please help!

[I-485 0]

Not necessarily. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has the authority to order removal proceedings for VWP holders who have overstayed, including individuals who are immediate relatives of U.S. Citizens. In that case an individual may not contest a removal action on the basis that an I-485 is pending.

[cjn15 0]

Thank you Teddy B, this seems to match up with everything else i've read!

Oh, apologies, C.W.Eccleston, i had not seen your latest comments!

Edited June 2, 2015 by cjn15

[Teddy B 17,251]

Not necessarily. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has the authority to order removal proceedings for VWP holders who have overstayed, including individuals who are immediate relatives of U.S. Citizens. In that case an individual may not contest a removal action on the basis that an I-485 is pending.

ICE has the authority to detain anyone who is in the US illegally, it is up to an immigration judge whether or not they are deported. People who are usually on the deportation radar have committed criminal acts and have been arrested at one point. People who are here on an overstay and married to a USC with a pending I-485 are very low on anyone's deportation list and it is highly unlikely that an immigration judge would order a person under these circumstances to be deported. Perhaps you could link to a few cases where people were deported in this situation with a pending I-485 and without any criminal activity? I don't know of any.

A person with a pending I-485 (or adjustment of status), is considered to be in a protected status by immigration officials and will not be recommended for deportation unless there are other underlying factors such as criminal activity. Based on what the op has written here there is no reason to believe that he/she will incur any problems with immigration officials during the AOS phase.