Donald F. Madeo

DONALD F. MADEO

I.       Court Admissions and Areas of Practice    

Mr. Madeo, the Managing Partner of Youman, Madeo & Fasano, LLP., was admitted to the practice of law by the New York State Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department in January 1994.  Mr. Madeo is also admitted to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.  A member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the Federal Bar Association, Mr. Madeo has numerous published articles on immigration and criminal law issues and has lectured on various immigration law topics throughout the country. 

Mr. Madeo’s knowledge and skill in the Immigration field includes all aspects of immigrant and non-immigrant visa processing including, but not limited to, political asylum, cancellation of removal, family and employment based visa petitions, applications for permanent resident status, naturalization, deportation defense, criminal deportation defense and corporate compliance issues. 

II.      Background

Mr. Madeo, born and raised on Long Island, New York, received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1990 from the University at Albany and his Juris Doctorate in 1993 from Hofstra University School of Law where he was a published member and Articles Editor of the Property Law Journal.  

Mr. Madeo began his legal career more than two decades ago focusing on criminal defense and matrimonial/family court litigation.  It was from those experiences representing the rights of the accused and downtrodden that Mr. Madeo developed his sense of justice and honed his advocacy skills.  Entrusted with complex and oftentimes newsworthy cases, Mr. Madeo developed his attention to detail and embraced the importance of zealously representing the interests of his clients.  Mr. Madeo has gained a wealth of jury trial experience - - both criminal and civil - - before the New York State and federal courts.

Over the course of the past fifteen (15) years, Mr. Madeo has devoted the majority of his practice to Immigration law.  He has appeared before the Immigration Courts throughout the United States for detained and non-detained clients alike.  Mr. Madeo has represented applicants before U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services with respect to applications for political asylum, adjustment of status and naturalization.  Mr. Madeo specializes in cases involving challenging questions of inadmissibility which require novel legal arguments and which oftentimes necessitate the drafting of compelling hardship waiver requests.  Moreover, Mr. Madeo has litigated countless cases before the Board of Immigration Appeals as well as the U.S. District and Circuit Courts of Appeal. 

Given his background and experience with criminal law, Mr. Madeo regularly advises criminal attorneys on the potential immigration consequences of criminal convictions and his background with matrimonial/family law gives him a unique perspective on family-based immigration matters as well as Special Immigrant Juvenile petitions.

III.     Dedication to Immigration Law

Much like most of his clients, Mr. Madeo’s grandparents came to the United States in search of a better life for themselves and their families.  Immigrants from Ireland and Italy, they set their roots in the Bronx and raised their children to respect the opportunities that this country could afford them.  Mr. Madeo’s grandfather, Luigi, even had the quintessential American immigrant story of having been processed through Ellis Island after arriving in New York via ship from Italy.

Having begun his legal career representing individuals accused, often wrongfully, of committing crimes, Mr. Madeo quickly saw a parallel with the plight facing today’s immigrants.  Immigrants are often the most susceptible segment of our society - - they can be preyed upon by unscrupulous attorneys and those who fraudulently hold themselves out as attorneys;  they often face a public with little compassion for their struggles and even less recognition that we are all immigrants in this nation;  they then encounter a bureaucratic system that can best be described as dysfunctional governed by laws that very often seem to be stacked against them. 

Facing the hardships of uprooting themselves from their homelands, embarking on journeys to America which are often fraught with unspeakable dangers, arriving in this land and trying to acclimate to a new culture, Mr. Madeo knows that the two things his clients deserve are respect and honesty.  Mr. Madeo prides himself on the high ethical standards maintained at Youman, Madeo & Fasano, LLP., and understands that it is through honesty that a bond of trust is built between attorney and client.  The clients of YMF deserve and receive the highest level of legal representation and the most zealous advocacy permitted under our laws.  The commitment Mr. Madeo has to Immigration law – and the commitment of YMF to its clients – is evidenced by the thousands of people who have had their lives and the lives of their families forever changed for the better by the work of this Firm.

******************