This relief comes out of a federal class action, Calderon Jimenez v. Mayorkas (Case No. 18-10225-MLW). The underlying lawsuit was filed and decided in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, since that’s where the case originated, but Connecticut families are covered by its terms just the same as anyone else in the region. Filed originally in 2018, the case represented U.S. citizens and their noncitizen spouses across New England, each dealing with a standing removal order handed down by an immigration judge somewhere along the way. The full settlement agreement was finalized by the court on January 16, 2025, and its terms hold for two years, until January 16, 2027.

Two things happen under this settlement, and both matter for Connecticut families weighing whether to act:

• A path to reopen a finished case. Eligible noncitizen spouses can submit a Motion to Reopen and Dismiss, asking the government to take a second look at a deportation case that had already concluded and close it out.
• Built-in odds in your favor. ICE’s own commitment under the settlement is to “presumptively” join a request that’s properly documented, meaning the expected default is approval, not denial.
• Temporary cover from enforcement. For the life of the settlement, ICE’s Boston field office generally will not arrest, detain, or remove class members.
• A hard cutoff. The settlement runs from January 16, 2025 to January 16, 2027. After that date, neither benefit remains available on its own.

Nothing here happens without action. Both benefits depend on satisfying the settlement agreement’s requirements and getting a properly built request in front of ICE.

Wondering if your Connecticut family fits the class definition? These are the factors a Calderon Settlement attorney would check first:

• One spouse is a U.S. citizen; the other is not.
• The noncitizen spouse has a deportation order on the books and hasn’t left the U.S. under it.
• The citizen spouse has filed Form I-130, the petition establishing the marriage, whether it’s pending or already approved.
• The noncitizen spouse lives in, or is being detained in, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, or Maine.
• The noncitizen spouse is 17 or older and has no green card application (Form I-485) currently pending with USCIS.
• Apart from the deportation order, the noncitizen spouse would otherwise be in a position to pursue a marriage-based green card domestically, or a waiver clearing the way for consular processing abroad.

Brooks Law Firm is licensed to practice in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. If you live in Vermont or Maine and think you qualify, mention that when you call so we can point you in the right direction.

Matching these general points is a starting place, not a final answer. The specifics of your immigration record, any past court involvement, and the exact language on your removal order all shape whether your case genuinely qualifies. An immigration attorney who reviews your paperwork can give you a real answer.

A Connecticut applicant’s request needs to be a complete, documented package, not a short note claiming eligibility. At minimum, plan to gather:

• A signed declaration spelling out how you intend to move forward, whether that’s adjustment of status here or pursuing a consular interview abroad, once your case reopens.
• Marriage records showing you’re married to your U.S. citizen spouse.
• Copies of your spouse’s I-130 filing, whatever stage it’s currently at.
• Something establishing that you actually live in Connecticut.
• Whatever supporting paperwork fits your situation, either for an adjustment of status claim or for a provisional waiver, based on how you came into the country originally.

Requests are submitted by email to ICE OPLA’s dedicated settlement inbox (Calderon-JMTR-Requests@ice.dhs.gov). There’s no guaranteed turnaround; some cases get answered in weeks, others take considerably longer. Requests most often stall because of missing documentation or gaps that leave ICE with unanswered questions. We can build a complete, well-organized submission on your behalf from the outset, giving it the smoothest possible path through review. Reach out for a free consultation to get moving.

This isn’t an open-ended program, and that surprises a lot of Connecticut families who assume they have more time than they actually do. Every request needs to be in ICE’s hands by January 16, 2027, without exception. Plenty of people who’d otherwise qualify still haven’t heard about this settlement, and learning about it after the cutoff doesn’t change anything. If there’s an old deportation order sitting behind a spouse’s pending petition, it’s worth looking into now rather than waiting until the deadline is close.

ICE doesn’t join every Motion to Reopen and Dismiss automatically, so Connecticut families should understand upfront what could count against them. The settlement permits ICE to decline if it identifies:

• A threat to public safety, typically connected to serious criminal conduct.
• A threat to national security.
• A record of serious immigration benefit fraud.
• A pattern of repeat immigration violations.

None of these apply automatically or by default. ICE evaluates the specifics of each case, and having one of these factors show up somewhere in your background doesn’t mean your request is dead before it starts. If something in your history concerns you, raise it with an attorney before filing rather than assuming the worst.

For Connecticut families, getting a case reopened removes the obstacle. Actually obtaining the green card still requires a separate step afterward, and which one applies depends on how the noncitizen spouse originally entered the country.

Staying in the U.S. to Adjust Status

Someone who entered on a visa may be eligible to file Form I-485 and pursue a green card through marriage without leaving Connecticut. Whether this option is available depends on the specifics of that entry and the rest of the person’s immigration history. Those who entered without inspection, or who have certain criminal convictions on record, generally cannot adjust status domestically and need to pursue the alternate path.

Leaving for Consular Processing, With a Waiver

Someone who entered without inspection faces a different obstacle. Leaving the U.S. to finish the green card process at a consulate abroad can trigger an inadmissibility bar of three or ten years. Form I-601A allows some applicants to secure a provisional waiver of that bar before departing, shortening the time a family spends apart. Coordinating this properly means aligning the reopened case, the I-130 petition, and the waiver application together, with discretion still playing a role throughout.

None of this is quick or guaranteed. Even so, for many Connecticut families, it represents the most tangible progress they’ve had in years.

For Connecticut residents living with an old deportation order, the answer is yes, though not through any simple request that makes it disappear. The real mechanism runs through the immigration court system. ICE first has to agree to join a Motion to Reopen and Dismiss, and that motion is then filed with whichever immigration court issued the original order. Once a judge grants it, the order is vacated and no longer carries legal weight. This is not the same thing as an appeal, which contests whether the original decision was correctly decided. Reopening under Calderon instead offers a separate path around the order entirely. Either way, it’s that court action, not the settlement by itself, that clears the way toward a green card.

Brooks Law Firm does not publish success-rate figures for Connecticut Calderon Settlement matters, and any firm quoting you a precise percentage for this type of relief should be met with some skepticism, since no organization publishes an official approval rate for the settlement as a whole. Look instead at what the settlement text itself locks in: a properly documented request gets ICE’s presumptive sign-off, which puts the odds in your favor from the start rather than leaving approval up in the air. In practice, the quality of your individual request matters far more than any general figure could. An attorney can look at your situation and give you a straightforward read on where things stand.

Connecticut, like the rest of New England, falls under the authority of ICE’s Boston field office, and that’s the source of this settlement’s enforcement protections. Reopening a case is only one part of the picture. The settlement also limits what ICE can do to class members while a request is pending. Throughout the two-year period, Boston’s ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations division cannot arrest, detain, remove, or force a class member to leave the country, unless a senior official there determines the person is a threat to public safety or national security. This protection operates alongside the reopening process rather than replacing it, and it lasts only as long as the settlement stays active.

For someone in Connecticut, the first stop is ICE’s Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, specifically whichever field office covers the original removal order, and that turns out to be the Boston office in every New England case, not an immigration court. Once that office signs off, an attorney takes the joint motion to the immigration court that entered the original order in the first place. Judges rarely push back on these since ICE and the applicant are aligned on the outcome they’re both requesting. Vacating the order is the piece that actually clears someone’s deportation history out of the way.

Where the original order was entered doesn’t limit anything for Connecticut applicants. So long as the person now lives somewhere covered by the settlement’s six-state footprint, reopening stays on the table no matter which court handled the case originally. Given the level of detail ICE expects in these submissions, most families bring in an attorney rather than tackling the filing on their own.

Brooks Law Firm handles Calderon Settlement matters for Connecticut families on a flat fee, collected over time, so there’s a clear picture of cost before the work begins. We’ll go over the exact number for your situation during a consultation.

A deportation order from years past doesn’t have to shape what happens next for your Connecticut family. If you’re married to a U.S. citizen and an old removal order is still part of the picture, a Calderon Settlement attorney at Brooks Law Firm can give you a candid assessment and lay out your options before the January 16, 2027 deadline arrives. Let’s talk about your immigration options. Call Brooks Law Firm at (617) 245-8090 or contact us online to schedule your free consultation. 

This content is for general information only and is not legal advice. Every immigration case is different, and only an attorney who has reviewed your full history can tell you whether you qualify for relief under the Calderon Settlement.

Sources: Calderon Settlement summary, ACLU of Massachusetts (class counsel)

Calderon Joint Motion to Reopen and Dismiss template, ACLU of Massachusetts

EOIR Automated Case Information System