Criminal Defense Lawyers

Staten Island Asylum Defense Lawyers

Last Updated on: 30th October 2025, 12:51 pm

So your probably sitting in detention right now staring at that negative credible fear determination letter and your hands won’t stop shaking. Maybe the asylum officer interview lasted 45 minutes and you explained everything – the threats, the violence, why you had to flee. The officer took notes, asked follow-up questions, seemed like they were listening. Then two days later? NEGATIVE credible fear! Now your facing expedited removal and deportation within DAYS unless you request review by an immigration judge! Look, we get it. Your ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED. And honestly? You should be! Because once that judge also finds negative credible fear, your getting deported with NO FURTHER APPEALS according to USCIS credible fear screening procedures!

What Happens If You Fail Your Credible Fear Interview?

Let me tell you exactly what happens after that negative determination arrives – and it’s BRUTAL! You have the right to request review by an immigration judge, but you only have 7 DAYS to request it! Seven days! That’s it! If you don’t request review or if the judge also finds negative credible fear, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement can remove you from the United States IMMEDIATELY! The immigration judge review is your ONLY shot at challenging the asylum officer’s decision! During this review, you get one chance to explain why the asylum officer made errors. You can hire an attorney to help prepare, but here’s the catch – your attorney CAN’T ACTUALLY REPRESENT YOU during the hearing! They might be allowed to sit there and watch, but they can’t argue for you or object to questions! Your basicly still on your own! And if the immigration judge agrees with the negative determination? That decision is FINAL! No appeals! No further review! According to Congressional research on credible fear processes, that’s it – your getting removed within days to the country you fled! We represented a Venezuelan client from Staten Island who failed credible fear in 2024. He was detained at the border, interviewed by an asylum officer who found his fear wasn’t credible. The officer spent maybe 30 minutes with him and decided he didn’t qualify. We represented him at the immigration judge review and fought HARD. The judge disagreed with the asylum officer – found credible fear WAS established! He got released from detention and placed in removal proceedings. Now his individual hearing is scheduled for TWO YEARS out at 26 Federal Plaza! That’s the difference between deportation within days and having two years to build your case! But you have to ACT IMMEDIATELY when you get that negative determination! Seven days goes by FAST when your in detention!

Why Do So Many Credible Fear Interviews Fail?

Here’s what really makes us angry – alot of negative determinations happen because applicants can’t articulate the connection between the harm they faced and a “protected ground” under asylum law! The asylum officer is looking for persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group according to federal asylum eligibility regulations! You tell them a gang threatened you? The officer says “that’s just crime, not persecution.” You explain you were beaten by police? They say “but why were you targeted?” Unless you can show you were targeted BECAUSE OF one of those five protected grounds, they’ll deny credible fear! We had a client from Honduras whose credible fear interview lasted under 30 minutes. The asylum officer asked a few questions, took some notes, and found no credible fear. At the immigration judge review, we presented testimony for 90 MINUTES with detailed evidence about country conditions! The judge found credible fear! The first interview just wasn’t thorough enough – the officer didn’t dig deep enough to understand WHY our client was targeted! Other failures happen because of credibility issues. You give slightly different dates in the interview than what’s in your written statement? The officer thinks your lying! You can’t remember exact details from traumatic events that happened months or years ago? They say your story isn’t believable! You seem nervous or can’t make eye contact because your traumatized? They question your credibility! It’s especialy unfair because most people doing credible fear interviews just got to the border after a terrifying journey! There exhausted, scared, sometimes still injured! There doing interviews in languages that aren’t there first language through interpreters! And one 45-minute interview determines whether they get deported or get a chance at safety!

What Are the Five Protected Grounds for Asylum?

This is CRITICAL to understand because if you can’t connect your persecution to one of these five grounds, your asylum claim fails! The protected grounds are race, religion, nationality, political opinion, and membership in a particular social group! RACE means persecution because of your racial or ethnic identity. If you were targeted because your Black, white, Asian, indigenous, mixed-race – that’s race-based persecution. RELIGION covers persecution for your religious beliefs or lack of religious beliefs! If you were persecuted for being Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, atheist, or any other religion, that qualifies! NATIONALITY is broader than just citizenship! It includes ethnic groups, linguistic groups, cultural groups. If your part of an ethnic minority that gets targeted, that’s nationality-based persecution. POLITICAL OPINION is one of the most common grounds! But here’s the trick – it’s not just about voting or joining a political party! If gangs targeted you because you refused to join them and that refusal was seen as political opposition? That could be political opinion! If you reported corruption and the government retaliated? Political opinion! MEMBERSHIP IN A PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUP is the most complicated and the broadest! It can include family members of someone targeted, women fleeing domestic violence, LGBTQ individuals, former gang members trying to leave, people who testified against criminals, journalists, activists – the definition keeps evolving through case law! The key is showing that your persecution was “at least one central reason” connected to one of these grounds! It doesn’t have to be the ONLY reason, but it has to be a central reason! That’s where alot of asylum cases fail – people can’t make that connection clear enough for the judge!

What Happens After You Pass Credible Fear?

Okay, so let’s say you either passed credible fear initially or you got it on review by the immigration judge. Great! But don’t think your done – your actually just getting STARTED! Now your placed in removal proceedings at 26 Federal Plaza Immigration Court in Manhattan! Here’s the huge difference people don’t understand. Credible fear has a LOW standard – just a “significant possibility” of establishing asylum eligibility! That’s maybe 10% chance! But now you have to prove your FULL asylum claim before an immigration judge! That standard is WAY HIGHER – you need a “well-founded fear of persecution” which means at least a 10% chance but with way more evidence and testimony! At 26 Federal Plaza, your looking at MASSIVE backlogs! Individual hearings are being scheduled 2-3 years from now! You wait YEARS while your case is pending! The good news? You can apply for work authorization if your case has been pending 150 days and you haven’t caused any delays! But here’s what most people don’t realize – that 2-3 year wait is actually a GIFT if you use it properly! Immigration judges expect extensive documentation, corroborating evidence, expert reports! Three years is enough time to build a strong case if you start immediately! But if you waste that time and show up to your hearing unprepared? Your getting denied and deported!

What If You Missed the One-Year Asylum Filing Deadline?

This is where ALOT of Staten Island asylum seekers get trapped! You have to file asylum within one year of arriving in the United States! But so many people we meet didn’t enter through credible fear screening at the border! They came on tourist visas, student visas, work visas – and they stayed! By the time they realized they needed asylum, they were YEARS past the one-year deadline! If you file late, your asylum application will be DENIED unless you can prove an exception under federal asylum filing regulations! There are only two exceptions: changed circumstances or extraordinary circumstances! Both are REALLY hard to prove! Changed circumstances means something changed that materially affects your asylum eligibility! Examples that work: new government started targeting your group, new laws criminalized your activities, family member got killed making you a target now, your U.S. political activism makes you a target if you return! We represented a Russian asylum seeker from Staten Island who entered in 2019 on a tourist visa and stayed. He didn’t file asylum until 2024 – FIVE YEARS late! He argued changed circumstances because of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent crackdown on dissidents! He had participated in anti-war protests here in Staten Island, posted criticism on social media, became visible in the Russian community! The immigration judge accepted the changed circumstances argument! His individual hearing is scheduled for next year! Examples that DON’T work for changed circumstances: general country deterioration, bad economy, crime rates increasing, things just got “worse” overall. It has to be SPECIFIC changes that affect YOUR eligibility! And even if you prove changed or extraordinary circumstances, you still have to file within a “reasonable period” after those circumstances occurred! Two to four months is reasonable. Nine months might be too long! The longer you wait after the changed circumstances, the more the judge questions whether they really affected your asylum eligibility!

What Are Extraordinary Circumstances That Excuse Late Filing?

Extraordinary circumstances are even HARDER to prove than changed circumstances! These are circumstances that prevented you from filing during the original one-year period! So they have to occur DURING that first year, not after! Examples include serious illness or mental/physical disability that prevented you from filing! Some courts have recognized PTSD as an extraordinary circumstance! Ineffective assistance of counsel – like if your lawyer told you not to file yet! Maintaining lawful immigration status during that year! But immigration judges interpret these SUPER narrowly! We had a client who argued that PTSD from his persecution prevented him from filing on time. Sounds reasonable, right? WRONG! He had no professional diagnosis! No evidence of treatment! No medical records! The judge rejected it completely! His asylum got denied and now he’s pursuing withholding of removal instead, which is way harder to win! If your going to argue extraordinary circumstances, you need DOCUMENTATION! Medical records showing you were hospitalized or incapacitated! Psychological evaluations diagnosing PTSD or other mental health conditions! Evidence that you maintained lawful status! You can’t just SAY you had extraordinary circumstances – you have to PROVE it!

What’s the Difference Between Asylum, Withholding of Removal, and CAT Protection?

This is SUPER important because alot of people have criminal convictions that bar asylum but might still qualify for other protection! The three forms of relief are asylum, withholding of removal, and Convention Against Torture (CAT) protection! ASYLUM is the best option! If you win, you get asylee status, work authorization, can eventually apply for a green card, can petition for family members, can travel! But certain criminal convictions BAR you from asylum completely! If you have an aggravated felony conviction, your done – no asylum for you! WITHHOLDING OF REMOVAL is the second option! The standard is higher – you have to prove it’s MORE LIKELY THAN NOT (51%+ chance) that you’ll be persecuted! Asylum only requires well-founded fear (10%+ chance)! If you have an aggravated felony with a sentence under 5 years, you MIGHT still qualify for withholding – unless the judge decides your crime was “particularly serious”! But withholding sucks compared to asylum! You DON’T get a green card! You DON’T get a path to citizenship! You CAN’T travel outside the US! You CAN’T petition for family! Your just protected from deportation to that specific country! It’s way more limited! CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE protection is the last resort according to CAT protection requirements! You have to prove it’s more likely than not that you’ll be TORTURED by the government or with government consent if returned! That’s a REALLY high bar! The advantage? Even serious criminal convictions don’t bar CAT! Aggravated felonies, particularly serious crimes – they don’t matter for CAT! The disadvantage? NO green card! NO citizenship! Work authorization gets renewed every year and could be revoked! Your basically in immigration limbo forever! We won CAT for a Staten Island resident from Honduras last year! He had a drug conviction that barred him from asylum AND withholding! He was a former police officer who reported corruption and testified against his colleagues! We proved he’d likely be tortured if returned – the evidence was overwhelming! The judge granted CAT protection! He can stay in the US, can’t be removed to Honduras, gets work authorization! But no green card, no path to citizenship! Better than being tortured, obviously! But not a great long-term situation!

How Do You Build a Winning Asylum Case?

Asylum cases are won or lost on two things: credibility and corroboration! Immigration judges need to BELIEVE your story, and they need EVIDENCE backing it up! Credibility means your story is consistent throughout! Your written asylum application matches your testimony at the hearing! Your testimony matches what you told the asylum officer at credible fear! The dates, locations, names, sequence of events – ALL consistent! We’ve seen cases denied because the applicant said “March 2022” in one place and “April 2022” in another! Small inconsistencies DESTROY cases even when the persecution actually happened! Corroboration means evidence beyond just your testimony! Police reports from your home country! Medical records showing injuries! Photos of wounds, protests, threats! Threatening letters or messages! Affidavits from witnesses who saw what happened! Country conditions evidence from the State Department, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International showing that what happened to you happens to others in your situation! Expert witnesses make a HUGE difference in close cases! Country conditions experts explain the political situation in your home country, government persecution patterns, why internal relocation isn’t feasible! Psychologists document trauma consistent with persecution – PTSD, depression, anxiety! Medical experts interpret scars and injuries! But these experts are EXPENSIVE! $3,000 to $8,000 per report typically! Alot of Staten Island asylum seekers can’t afford them! But in close cases, expert testimony can be the difference between getting asylum and getting deported! We used a country conditions expert in an Albanian blood feud case last year. The immigration judge didn’t understand how the Kanun code operates, why police won’t intervene in blood feuds, why moving to Tirana doesn’t solve the problem because the blood debt follows you! Our expert report explained it comprehensively through detailed research and analysis! The hearing lasted four hours with extensive testimony! The judge granted asylum!

Why Choose Spodek Law Group for Staten Island Asylum Cases?

Look, we’re not gonna pretend asylum cases are easy. There HARD! The standards are complicated! The evidence requirements are extensive! The immigration judges at 26 Federal Plaza have heard thousands of asylum claims and there skeptical of everything! Alot of lawyers will take your money, file a basic application, show up unprepared to your hearing, and watch you get denied! They don’t put in the work to gather corroborating evidence! They don’t hire expert witnesses! They don’t prepare you properly for testimony! They just go through the motions and collect there fee! That’s not us. We’re a second-generation law firm managed by Todd Spodek with over 50 years of combined experience representing asylum seekers at 26 Federal Plaza! We’ve handled credible fear reviews, defensive asylum cases, appeals to the Board of Immigration Appeals! We represented Anna Delvey in her high-profile criminal case – our work has been covered in The New York Times, Newsweek, Bloomberg, and featured in the Netflix series! But most of our asylum clients aren’t famous! There people from every community – Russian speakers fleeing political persecution, Latin Americans escaping gang violence, Africans fleeing ethnic conflict, Chinese Christians, Middle Eastern refugees, LGBTQ individuals facing death threats! Your case gets the SAME preparation whether your on the front page or your one of thousands waiting for a hearing! We gather corroborating evidence! We hire expert witnesses when needed! We prepare you extensively for testimony! We file detailed legal briefs! We FIGHT for you in court! We’re available 24/7 because asylum emergencies don’t wait for business hours! When you get that negative credible fear determination and only have 7 days to request review, we’re answering our phones! When ICE picks you up and starts removal proceedings, we’re filing emergency motions! When your hearing date finally arrives after years of waiting, we’re ready!

Call us RIGHT NOW at 212-300-5196
Credible fear reviews have 7-DAY DEADLINES!
Every hour counts when your facing deportation!

Don’t try to handle credible fear review yourself! Don’t file asylum without corroborating evidence! Don’t show up to your hearing unprepared and hope the judge believes you! Don’t let the one-year deadline pass without filing or proving an exception! Don’t accept deportation when you might qualify for protection! The immigration system is designed to deport people quickly and efficiently! Credible fear interviews happen in detention with minimal time to prepare! Immigration judges at 26 Federal Plaza have massive caseloads and limited patience! ICE attorneys are experienced and aggressive! You need someone on YOUR side who knows the law, knows the procedures, and knows how to WIN! Remember – passing credible fear is just the beginning! Building a winning asylum case takes YEARS of preparation! Gathering evidence, finding witnesses, hiring experts, preparing testimony, researching country conditions! You can’t do this alone, and you shouldn’t try! Your life literally depends on winning your asylum case!

Disclaimer: Every asylum case is unique and past results don’t guarantee future outcomes. But we promise you this – we’ll fight harder than any other firm to prove your eligibility for protection. We’ll gather every piece of evidence, hire necessary experts, and present the strongest possible case to the immigration judge. That’s what vigorous representation means!