SUCCESSES
(The following is a selection of just our asylum successes. Please note that client names have been omitted to preserve confidentiality.)
A husband and wife from Somalia made the harrowing journey through South and Central America to the United States in order save their lives. Both had experienced untold suffering and violence in their native country. However, after retaining Baumgartner Law Office to represent them, it became clear that the strongest claim for asylum legally-speaking was not actaully the brutal violence they both suffered as adults, but instead the female genital mutilation that the wife experienced as a child. Armed with the proper evidence of this tragic fact, Baumgartner Law Office was able to easily win the asylum case for the wife in Immigration Court, with the husband benefitting as well as a derivative of the wife's asylum application. Sometimes the simplest solution is the best solution.
A man from Bangladesh and his family arrived in the United States on tourist visas. However, their primary goal in coming to the United States was not to see the sites, but to flee a series of horrific events that had happened to the father of the family on account of his work for a Bangladesh opposition party. He had worked diligently for the party for years, and his activities eventually brought him to the attention of the ruling party in Bangladesh who targeted him in a series of attacks. In addition, several threats were made against both him and his family.
In the United States, Baumgartner Law Office applied for asylum for the client and his family before USCIS. As usual, once the six month clock was satisfied, the client and his family obtained work permits. In the meantime, a variety of evidence was gathered from Bangladesh, and Baumgartner Law Office put everything together along with a thorough legal memorandum, explaining in particular why the harm the client suffered rose to the requisite level of "persecution." Having prepared the client thoroughly for the interview at the asylum office, the client ably answered all the asylum officer's questions about his case. When the decision came back, the family was ecstatic to learn that they would be able to live and work safely in the United States on a permanent basis.
A middle-aged Venezuelan man managed to escape the country and make it to the southern border of the United States. His family contacted Baumgartner Law Office when the client was in an ICE detention center, and because of President Trump's policies, the asylum case was fought while the client remained in detention. Despite the logistical difficulties, Baumgartner Law Office arranged everything with his family to put the case together.
The client had been a union leader and minority political party activist while in Venezuela and had opposed the Venezuelan dictatorship's policies. Because of this, the client was taken into government custody and tortured on two separate occasions. Despite the logistical challenges and a strict adjudicator, Baumgartner Law Office won asylum for the client, who was subsequently released and has since been able to bring his wife and children to the United States as well.
A young Sikh man from India traveled to America seeking a better life, one free from fear of persecution. He had been active in his religious faith and with a Sikh political party in India, and had been beaten and threatened on numerous occasions by members of the ruling party in India on account of his religion and political work. Lacking police protection in India, the young man came to the US to seek asylum.
Baumgartner Law Office presented his case to an Immigration Judge in New York City. In addition to compiling a plethora of evidence to support his case, attorney Ben Baumgartner conducted numerous preparations with the client to ensure that his testimony would be able to withstand interrogation by the Judge and ICE prosecutor. Furthermore, rebuttal argument was made to ICE's contention that the client could simply relocate safely within India. After hearing all evidence in the case, the Judge happily granted asylum and the client has won the right to stay in the United States for the rest of his life.