The short answer is yes. Having a green card does not protect you against deportation from the U.S. If you get convicted of a DUI, you may be placed into immigration court for removal proceedings, where an immigration judge will decide whether your crime is a “ground of removability (deportability).”
If the judge rules against you, your green card can be taken away. This means that now you are facing an order of deportation and “removal” to your home country.
Below are some types of crimes that can make a green card holder deportable, including:
- an aggravated felony. Even a local state law calls your crime a misdemeanor, you have to keep in mind that U.S. immigration law can use ots own standards to call any crime an aggravated felony;
- a crime of moral turpitude. Typically committed within five years of obtaining your green card, for which the sentence could have been one year or more;
- a crime of violence;
- two separate crimes involving moral turpitude, and
- an offense relating to a controlled substance.
Note that this list is not exhaustive and offers just a few examples of grounds of deportability.
If you are convicted of a DUI, it will be up to the immigration authorities to examine the facts and circumstances of your DUI case, and whether you have other crimes on your record, in order to decide whether the DUI matches one of the above grounds and makes you deportable.
Exactly what the implications will depend on the circumstances of the conviction and whether or not you have left the United States and are seeking to return (among other reasons).
If you are facing a DUI charge, it is important not to try to analyze your own case or make immigration-related decisions based on this post alone. Instead, you should speak to a lawyer who practices both criminal defense and immigration law and who can give you a full analysis of your case.
For answers to your personal questions, contact the Law Firm of Anna Korneeva for a free 15-minute phone consultation. Schedule your appointment today by call or text at (513) 334-3008.
