Case of L.S.

L attended his immigrant visa interview to join his wife in the United States and was shocked to learn that he was being refused under Section 212(a)(2)(C): the consular officer had “reason to believe” that L was a drug trafficker or assisting one. According to L, the only run-in with the law that he ever had was more than 25 years ago when the Drug Enforcement Agency targeted a co-tenant in the apartment that they were living. On L’s behalf, we conducted a Freedom of Information Act request, and were able to obtain all of the documents the DEA maintained on L. After we presented this information to the Department of State along with a request to overturn the decision, the consular officer issued the immigrant visa to L.