A few weeks ago, I got a call from a very prominent Immigration attorney from one of the Rocky Mountain States.

Like most of us who have been practicing immigration law for many years, he was very upset about what our clients are currently experiencing in the immigration field. He was representing a client in Southern California who had what looked to be a relatively simple Naturalization case.

His client was a longtime permanent resident who met all the requirements for naturalization, except…

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Years ago, he was house-sitting one evening when a vicious dog who lived in the house rushed to attack him. In order to defend himself, he grabbed a brush from a table next to him and threw it at the dog. The brush hit the dog in the head, and the dog retreated.

When the owner returned home that evening, she saw that the dog was injured and was furious. She called the police who came to the house, and charged the man with malicious mischief to an animal.

However, the District Attorney’s Office found that the man was simply defending himself, and refused to bring charges against him.

One of the qualifications for naturalization is an applicant demonstrate that he is a person of good Moral Character for the requisite period of time. If the applicant has been convicted of a serious crime, he may not qualify as a person of good moral character.

Here, however, not only was there not a conviction, the man was not even charged with committing a crime in court. Nevertheless, the USCIS examiner denied his application on the grounds that he was not a person of good moral character. So much for the American ideal that a person is innocent unless proven guilty.

Attorney Giselle Sotelo who is an expert on crimmigration, the intersection of immigration law with criminal law, immediately filed a Notice of Appeal with the USCIS. She stated that it was clear that our client was a person of good moral character, and requested time to submit a legal brief.

However, upon reading the Notice of Appeal, the USCIS immediately reversed their position and approved our client’s Application for Naturalization. He was sworn in as a U.S. citizen earlier this month.

Our client wrote the following review online:

“This is for sure the best immigration firm. I would like to thank Mr. Shusterman for his excellent advice and guidance. Special thanks to Ana Cruz and Giselle Sotelo. They worked with me from start to finish My case was complicated, but they did the impossible thing and solved my case in less than two weeks. They helped me with my dream of becoming a US citizen. I am going to my Oath Ceremony in the end of July. That is exceptional and you cannot put a price on that. I highly recommend this firm for any immigration issues.”

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