What Is Cancellation of Removal and Who Qualifies?
Arzoo Connor • September 15, 2026
Cancellation of removal is a form of relief in immigration court that allows certain people who are in removal proceedings to avoid deportation and, in some cases, receive a green card.
It is one of the most powerful forms of relief available in immigration court — and one of the most misunderstood, because the requirements are specific and the window to qualify is narrow.
I handle cancellation of removal cases at my office in Fort Worth. I want to explain exactly who qualifies, what the process looks like, and what I see happening in immigration courts right now that makes timing matter more than it has in years.
The two types of cancellation of removal
There are two separate versions of this relief and they apply to different people with different requirements.
The first is cancellation of removal for non-lawful permanent residents. This applies to people who do not have a green card and are in removal proceedings. To qualify you need to have been physically present in the United States continuously for at least ten years.
You need to show good moral character during that entire ten-year period. You need to show that your removal would cause exceptional and extremely unusual hardship to a spouse, parent, or child who is a US citizen or lawful permanent resident. And a judge has to find that you deserve this relief as a matter of discretion.
The second is cancellation of removal for lawful permanent residents. This applies to people who already have a green card but are in removal proceedings — typically because of a criminal conviction. The requirements are different: seven years of continuous residence, five years as a lawful permanent resident, and no conviction for an aggravated felony. There is no hardship requirement for LPRs, but the judge still has discretion to deny relief.
Meeting the basic requirements does not guarantee approval. The immigration judge will also weigh positive factors such as family ties, work history, and community involvement versus negative factors like your criminal history record to decide if you deserve a favorable exercise of discretion.
What 'exceptional and extremely unusual hardship' actually means
This is the standard that trips people up most often in non-LPR cancellation cases. The law says your removal has to cause exceptional and extremely unusual hardship to a qualifying family member. That is not the same as significant hardship. Courts have made clear that the hardship has to be substantially beyond what would ordinarily be expected when a family member is removed.
What I see judges looking at in immigration court: the age and health of the qualifying relative, whether the qualifying relative could accompany you to your home country and what conditions they would face there, the educational disruption to US citizen children, medical conditions and access to treatment, and financial dependency. A combination of these factors is stronger than any single one.
Children tend to carry the most weight in the hardship analysis, particularly US citizen children with significant ties to the United States — schools, medical providers, friendships, language — who would face real disruption if the family had to leave or was separated. I have seen cases where a child's medical condition, documented thoroughly and connected to available treatment in the US, was the deciding factor.
The ten-year clock and why it matters right now
The ten-year continuous physical presence requirement stops accruing the moment you are served with a Notice to Appear in immigration court. This is called the stop-time rule. If you were served a Notice to Appear before you reached ten years of continuous presence, the clock stopped at that point and you may not meet the requirement.
This is why I tell people to call an attorney immediately when they receive any immigration court paperwork — not after they have read it several times, not after they have asked around. The moment that notice is in your hand, the clock has already stopped.
Texas immigration courts are currently pulling forward cases that were scheduled for 2027 and 2028. People are receiving rescheduled hearing notices with very little warning. If you have an open removal case and you are approaching or have passed the ten-year mark, the timeline of your case matters significantly to whether cancellation is available to you.
What the process looks like
Cancellation of removal is decided by an immigration judge after a hearing. You present your evidence, your witnesses testify, and the judge evaluates the case. It is not a form you file with USCIS. It happens in court, which means you need an attorney who knows immigration court procedure and has presented these cases before.
The evidence matters enormously. Tax returns showing years of work history. School records for your children. Medical records. Letters from employers, teachers, community members. Evidence of community ties. The more thoroughly you can document your presence, your contributions, and the impact of your removal on qualifying relatives, the stronger the case.
If the judge grants cancellation, non-LPRs receive a green card. LPRs have their green card status preserved. If the judge denies it, you can appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals. If the BIA denies it, there is further appellate review available, though the standards are narrow.
What to do if you think you might qualify
If you are in removal proceedings or you have a pending immigration court case and you have been in the United States for close to or more than ten years, cancellation of removal may be the most important conversation you need to have with an immigration attorney right now.
Do not wait for your hearing to figure out whether you qualify. The preparation for a cancellation case takes time, the evidence gathering takes time, and if your case is being pulled forward on an accelerated docket, you may have less time than you think.
Call us. A consultation will tell you whether cancellation is an option in your situation and what the case would look like.
Attorney Arzoo Connor
ARC Legal Services | Fort Worth, TX | Hablamos Español
469-200-0158 | arclawoffice.com
This post is for general informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Every immigration case is different. Please consult a qualified attorney about your individual situation.
Advance parole is a travel document that allows certain noncitizens with pending adjustment of status applications to leave and reenter the United States without abandoning their case.
At adjustment of status interviews in 2026, USCIS officers are asking more detailed and more pointed questions than they were two years ago.
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If you miss your immigration court hearing, the judge will almost certainly issue an in absentia order of removal. That means you are ordered deported without being present, without being heard, and often without knowing it happened until ICE comes to your door or you try to travel and find out at the border. This is one of the most common ways people lose cases that could have gone differently. I see it in Dallas immigration court regularly. Someone got a notice to appear, life got in the way, they thought they could reschedule, or they never received the notice at all because it went to an old address. The hearing happened without them. The order was issued. Now they are asking me what can be done. What an in absentia removal order means for your case An in absentia removal order is a formal order of deportation entered by an immigration judge when a respondent fails to appear. Once it is issued, you are subject to removal from the United States. If you have any pending applications or relief that you had not yet presented to the court, those matters are not automatically preserved. The order treats your failure to appear as a waiver of your right to be heard. The order also creates a ten-year bar on most forms of discretionary relief and makes it significantly harder to reopen your case, though not impossible in every situation. Can an in absentia order be reopened? Yes, in certain circumstances. You can file a motion to reopen an in absentia removal order if you can demonstrate that you did not receive proper notice of the hearing, or if you can show that exceptional circumstances caused your failure to appear. Exceptional circumstances under immigration law means something serious and beyond your control, not a scheduling conflict or a misunderstanding about the date. In immigration courts right now, judges are scrutinizing motions to reopen carefully. The standard for what qualifies as exceptional circumstances is applied strictly. A credible showing that notice was not properly received carries more weight than an argument that you forgot or were confused about the date. There are also deadlines. A motion to reopen based on lack of notice must generally be filed within a reasonable time. A motion based on exceptional circumstances must be filed within 180 days of the order. These deadlines matter and missing them closes additional doors. What if you never received notice of the hearing? Notice issues are more common than people realize. If the address on file with the immigration court was incorrect, if the notice was sent to an old address you had not updated, or if there is a documented problem with the notice that was sent, you may have grounds to reopen the case. Courts do look at whether notice was properly given before holding someone responsible for failing to appear. If you received a notice to appear that listed a time or date as TBD or to be determined, there is ongoing litigation about whether a subsequent notice sent to the address on file constitutes proper notice. This area of law has shifted in recent years and it is worth discussing with an attorney who practices in your specific immigration court. What to do right now if you have a missed hearing If you missed a hearing and you know an order may have been entered, do not wait to find out. Contact an immigration attorney as soon as possible. The sooner you act, the more options exist. Every day that passes after an in absentia order closes windows that may not reopen. If you are not sure whether an order was entered, you can check the status of your case on the EOIR website using your alien registration number. Your attorney can also pull the case record and determine what happened and when. If you have a hearing coming up and you are afraid to go, I understand that fear. But not going is almost always the worst outcome. An immigration judge who sees you show up, present your case, and engage with the process has the ability to exercise discretion. A judge who sees an empty chair does not. If you have a missed hearing or an upcoming court date you are not sure how to handle, call us. Attorney Arzoo Connor ARC Legal Services | Fort Worth, TX | Hablamos Español 469-200-0158 | www.arclawoffice.com This post is for general informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Immigration law is complex and every case is different. Please consult a qualified attorney about your individual situation.
If a parent is detained or deported in Texas, the documents that protect your family are a financial power of attorney, a medical power of attorney, and a legal designation covering your minor children. Without these in place, the people who want to help your family may have no legal authority to do so, even if they are immediate family members. I practice immigration law and estate planning. I see both sides of what happens when a parent is detained without warning. The immigration side is what people call me for. The other side is the part nobody plans for. Who pays rent? Who can access the bank account? Who has legal standing to pick the children up from school, consent to a medical procedure, or make decisions when you cannot? Courts can eventually resolve all of these things. But court proceedings take time and money, and in the middle of a family crisis that is exactly the wrong moment to start a legal process to establish basic authority over your own household. What a financial power of attorney does for an immigrant family A financial power of attorney authorizes a person you trust to manage your accounts, pay your bills, handle your property, and make financial decisions if you are unavailable. If you are detained, someone still needs to pay rent. Someone still needs to handle your car payment. Someone still needs money for your children's food, school supplies, and medical appointments. Without this document, the people who love you and want to help have no legal standing to touch any of it, no matter how close they are to you. In Texas, a durable power of attorney remains in effect even if you are incapacitated or unavailable, which is exactly what you need for a detention scenario. A regular power of attorney can lapse. A durable one does not. This distinction matters and it is the version you want. What a medical power of attorney covers A medical power of attorney authorizes someone to make healthcare decisions for you if you cannot make them yourself. If you are detained and a medical situation arises, this document determines who speaks for you and what decisions they can make. Without it, healthcare providers are limited in what information they can share and what decisions family members can authorize, even in an emergency. The documents that protect your children specifically For parents, Texas law provides two additional tools that matter most in an enforcement scenario. The first is a designation of guardian for minor children, which is your written statement of who should care for your children if you are unable to do so. The second is what Texas calls an authorization agreement for nonparent relative care, which gives a relative or trusted adult specific legal authority to enroll your children in school, consent to their medical care, and make day-to-day decisions without going to court. Schools require documentation. Hospitals require documentation. An aunt or grandmother saying the parent is detained is not enough without legal paperwork behind it. I have seen families where children missed weeks of school and medical appointments because the adults who wanted to help could not get past the front desk of the school or the admissions desk at the clinic without documentation the family did not have. What I have seen happen without a plan I have seen families get through the immigration part of a crisis and then face months of chaos on the other side. The parent got through detention. The underlying immigration situation stabilized. And they came back to a family that had lost a vehicle to repossession, fallen behind on rent, missed medical appointments for children with ongoing conditions, and had a landlord who had started eviction proceedings because nobody had authority to handle the finances. The immigration case was the part they had thought about. The rest caught them completely off guard. A simple packet of documents, prepared ahead of time with an attorney, prevents all of that. Who to name and what they need to know Name someone stable. Someone nearby. Someone without legal complications of their own that might limit their ability to act. Name an alternate in case your first choice is unavailable. And before anything happens, have a real conversation with the person you are naming so they know where to find the documents and what to do with them. Put together a written letter with the names and phone numbers of your attorney, your children's school, your doctor, your landlord, and the location of your important documents including your passport, immigration paperwork, lease, and bank account information. Give a copy to the person you trust. Keep a copy somewhere accessible. This is not a legal document but it is the thing that holds everything else together when someone is trying to help you under pressure. A note on why immigrant families in Texas specifically need this Every family should have these documents. For immigrant families in Fort Worth and the DFW area in 2026, the urgency is higher because the consequences of not having them are more immediate. This is not about assuming the worst. Not planning does not prevent something from happening. It only guarantees that if it does happen, your family is less protected than they could have been. I handle both immigration and estate planning at this office, which means I understand your full situation. If you have been putting this off, stop putting it off. Attorney Arzoo Connor ARC Legal Services | Fort Worth, TX | Hablamos Español 469-200-0158 | www.arclawoffice.com This post is for general informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Immigration law is complex and every case is different. Please consult a qualified attorney about your individual situation.
If you have a pending U visa, T visa, or VAWA application, a federal court ruled on May 20, 2026 that ICE cannot routinely arrest, detain, or deport you while your case is pending. The ruling came in a case called ICWC v. Noem, and it restored protections that had been in place for over thirty years before the Trump administration reversed them in January 2025. I have clients with pending cases in all three of these categories. I want to explain what this ruling actually does, what it does not do, and what it means for you if you are sitting in Fort Worth right now wondering whether it is safe to go to your USCIS appointment. What changed in January 2025 and why it mattered For over three decades, ICE operated under a practice of not pursuing enforcement against people with pending U visa, T visa, or VAWA applications. This was not a loophole. Congress created these programs specifically to encourage crime victims to come forward, cooperate with law enforcement, and seek protection. A U visa only works if the person who reported a crime and filed for protection can actually go to their USCIS appointments without being arrested on the way in. In January 2025, the Trump administration issued guidance known as the Vitello Memo that reversed this. Under the new policy, having a pending application no longer protected you from arrest, detention, or deportation. ICE could treat your case as though it did not exist. One of the named plaintiffs in the ICWC lawsuit is a woman named Carmen. She survived domestic violence, reported her husband, and filed for a U visa. ICE detained her and her young child at a scheduled check-in and deported them. When she landed in her home country, her abuser was waiting at the airport. The court ordered the government to facilitate her return to the United States. That is the policy the court blocked. What the court actually did The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California issued a preliminary injunction and certified three nationwide classes of people protected by the ruling. The first class covers people with pending U visa, T visa, or VAWA self-petitions who ICE detains or attempts to detain for civil immigration enforcement. The second covers people who were granted deferred action based on a pending U or T visa petition and who ICE detained or removed without notice or a hearing. The third covers people with a pending U or T visa petition who have been detained and requested a stay of removal. The court restored the victim-centered enforcement approach that existed before January 2025, directing ICE to return to the framework that disfavors detention and removal of survivors with pending cases. It also ordered the government to facilitate the return of named plaintiffs who were unlawfully deported while this case was pending. What this ruling does not do This is a preliminary injunction, not a final ruling. The case is still ongoing and the government may appeal. Courts can modify injunctions. The legal landscape can shift again. If you have a pending case and you have an upcoming ICE check-in, court date, or biometrics appointment in the DFW area or anywhere else, please speak with an immigration attorney before you go. This ruling changes your position meaningfully but it does not eliminate all risk in every situation. The difference between a U visa, T visa, and VAWA petition I get asked about the difference between these three constantly, so let me explain them plainly. The U visa is for noncitizens who have been victims of certain serious crimes and who have cooperated or are willing to cooperate with law enforcement investigating or prosecuting that crime. The list of qualifying crimes includes assault, domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking, kidnapping, and others. You do not have to have been the person who called 911. You have to have been harmed and be willing to help. The T visa is specifically for survivors of human trafficking, both sex trafficking and labor trafficking. It requires that you comply with reasonable law enforcement requests and that you would face extreme hardship if removed from the United States. Given what trafficking survivors have been through, this standard is generally met. VAWA, which stands for the Violence Against Women Act, allows noncitizens who have been abused by a US citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse, parent, or adult child to file for immigration protection on their own. Without the abuser knowing. Without their cooperation. Without their involvement in any way. It was built specifically so that the threat of deportation could never be used to trap someone in an abusive relationship. All three programs are protected under this ruling. All three are cases I handle at this office. What to do based on where your case stands If you have a pending U visa, T visa, or VAWA petition and you are in removal proceedings or have an upcoming enforcement encounter, contact an immigration attorney before you do anything. The class certification in this case means you have legal protections, but those protections need to be properly invoked and documented in your specific case. They do not apply automatically without anyone knowing about them. If you were detained or deported while your application was pending, contact an attorney immediately. The court ordered the government to address those situations and there may be a path to return. If you have been thinking about filing but have been afraid to because of what might happen, this ruling does not erase every risk. But these programs exist because you came forward. The court has now said the government cannot use that against you. You should not be making this decision alone. Our office handles U visa, T visa, and VAWA cases. A consultation is $50. Call us. Attorney Arzoo Connor ARC Legal Services | Fort Worth, TX | Hablamos Español 469-200-0158 | www.arclawoffice.com This post is for general informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Immigration law is complex and every case is different. Please consult a qualified attorney about your individual situation.
On June 30, 2026, the United States Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to uphold birthright citizenship, striking down President Trump's January 2025 executive order that attempted to end automatic citizenship for children born in the United States to parents who are undocumented or here on temporary visas. For immigrant families across this country, this ruling matters enormously. For the immigration system as a whole, it is one piece of a much larger and still very uncertain picture. This post will walk through exactly what happened, what it means for families and children, what it does not change, and what you should actually do right now depending on your situation. What Is Birthright Citizenship and Why Was It Under Threat? Birthright citizenship is the principle that anyone born on United States soil is automatically a US citizen, regardless of the immigration status of their parents. This right is grounded in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1868, which states that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States." For over 150 years this has been settled law. The Supreme Court first affirmed it in 1898 in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, ruling that a child born in San Francisco to Chinese parents was a US citizen by birth. That precedent has held ever since. In January 2025, President Trump signed an executive order on his first day back in office directing federal agencies to no longer recognize birthright citizenship for children born to parents who are in the country unlawfully or on temporary visas. The order was immediately challenged in courts across the country, and lower courts blocked it from taking effect. Today, the Supreme Court put the question to rest. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion. Six justices rejected the executive order. The Fourteenth Amendment means what it has always meant. What Was Actually At Stake: The Real-World Impact for Families This was not an abstract constitutional debate. The stakes were concrete and life-altering for hundreds of thousands of people. Approximately 250,000 babies are born every year in the United States to parents without permanent immigration status. If the executive order had been upheld and allowed to take effect, those children would not have automatically received US citizenship. The implications of that are severe: No US birth certificate recognized for citizenship purposes. The document every American uses to get a passport, enroll in school, apply for a job, or prove their identity would no longer have been sufficient. No Social Security number at birth. Access to government programs, healthcare, and employment would have been significantly complicated from day one of a child's life. Potential statelessness. In some cases, children could have ended up without recognized citizenship in any country — their parents' home country might not grant automatic citizenship either, leaving a child in legal limbo with no nationality at all. Generational consequences. Citizenship at birth affects not just the child but their future ability to sponsor family members, vote, serve, and fully participate in American life. For my clients who are pregnant or planning families, and for the families who have sat across from me terrified about what this ruling might mean for their children, today is genuinely good news. Children born in the United States are citizens. That is protected. What the Ruling Does Not Change This is where I have to be honest about the limits of today's win. The Supreme Court's ruling protects what happens the moment a child is born on US soil. It does not touch anything happening to people who are already here navigating the immigration system. In the same term, this Supreme Court issued three other immigration rulings that went the other way entirely: Temporary Protected Status stripped for Haitians and Syrians. On June 25, 2026 the Court ruled 6-3 in Mullin v. Doe that federal courts cannot review the Department of Homeland Security's decision to end TPS designations. That means DHS has unchecked power to terminate protections for any country, and there is no judicial recourse. Roughly 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians are immediately affected. Nearly 1.3 million people held TPS across 13 countries before the current administration began ending those designations. All of them are now more vulnerable. People who have lived here legally for decades, raised US citizen children, built businesses, and held jobs in healthcare, construction, and education can now be deported with no avenue left to challenge it in court. Green card holders and suspicion of crime. On June 23, 2026 the Court ruled 6-3 in Blanche v. Lau that border officers do not need clear and convincing evidence that a returning lawful permanent resident committed a crime before treating them as someone applying for admission rather than someone already admitted. Suspicion alone is now enough to begin deportation proceedings against a green card holder at the border. Asylum seekers at the border. Also on June 25, 2026 the Court ruled 6-3 that the government can physically turn back asylum seekers before they reach US soil. If you never cross, you have no right to make an asylum claim at all. Beyond the Supreme Court, USCIS issued a new policy memo earlier this month raising the standard for Adjustment of Status — the process of applying for a green card from inside the United States. Proving you qualify is no longer enough. Officers are now scrutinizing why you filed from inside the country instead of going through a consulate abroad, and the evidence required is significantly more substantial than it was just weeks ago. Immigration courts are simultaneously scheduling what attorneys are calling "mega master" hearings — mass calendar hearings with 100 or more people at a time — pulling forward cases that were set for 2027, 2028, and 2029. People are missing hearings they did not know were rescheduled. A missed hearing can result in a removal order issued in your absence. Four Supreme Court immigration rulings in one term. A new USCIS policy memo. Accelerated court dockets. The youngest amongst us were protected today. Everyone else in the immigration system is navigating a landscape shifting faster than most people realize. What You Should Do Based on Your Situation If you were worried about your child's citizenship status: You can let that specific fear go. Any child born on US soil is a US citizen under the Fourteenth Amendment and today's ruling confirms that protection is intact. If you have a pending green card application or are thinking about filing: Do not file on your own right now. The standards changed this month. What was the right strategy last month may not be the right strategy today. Talk to an immigration attorney who understands how cases are actually being reviewed under the new USCIS memo before you do anything. If you have a pending immigration court case: Log into your EOIR account today and confirm your hearing date. Do not assume it is still what it was when you last checked. Courts are rescheduling cases with little notice, and a missed hearing has serious consequences. If you have a green card and any criminal history: Do not travel internationally without speaking to an attorney first. The legal landscape around what can happen to a lawful permanent resident at the border changed with this month's Supreme Court ruling on immigration parole. If you are outside the US and trying to seek asylum: The path just got significantly harder following the Supreme Court's ruling earlier this month on border metering. Speak with an attorney about your options before making any decisions. If you have Temporary Protected Status from Haiti, Syria, or another country: The Supreme Court ruled that courts cannot review DHS's decision to end TPS designations. That means the legal fight in the courts is largely over. If you have TPS, speak with an attorney now about whether any other pathways exist for your situation — family-based options, asylum, or other forms of relief — before your status expires. Frequently Asked Questions About the Birthright Citizenship Ruling Does the Supreme Court's birthright citizenship ruling affect my green card or immigration case? No. This ruling applies only to citizenship for babies born on US soil. It does not change green card adjudication, asylum proceedings, TPS status, immigration court cases, or enforcement policies. I have Temporary Protected Status. Does today's birthright citizenship ruling help me? No. The birthright citizenship ruling is separate from the TPS ruling issued on June 25, which gave DHS unchecked power to end TPS designations without court review. Those are two distinct rulings. If you have TPS, reach out to an attorney to understand your options. Is birthright citizenship permanently protected now? This ruling reaffirms over 150 years of constitutional precedent under the Fourteenth Amendment. It cannot be changed by executive order. Any future change would require a constitutional amendment, which is an extremely high bar. My child was born in the US and I am undocumented. Is my child still a citizen? Yes. Under the Fourteenth Amendment and today's ruling, your child is a US citizen by birth regardless of your immigration status. Can the president issue another executive order on birthright citizenship? Today's ruling makes clear that birthright citizenship is a constitutional right, not a policy that can be changed by executive action. A new executive order on the same grounds would face the same legal outcome. What does this ruling mean for my own immigration status as a parent? It does not change your status. Your child being a US citizen does not automatically confer any immigration benefit to you as a parent, though it may be a relevant factor in future immigration proceedings. Speak with an attorney about your specific situation. A Note From Our Office Immigration law is moving faster right now than at almost any point in recent history. We post updates like this because we believe people deserve to understand what is actually happening, not just hear that something happened. If you have questions about how any of this affects your specific situation, reach out to us directly. We are here, and we will give you honest guidance. Attorney Arzoo Connor ARC Legal Services Fort Worth, TX | Hablamos Español 📞 469-200-0158 🌐 www.arclawoffice.com This blog post is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Immigration law is complex and fact-specific. Please consult a qualified immigration attorney regarding your individual situation before taking any action.