice to Appear and place you in removal proceedings. You need to explore other options now – asylum if you fled gang violence or political persecution, adjustment of status if you have an approved family petition, cancellation of removal if you’ve been here 10+ years with U.S. citizen or LPR family members.

Asylum Applications for Haitian Nationals

Take someone who fled Port-au-Prince in 2018 after gang members threatened their family and tried to extort money from their small business. Police wouldn’t help – gangs control entire neighborhoods and law enforcement looks the other way or participates. That’s a valid asylum claim based on persecution by groups the government can’t or won’t control.

Haiti’s country conditions are catastrophic right now. Armed gangs control most of Port-au-Prince. The prime minister was forced to resign. There’s no functioning government capable of protecting people from violence. Asylum cases need documentation – police reports and medical records help, but country conditions evidence and affidavits from family members describing ongoing threats matter more.

The one-year filing deadline applies from your last entry to the U.S. If you entered on TPS or humanitarian parole, that triggers the clock. Many people don’t realize they needed to file within a year. You can argue extraordinary circumstances or changed country conditions to excuse the delay, but it’s harder. File early.

February ICE Raids Devastated the Neighborhood

In February, ICE raids hit Little Haiti hard. Businesses along Flatbush Avenue and Nostrand Avenue saw foot traffic collapse. Store owners told reporters people were staying away out of fear. One taxi driver who’s been here over 30 years said “nobody’s in the streets” anymore. Even people with legal papers are afraid ICE will detain them anyway.

English classes that used to fill up now sit mostly empty. Churches reported lower attendance. Restaurants that used to be packed sat empty. The community went into hiding.

ICE doesn’t just arrest people at home anymore. They stake out courthouses – Brooklyn Criminal Court, Brooklyn Family Court. They wait outside churches. They conduct workplace raids at restaurants and construction sites. If you have an old deportation order or missed a check-in years ago, ICE can arrest you anytime.

Old Deportation Orders

Many people have deportation orders they don’t know about. You got served with a hearing notice back in 2008, but you moved and never received it. The immigration judge ordered you removed in absentia. You’ve been here 15 years since then, got married to a U.S. citizen, had children who are citizens, paid taxes, built a life. ICE can still execute that order today.

We file motions to reopen based on lack of notice, changed circumstances, or new evidence. If you can show you never received the hearing notice or that country conditions have changed significantly since the original order, judges can reopen your case. Then you apply for relief – adjustment through your citizen spouse, cancellation of removal, asylum based on new threats.

Fighting Deportation in Immigration Court

If ICE arrested you and placed you in removal proceedings at Immigration Court in Manhattan, you’re facing deportation unless you win relief.

Cancellation of removal works when you’ve been here 10 years with good moral character and you can prove removal would devastate your U.S. citizen or LPR family. Not just inconvenience them – devastate them. Courts want medical records and psychological evaluations showing your spouse or kids would suffer beyond what any family normally suffers from separation. We’ve won these cases when a U.S. citizen child has serious medical needs and depends entirely on the parent facing deportation.

Adjustment through marriage to a U.S. citizen gets complicated if you entered without inspection. Unless you qualify for 245(i) based on old petitions filed before certain cutoff dates, you probably can’t adjust in the U.S. That means consular processing overseas – which triggers the 10-year bar if you’ve been here unlawfully.

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 matters including Anna Delvey – the case that became a Netflix series. Our firm has been featured in The New York Times, Newsweek, Bloomberg.

We work with Haitian Creole interpreters. Immigration emergencies don’t wait – ICE arrests happen at 6 AM, deportation flights get scheduled on 48 hours notice. Whether you’re facing TPS termination, need asylum, have an old order ICE just discovered, or need bond after detention – call us. We’re available 24/7.