Top Rated Immigration Attorney in Houston, TX

Honors and Awards:

• Featured in the Who’s Who: American Law Students, 1994-1995; Dean’s List 1996; Harvey Nachman Award for outstanding participation in the Legal Aid Clinic at the Inter American University of Puerto Rico, 1996; Who’s Who in American Immigration Law 2007-2008, Who’s Who in America 2009; member of the Pro Bono College of the State Bar of Texas, and Member of the College of the State Bar of Texas; recognized as H Texas Magazine Top Lawyer since 2012 to the present; recognized as Top Lawyer for the Texas Monthly Magazine since 2012 to the present; recognized by peers as a Super Lawyer for the Reuters Super Lawyer Organization from 2012- Present; AVVO rating of excellent; H Houston Magazine Top Lawyer 2012- to the present; Texas Monthly Top Lawyer 2012-present; Houstonia Magazine, and awarded the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award for Professional Excellence by the Texas Lawyer Magazine., Houston Top Lawyer, H Texas Magazine best lawyers in Houston, 2012
• Texas Lawyer awards lawyers every year for their 2016 Professional Excellence Award: Lifetime Achievers.  This list recognizes lawyers who have made their mark on the legal profession in the Lone Star State. All of the honorees have had, or continue to have, extraordinary careers. The bottom line: They are all impact players in the Texas legal community.  , Texas Lawyer Magazine, Achievemen Award
• Harvey Nachman Award, Clinic, Interamerican University of Puerto Rico School School of Law,LawAssociate Editor 95-96 Law Review for Interamerican University of Puerto Rico School of LawLLM Health Law, 1998, University of Houston, Law Center

Special Licenses/Certifications:

• Admitted to:  Puerto Rico Bar, Texas Bar, Southern Disctrict of Texas, BIA, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 9th and 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, Supreme Court of Texas and Puerto Rico, Supreme Court of the U.S.

Pro bono/Community Service:

• Mr. Gonzalez is a recurring Pro Bono counsel for Catholic Charities Archdiocesis of Galveston, Houston, Texas, the US Department of Health Administration for Children and Families Office of Regufee and Resettlement, the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project (PROBAR), South West Key Program, Houston, Texas, the Mexican Consulate, Houston Texas, and works with individual cases involving Violence Against Women’s Act cases and unaccompanied minors cases. Mr. Gonzalez has been recognized as a Champion of Justice Society as a supporter of access to justice for his contributions to the Legal Aid programs in Texas with the State Bar.

Verdicts and Settlements:

• Published precedential decisions in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals inculde Flores Ledezma v. Gonzalez, 415 F.3d 375, 380 (5th Cir. 2005) (the first case in the 5th Circuit to interpret the REAL ID Act); Perez-Pimentel v. Mukasey, 530 F.3d 321 (5th Cir. 2008) (challenging the Attorney General authority to publish regulations regarding discretion); McCarthy v. Mukasey, 555 F.3d 459, 462 (5th Cir. 2009) (challenging the visa waiver entrants rights to adjust status); Gomez v. Lynch, 831 F. 3d 652 (5th Cir. 2016) and Gregoire v. Holder. Victories before the Supreme Court of the United States include his groundbreaking case where the court granted and remanded the case of Dada v. Mukasey, 128 S. Ct. 2307, 2319 (2008) (challenging denials of motions to reopen and reconciling them with voluntary departure). This was not an ordinary win. Dada changed the landscape of how voluntary departures are granted and forced the Government to create regulations concerning the same. His second grant of certiorari before the Supreme Court was effort in Alexis v. Holder, No. 09-955, Unpublished (June 21, 2010) (grant after Carrachuri). His most recent accomplishment and his third grant of certiorari before the Supreme Court is Mata v. Lynch, 576 U.S. ___ (2015). The Supreme Court held that a court of appeals has jurisdiction to review the rejection by the Board of Immigration Appeals of a non-citizen’s motion to reopen, even when the Board rejects the motion as untimely or it rejects a motion requesting equitable tolling of the time limit. This was an 8-1, in an opinion by Justice Kagan where the case has been remanded to the 5th Circuit where it is pending to date. This case will confirm jurisdiction for all Circuit Courts to review denials of all motions to reopen.

Representative Clients:

• Mr. Gonzalez acts as an adviser to the Harris County Public Defender's Office. He is also President of the Board for the Immigration Counseling Center, a nonprofit entity located in Houston, Texas.

Other Outstanding Achievements:

• Mr. Gonzalez has been featured in Who’s Who in American Immigration Law, Who’s Who in America, Telemundo, Univision, the New York Times after successfully representing Kevin Cassasola, the Honduran migrant child portrayed in the Oscar nominated HBO documentary “Which Way Home” in his asylum case, has been a frequent contributor to  the Houston Chronicle and for his efforts with AILA in supporting comprehensive immigration reform he was featured and interviewed by July Banderas as an expert on  immigration on Fox News “America’s News Headquarters”, and featured on Greta Van Susteren’s “On the Record” and many more national and international media.  Mr. Gonzalez is a frequent speaker on immigration and an avid supporter of comprehensive immigration reform.  Mr. Gonzalez is presently organizing the University of Texas Conference on Immigration to be held in the fall of 2012, and is the course director for the 2012 AILA Midsouth AILA Conference and the AILA Texas, OK and NM Chapter 's Immigration Fall Conference.  He was the 2012 Course Director of the State Bar of Texas Conference on Immigration 101; was a speaker at the SBOT 2012 Advanced Immigration Conference on the topics of unlawful presence, bond hearings and hearing on the merits; he was a speaker at the AILA National Conference in Nashville TN, where he presented on unlawful presence; he was a speaker at the State Bar of Texas 2011 Advanced Immigration Law Course on grounds of inadmissiblity and removability; was as speaker and member of the organizing committee for the 2011 University of Texas Continuing Legal Education Immigration Conference on Practical Guide To Removal Proceedings; was a speaker and organizer of the 2010 UT Conference Immigration with an Update on Board of Immigration Appeals and Federal Court Cases, 2010;  speaker at the AILA 2011 National Conference in San Diego, CA, on Advanced Federal Litigation: CAN THIS OR SHOULD THIS GO TO   FEDERAL COURT?,  speaker at the 2010 AILA National Conference on Washington DC, on Dada or Nada, Voluntary Departure after Dada v. Mukasey, speaker on the 2009 American Bar Association Commission on Immigration and the ProBAR, Conference “Removal Proceedings Today: A Practical Training on How to Successfully Defend Your Clients in Immigration Court, Motions to Reopen and Reconsider; speaker at the Texas Chapter Conference on Immigration in Playa Del Carmen, 2009 and 2010 among others.  Mr. Gonzalez was honored as Top Lawyer 2012 and again in 2013 in the Fall 2013 issue of H Texas Magazine.  Only a few Immigration Attorneys are afforded this honor.  The annual list recognizes the top lawyers as determined by a peer voting process.  Mr. Gonzalez is a recurring Pro Bono counsel for Catholic Charities Archdiocesis of Galveston, Houston, Texas, the US Department of Health Administration for Children and Families Office of Regufee and Resettlement, the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project (PROBAR), South West Key Program, Houston, Texas, the Mexican Consulate, Houston Texas, and works with individual cases involving Violence Against Women’s Act cases and unaccompanied minors cases.   Mr. Gonzalez has been recognized as a Champion of Justice Society as a supporter of access to justice for his contributions to the Legal Aid programs in Texas with the State Bar. 

Educational Background:

• Raed Gonzalez was born in Puerto Rico.  He earned his B.A. (Cum Laude, 1992) and J.D. (Cum Laude, 1996) from the Inter American University of Puerto Rico in San Juan,  where he was also associate  editor of the law review. As part of his  JD, in 1995 he studied comparative  constitutional law at the University of Barcelona (Spain) taught by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.  He received his L.L.M. in  Health Law from the University of Houston Law Center (1998).