How To Respond If The Government Attorney is Trying to Dismiss Your Case in Immigration Court

National Immigration Project (NIP) Oral Opposition to Dismissal Template for   Pro Se Respondents.

If the government attorney is trying to dismiss your case in immigration court, it is likely because the government wants to put you in expedited removal instead, which allows them to deport you more quickly and without giving you a hearing in immigration court. The oral motion opposes dismissal so that, if the IJ denies dismissal, you can continue to have your case heard in immigration court. Even if the IJ denies dismissal, ICE may still detain you. Therefore, it is important to make a plan with your loved ones for if you are detained, and to try to find an attorney if at all possible. In order to advocate with ICE on your behalf, any attorney you hire now or in the future will need a G-28 form signed in ink. If you do not go to a scheduled court hearing, you may receive an in absentia deportation order, which may lead ICE to detain you at home or elsewhere and deport you very quickly.

Background: Beginning in May, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been orally requesting dismissal of both represented and unrepresented noncitizens’ removal proceedings in immigration court. Once the immigration judge grants dismissal, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents then arrest the noncitizen in or around immigration court buildings with the goal of placing them in expedited removal. Expedited removal is a process through which ICE can detain someone without access to release under bond and deport a person without giving them a hearing in immigration court. This Oral Opposition to Dismissal Template for Pro Se Respondents provides pro se noncitizens guidance on how to oppose a DHS motion to dismiss.