Cleary Gottlieb won cancellation of a pro bono client’s removal from the United States in partnership with co-counsel from the Legal Aid Society.
The client, a mother of four U.S. citizen children, moved to the United States from Ecuador when she was four years old and became a legal permanent resident of the U.S. in 1990. She was subject to removal proceedings based on two non-violent “crimes involving moral turpitude” – a third-degree theft charge in 2000 and a petit larceny charge in 2002. The client has had a clean record since 2002 and has been employed full-time by the City of New York since 2013.
On June 2, 2017, Judge Jem C. Sponzo of the New York City Immigration Court held an individual hearing on the client’s cancellation of removal application. At the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Sponzo granted the client’s cancellation application from the bench, and the government waived its right to appeal, permitting the client to remain in the United States with her family and enabling her to apply for U.S. citizenship.