Adam Walsh Act
The most common question we receive is “how many Adam Walsh cases have you won?” My answer is always the same – “would you spend thousands of dollars to have a 1% chance to win?” For this reason, and having dealt with AWA cases for over a decade, we have formulated a unique strategy that will save our clients time, money and heartache. We believe it is better to know the devil that we are dealing with.
Attorney Sequeira who got tired of taking the same approach that every other law firm does. File the I-130 with affidavits from the petitioner and applicant, friends, family, coworkers, etc. and include a legal memorandum to argue that the petitioner does not “pose future harm” to the beneficiary. We believe that an AWA case really only comes down to 1) who the expert is; 2) what test(s) are being conducted; and 3) what the test result says. So she assembled a team of experts over the past few years before putting this method into practice in 2022.
Our new approach is to have the petitioner undergo a specific test from our expert (who has won AWA cases before), and ONLY IF, the report comes back as “2% or less” (which is the same as what a non-offender would score), would Attorney Sequeira accept the case. If the petitioner failed the test, we would decline the case.
Once we accept the case, we would refer a second expert who would conduct a different test but it would corroborate the result from the first expert. Then, we would include the affidavits, supporting evidence, and legal memorandum. And lucky for us, we actually have one daring soul who agreed to this approach. He scored “zero” so he is our best “test” case as to whether this new method will work. If we win, we will be posting it on our website and all of our social media channels.
In year 2022, we have received a large increase in calls for Adam Walsh cases where:
- The US citizen has filed the I-130 and received a Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID);
- The US citizen has filed the I-130 petition, received a Notice of Intent to Deny, filed a response to the NOID, and the case is pending;
- The US citizen has filed the I-130 petition, received a Notice of Intent to Deny, filed a response to the NOID, and has received a denial; or
- The US citizen knows he has an Adam Walsh conviction but has not yet filed the I-130 petition;
Of the four types of cases above, the last one has the highest chance of approval because we have the opportunity to craft affidavits and a legal argument from scratch. To date, we have yet to find an attorney who can craft an affidavit like we do. Our clients have told us we pretty much read their mind…it is because we are highly experienced editing affidavits to make them compelling. It is part of our “secret sauce.”
About half the time, we have clients who are in the first category. For them, the NOID deadline is only 30 days (with additional time for COVID), but is still not enough time for us to prepare the strongest case possible. So once we retained, we have the US citizen withdraw the petition and we work with him to prepare a new filing from scratch.
As mentioned above, if you are either awaiting a decision, you could retain us then withdraw, or if the case is ultimately denied, retain us to do a new filing.
There are several things you need to know about AWA cases. First, AWA cases are a “different animal” unlike any other USCIS filing, in terms of what you need to prove and how you need to prove it. If you have received the NOID or denial from USCIS, you already know what I mean.
Second, you need to be realistic about your chances of approval. If you call any immigration attorney across this country, I can bet you that you will not find one who has won an AWA case within the last 2-3 years. That is not always because the attorneys are bad. It is because, plain and simple, USCIS does not want to approve cases for petitioners convicted of committing a sexual crime against a minor.
Third, frankly speaking, putting aside the individual facts of your case, USCIS has the ultimate “say” when it comes to I-130 decision (the BIA “washed its hands” of these types of cases”), USCIS can do whatever it wants. It is not a denial of your constitutional rights because you are allowed to marry, you just aren’t allowed to petition for your loved one.
Finally, you have to realize how far you need to fight to be given a “fair” chance. That means, you have to “run through the motions” which includes: filing the I-130, getting the NOID, responding to the NOID, getting the I-130 denial, appealing to the BIA, getting denied by the BIA, and THEN filing your appeal to the federal court. In my opinion, federal court is the first place that you will have a fighting chance, but to get there, you have to go through each step mentioned above. So imagine the amount of time and legal fees wasted just to get you to and through federal court? And even after that, your case might get denied. The last step would be the U.S. Supreme Court!
Whenever we get a possible AWA inquiry, the first question we ask is whether the green card applicant is in the U.S. in a valid nonimmigrant status like student, H-1B, tourist, etc. (pending I-485 does not count), or, is living abroad, but has a strong education or work experience. We do this to see if we can find another way for the client to get a green card.
If possible, we assess whether the applicant can obtain a green card by another means such as employment, DV lottery, U visa, VAWA, etc. (not through marriage). But this is rarely available since the applicant is either in the U.S. without status or is living abroad and does not have a good education or work experience.
If are going to argue an AWA case, we always start with arguing that the conviction is not for an AWA crime. Often, we are unable to make this argument since 99% of convictions fall within the scope of an AWA crime. So that leaves with no other choice except to prove “beyond a reasonable doubt” (a standard used in criminal cases) that the US citizen does not pose any future harm to the beneficiary. And to do this, we take the approach mentioned at the very top of this section.
So if you have an AWA conviction, or aren’t sure, please contact us. Don’t take this matter into your own hands. Remember, if you file a green card application (and everyone does), once the I-130 is denied, the green card will be denied and your loved one may be put into deportation proceedings. For this reason alone, for ALL AWA cases, our firm will only file the I-130 petition.
