Class 13: Relief from removal

The immigration code has long included provisions that allowed some deportable noncitizens to avoid deportation. Today those provisions have been made ever more important by the dramatic expansion of deportation grounds over the years, as well as by the sheer size of the unauthorized population.

There are many discrete grounds of relief in the code, but we’ll focus in this class primarily on two. The first, cancellation of removal, is the descendant of one of the earliest forms of relief—suspension of deportation. The second, adjustment of status, was not designed as a form of deportation relief but today has become one nonetheless.

Reading:

• Overview (723-26)

• Cancellation of removal (726-37, problem on 731)

• Review “unlawful presence” bars in § 212(a)(9)(B)

• Adjustment of status (492-98)

• Cancellation and Adjustment practice problem

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