E gets her cancellation!!!!!

Huge happy news.  E, the inmate at Northwest Detention Center had her final hearing this morning and the judge gave her the cancellation of her removal!!!  Huge!!  That means she will be released and not deported to the Philippines.  The family came through with her 15 year old son coming from Sitka and her sister and teenage niece and nephew attending.  The hearing was done via video with a judge and homeland security attorney in a courtroom from Portland.  She expected to call her sister and son to testify.  The judge did not want the son to testify because, he said, that when children give testimony and the case is lost, the child thinks that it's his fault, that he should have done better.  The sister was sent out of the courtroom; they never called her testimony so Dennis realized that we were the only two adults witnessing, the rest were teenagers.

To my surprise as I reflect back, the homeland security attorney laid the basis for the cancellation asking her many personal questions about misfortunes she had suffered.  Then the judge threw out her asylum petitions and granted the cancellation!!

She had no attorney,

I had suggested that we look into drug abuse resources in Sitka as a way to demonstrate her commitment to sobriety.  Which we did.  And it came up and she had the answer.

Not much celebration in that place but we did it.