Horvitz & Levy successfully represented the Jimenez family in an immigration appeal, obtaining a dismissal of proceedings to have them removed from the country.

In August 1990, the United States Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) provided written notice to our client, Dario Jimenez, the married son of a United States citizen, that he held a valid immediate relative petition and was therefore authorized to reside in the U.S.. USCIS specifically acknowledged that Dario was married at the time. In reliance on that official written document, Dario, his wife, and his two children uprooted their lives and moved to the United States from the Philippines. After maintaining for seventeen years that Dario had a valid immediate relative petition, the USCIS changed positions and claimed that Dario’s immediate relative petition was automatically revoked in 1986 when he got married, and was therefore not valid in 1990 or now. USCIS initiated removal proceedings to deport Dario and his family. The immigration judge and the BIA denied Dario and his family’s petition for adjustment of status, as well as their motion to continue the removal proceedings.

Horvitz & Levy represented Dario on appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, arguing that USCIS should be estopped from removing our clients because it made an affirmative misrepresentation to Dario that he had a valid petition. We argued that Dario and his family relied on that misrepresentation to their detriment when they moved to the United States. Before the Ninth Circuit scheduled oral argument, the government agreed to dismiss all removal proceedings against Dario and his family.