Lawyer’s error may separate parents from a disabled child

Jose and Maria Galvez paid an attorney $5,000 to file an appeal after losing their immigration case. But the attorney, Carlos A. Cruz, didn’t turn in the required documents and the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the case. Cruz got the case reopened but then failed to submit documents again, resulting in a second dismissal. Immigration agents deported Jose Galvez last month and set a deadline for his wife and 19-year-old daughter to leave the country. Maria Galvez hired a new attorney, who filed an emergency motion to reopen the case based in part on the incompetence of the previous lawyer. The 9th Circuit ruled earlier this month that the case could be reopened. But immigration attorneys worry that a recent request by U.S. Atty. Gen. Michael Mukasey may jeopardize their ability in the future to get cases reopened based on similar grounds. Jose Galvez illegally crossed the border into the U.S. in 1979 and his wife and daughter came 10 years later. The couple then had three more children, including Maribel, 13, who has mental retardation, seizure disorder and scoliosis.