New Hampshire is one of six states this settlement covers, and it grew out of a federal class action, Calderon Jimenez v. Mayorkas (Case No. 18-10225-MLW). A Massachusetts federal court took up the case, since that’s where the underlying lawsuit was filed, but its reach extends across the whole region. Filed back in 2018, the suit represented U.S. citizens and their noncitizen spouses across the region who were carrying deportation orders, final rulings issued after immigration court proceedings that direct someone to leave the country. The complete settlement agreement received the court’s final sign-off on January 16, 2025, and covers a two-year period ending January 16, 2027.

Boiled down, the Calderon Settlement gives New Hampshire families a few concrete things:

• A route to reopen a closed case. Qualifying noncitizen spouses can submit what the settlement calls a Motion to Reopen and Dismiss, asking the government to revisit a deportation case that had already wrapped up and put it to rest.
• Favorable odds built in. The settlement’s language has ICE agreeing to “presumptively” join a properly assembled request, so approval is the expected starting point rather than a long shot.
• A pause on enforcement. While the settlement is active, ICE’s Boston field office generally steers clear of arresting, detaining, or removing class members.
• A set end date. The window opened January 16, 2025 and shuts January 16, 2027. Once it closes, neither part of the settlement continues on its own.

None of it kicks in automatically. Both pieces require meeting the settlement agreement’s terms and getting a request in front of ICE that holds up.

Trying to figure out if your New Hampshire family fits the class? A Calderon Settlement attorney would look at these points first:

• One spouse holds U.S. citizenship, the other does not.
• The noncitizen spouse carries a deportation order and hasn’t left the country under it.
• The citizen spouse has filed Form I-130, proving the marriage, whether pending or already approved.
• The noncitizen spouse lives in, or is being held in, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, or Maine.
• The noncitizen spouse is 17 or older, without a pending green card application (Form I-485) already at USCIS.
• Minus the deportation order, the noncitizen spouse would otherwise qualify for a marriage-based green card domestically, or a waiver opening the door to consular processing overseas.

Brooks Law Firm practices law in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Connecticut. Living in Vermont or Maine and think you might qualify? Call anyway and mention where you’re located, so we can point you toward the right next step.

None of this settles the matter on its own. Your specific immigration history, prior court involvement, and the exact wording on your removal order all factor into whether your case genuinely qualifies. An immigration attorney looking at your paperwork can tell you where you stand.

Putting together a request as someone in New Hampshire takes more than a short note claiming eligibility. It needs to be a real package ICE can act on. At a minimum, plan on gathering:

• A signed statement laying out your plan to pursue a green card, whether through adjustment of status or consular processing, once your case reopens.
• Proof of marriage to your U.S. citizen spouse.
• Paperwork confirming your spouse’s I-130 petition, pending or approved.
• Proof you live in New Hampshire.
• Supporting documents for either an adjustment of status or provisional waiver claim, depending on how you first entered the country.

Submissions go by email to ICE OPLA’s dedicated settlement address (Calderon-JMTR-Requests@ice.dhs.gov). Turnaround isn’t fixed. Some requests come back in a matter of weeks, others take months longer. What usually slows things down is a thin file, missing documents, or anything that leaves ICE needing to ask follow-up questions. Let us handle putting together a thorough submission from the outset so it has a clean run through review. Reach out for a free consultation to begin.

This settlement has a real expiration date, and that catches New Hampshire families off guard more often than you’d think. Every request has to reach ICE by January 16, 2027, no exceptions. A lot of people who would qualify simply don’t know this exists yet, and finding out too late doesn’t help anyone. If an old deportation order has been sitting quietly behind a spouse’s pending petition, now is the time to look into it, before the window shuts for good.

ICE won’t sign onto every Motion to Reopen and Dismiss automatically, so it’s worth understanding upfront what could work against a New Hampshire family’s request. The settlement allows ICE to pass if it finds:

• A threat to public safety, generally connected to serious criminal conduct.
• A threat to national security.
• Evidence of serious immigration benefit fraud.
• A pattern of repeated immigration violations.

None of these trigger automatically. ICE weighs the specifics of each case, and one of these factors appearing somewhere in someone’s past doesn’t mean the request is dead on arrival. If you’re concerned something in your background could be an issue, bring it up with an attorney before filing anything, rather than assuming the worst.

For New Hampshire families, getting the case reopened clears the roadblock. Actually securing the green card still requires a follow-up process, and which one applies hinges on how the noncitizen spouse first came into the country.

Adjusting Status in the U.S.

Someone who entered on a visa may be able to file Form I-485 and pursue a marriage-based green card while remaining in New Hampshire the whole time. Whether this works depends on the specifics of that original entry and everything else in the person’s immigration record. Those who entered without inspection, or who carry certain criminal convictions, generally can’t adjust status domestically and need the other option instead.

The Provisional Waiver and Consular Processing

Someone who entered without inspection runs into a different complication. Consular processing means leaving the U.S. first, and that departure alone can trigger inadmissibility bars of three or ten years depending on how long they’d been here unlawfully. Form I-601A offers a provisional waiver that can clear that bar in advance for some applicants, cutting down how long a family is separated. Timing matters here: the waiver, the underlying I-130, and the newly reopened case all have to line up correctly, and USCIS still exercises judgment on a case-by-case basis at every stage.

None of this happens fast or automatically. Still, for a good number of New Hampshire families, this is the most real progress they’ve seen in years.

For New Hampshire residents dealing with an old deportation order, yes, it’s possible, but there’s no simple request that makes it vanish. The actual mechanism runs through the courts. ICE has to agree first to join a Motion to Reopen and Dismiss, and that motion then heads to the immigration court that issued the original order. When a judge grants it, the order gets vacated, and it stops carrying the weight it once did. Keep in mind, this isn’t an appeal. An appeal argues the original decision was wrong. Reopening under Calderon takes a completely different route around the order instead. Either way, it’s that court action, not the settlement alone, that actually opens the door to a green card.

Brooks Law Firm doesn’t put out success-rate figures for New Hampshire Calderon Settlement cases, and honestly, be cautious of any firm that quotes you a specific number for this kind of case. Nobody publishes an official approval rate for the settlement overall. What the settlement’s own language does confirm is that ICE has agreed to “presumptively” approve a properly documented request, meaning the baseline expectation leans toward yes unless a specific disqualifying issue turns up. The real determining factor is how strong your individual request is, not some general figure. Talk with an attorney and get a straight answer about where you actually stand.

New Hampshire falls under ICE’s Boston field office, the same office that handles Massachusetts and the rest of New England, which is where this settlement’s protections against enforcement come from. Getting the case reopened is only one piece. The settlement also restricts what ICE can do to class members while things are pending. For the full two years, Boston’s ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations division can’t arrest, detain, remove, or push a class member to leave the country, unless a senior official there decides the person threatens public safety or national security. This runs alongside the reopening process rather than substituting for it, and it only holds for as long as the settlement is active.

For a New Hampshire case, ICE OPLA reviews the request first, specifically whichever field office has jurisdiction over where the original removal order was entered, which routes to Boston rather than to any immigration court directly at this stage. Once OPLA signs off, an attorney files the joint Motion to Reopen and Dismiss with the immigration court that originally issued the order. Judges tend to grant these without much friction, since ICE and the applicant are both asking for the identical result. Once granted, the vacated order stops being an obstacle to whatever comes next.

The state where the original order was entered doesn’t limit anything here. As long as someone currently lives in one of the qualifying New England states, reopening stays available regardless of which court issued that original order. Given the scrutiny ICE applies to each submission, most people rely on an attorney to prepare and file rather than going it alone.

Calderon Settlement work at Brooks Law Firm is billed as a flat fee paid over time, so New Hampshire families have a clear sense of cost before anything starts. We’ll walk through the specific number for your case during a consultation.

Years-old paperwork shouldn’t be what decides a New Hampshire family’s future. If a removal order from the past is still hanging over a marriage to a U.S. citizen, a Calderon Settlement attorney at Brooks Law Firm will lay out exactly where things stand and what’s possible before January 16, 2027 shuts that door for good. Not sure what your next step should be? Call Brooks Law Firm at (617) 245-8090 or reach out online to schedule a free consultation and discuss your options.

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.