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I’m an immigrant myself. I came here when I was 19 years old. I went to law school, became a lawyer. I have my own practice. I want to help immigrants get to where they want to be, because here it is possible. And I’m passionate about my job because this is something I experienced myself.
I can only represent clients in Ohio and Kentucky in state cases. So that would include traffic, criminal. However, to represent someone in immigration proceedings, whether it’s immigration court or United States Immigration and Citizenship Services, an attorney has to only be licensed in one state, it can be any state. So, to answer your question, no. I can represent immigrants in the immigration process from any states, not just Ohio and Kentucky.
I advise clients to speak to a lawyer as soon as possible. Do not wait till the last minute. Do not wait till you are in trouble or do not wait till you have to speak to a lawyer. It’s always best to be informed as soon as possible. I get calls when someone has an upcoming court date in immigration court. Unfortunately, I have to decline. I can’t represent those clients because a lot of times it’s the last minute.
The most important thing for immigrants is to know their rights. Immigrants can certainly research themselves what is available to them. But my advice is to speak to a licensed lawyer and get a consultation. My advice is to avoid those who present themselves as legal assistants or paralegals. We unfortunately see a lot of fraud when people pay a lot of money to someone who is not a lawyer and then that person disappears. Speak with a lawyer, make sure it’s a lawyer, you can always check whether or not they’re a lawyer by going to the Supreme Court website of that state.
I do handle family immigration and typically with family immigration it’s reunification. It’s when a U.S. citizen or a legal permanent resident resides in the United States and they file a petition for their relative who is currently in a different country. It includes spouses, children, and parents and brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens or legal permanent residence. Additionally, one can apply for their non-US citizen relative while in the United States. That will depend on whether or not the non-citizen is in status. So, if someone is in status then they can potentially apply for any type of visa and receive a green card while in the is out of status it becomes problematic. So, let’s say we have a U.S. citizen wife and a non-citizen husband who is out of status. Can he receive a green card? The answer is it depends. It’s a lawyer’s favorite answer. It depends on how he entered the United States. So if the husband entered the United States without inspection, then he cannot obtain a green card while in the United States. There is a way, but he will have to leave the country and then return. Now, if the non-citizen was admitted to the United States or paroled to the United States, which is slightly different, but parole is good enough for the purposes of applying for a green card. If the husband was either admitted or paroled, then yes, he can apply for a green card while in the United States. The question comes up: what about his lack of status? He’s out of status. Now, when the Immigration Nationality Act was enacted in the 50s, they decided that family is more important than lack of status. So this is something that’s forgiven. When a U.S. citizen is married to an non-citizen, this is the only category where unauthorized stay and in fact, unauthorized employment is forgiven.
It is important for criminal defense attorneys to understand consequences. However, a lot of times criminal defense attorneys have a duty to reach out to an immigration attorney who actually specializes in immigration law. In fact, there is a case that says that if your client is not informed, fully informed of immigration consequences, then the lawyer can get in trouble. So I, as someone who practices criminal defense and immigration law, get a lot of calls from criminal defense lawyers asking for my advice on potential immigration consequences when they negotiate a plea with the prosecutor.
If you are a legal permanent resident, then typically a traffic offense is not something that will get you deported, but it really depends on what traffic offense it is. If it’s a DUI with a crash and someone is killed, that’s certainly different from a regular DUI. And one DUI is typically not something that will get you deported if you are in legal permanent resident status. However, if you’re not in status, then any potentially traffic offense can lead to immigration detention because police officers typically do communicate with ICE. So if someone gets put over for a minor traffic offense and they don’t have immigration status, then yes, it can potentially lead to deportation.
Well, let’s define what is undocumented first, okay? Typically, people refer to undocumented people when someone is out of status. When someone is out of status, it means that they either overstayed their visa or they came to the country without a visa. So, it really depends on what that is, right? If someone came to the United States without a visa, even if they came to port of entry and asked an officer to let them in because they’re afraid to go back to their country, they’re seeking asylum. Even if the border patrol agent lets them in, gives them a court date, gives them papers, says you have to go to court and present your case of asylum in front of an immigration judge. Well, right now these people are treated exactly the same as people who cross the border without being seen. And these people are now not eligible for immigration bonds. So, your question is, what happens to someone who is undocumented and gets arrested? They are detained and they don’t have a chance to ask the judge for a bond right now, so have to argue their case from detention. When a non-citizen gets arrested, my advice to everyone is to not say anything. You can always say that I will not talk without my attorney present. Now, if someone comes to your door, you are at home, and they want to talk to you, they want to come in, my advice is never to never let anyone in and ask for a judicial warrant. If police or ICE or immigration police, if they do not have a judicial warrant, they cannot enter your house. And it’s important to verify that it’s actually a judicial warrant that they have one, because a lot of times it’s an administrative warrant and it’s not sufficient to enter someone’s property.
Expungement cannot clear immigration consequences. Expungement is a process of removing someone’s information so the public or future employers, for example, will not see that you have a criminal record. However, for immigration purposes, this is not something that will take care of your immigration consequences. If you’re trying to resolve a conviction that is impeding your process, The correct way to approach this is to try to vacate this conviction. Typically, when the judge takes the plea, when someone pleads guilty, the judge has to say specific words in the state of Ohio to a non-citizen. The judge has to say to the defendant that the plea that they are about to take may have immigration consequences. Now, if we review the record and we see that the judge did not say those specific words, that can be grounds for vacating a conviction. And then, yes, it will not affect immigration. It will not have immigration consequences like expungement would.
Missing a court date in immigration law leads to very serious immigration consequences. If someone misses a court date, they will be ordered, removed in absentia. This means that if you do not show up to court, you’re automatically ordered, removed, or deported. Now, if you didn’t know you had a court date, or if you had what is called exceptional circumstances, such as you were in a hospital or let’s say you’re in prison and you can’t physically go, right? Then there’s an avenue to get a case reopened in immigration court, but it is very difficult to do and you have to provide proof that A, you either did not get noticed, or B, you had truly exceptional circumstances. Bad weather, traffic, blue is not a valid reason to miss an immigration report.
Right now, the charges that I see the most that cause immigration consequences are simple traffic charges, such as driving without a license. What we see now is that someone gets pulled over for driving without a license. The police officer then inquiries about someone’s immigration status and if the person is not able to provide proof of valid immigration status. Unfortunately, what we see right now is that the police officer would either take that person to immigration detention or that police officer will call Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE and ICE will come and pick up that person.
Yes, any reduced charge is still a conviction, and conviction is always a negative factor. But whether or not it can be a reason for deportation, that’s a different question, right? So, reductions can be different. Something can be reduced from the most serious felony to a less serious felony, right? or something can be reduced from the most serious misdemeanor to minor misdemeanor. So, it just depends on what the crime is and what the reduction is.
If you refuse a test, then you will be taken typically to jail and you will spend one night at jail and your license will be automatically suspended. However, if you do not provide a sample for the test, then the government, the state, does not have concrete evidence against you. So initially, the consequences are harsher than if you did take the test. However, from our perspective, from the perspective of criminal defense lawyers, that gives us possibility to then either go to trial or negotiate a plea with the prosecutor.
No. Green card holders are not citizens, and they do not have the same rights as citizens. The main difference is that green card holders can be deported from this country. If a green card holder commits a certain offense that makes them what we call deportable, that person will be placed in removal proceedings. And when someone is placed in removal proceedings, then the immigration judge hears their case. If this is a crime that can be waived with a certain waiver and to get that waiver granted, you have to meet certain requirements. But if it’s a crime for which no waiver is available, then the person, even if they are a legal permanent resident, they will be removed or deported from this country. And that is a huge difference from when you are a United States citizen because you cannot be deported anywhere. Now, can a person who received citizenship here be deported? Now this question is asked a lot. There is a process called denaturalization. I’ve never seen this in my practice, but theoretically, and I’ve heard it from others, it is something that used to happen in the past. Now, recently, we hear that denaturalization is back. So, if someone commits a very serious crime, then the United States Immigration Services can go back and reopen your naturalization application and potentially revoke your citizenship and permanent residence status as well.
The standard for application for naturalization is good moral character. And the person has to show, in order to show good moral character, they have to typically show that they don’t have any crimes or that they pay their taxes on time and have been a good citizen for the past five years. So, your question is, can an old conviction impact naturalization? Yes and no. If the old conviction is for aggravated felony, then no. But if it’s an old conviction for a DUI, for example, then typically if it occurred more than five years back, it’s not an issue. In fact, the law says that DUI is not a crime involving moral turpitude. And for the standard of good moral character, one DUI within the five-year period is typically something that is forgiven if there are a lot of other positive factors that outweigh this negative factor.
A simple traffic ticket cannot affect the process of applying for permanent resident status. Traffic tickets such as speeding, driving without a license are certainly negative factors, but one ticket will not be a problem in the process of obtaining a green card. Now, if you have 10 speeding tickets, then the Immigration Services, USCIS, can use its discretion and deny your green card application based on discretion.
When someone has legal permanent resident status, charges that involve moral turpitude, crimes involving moral turpitude, are something that can potentially put you in removal proceedings, as well as aggravated felonies. And those type of criminal offenses are so serious that there is no waiver, typically, that can cure that problem. So, the charges that are not waivable the worst charges that you can potentially have if you are a legal permanent resident. If you do not have a legal permanent resident status, then lesser charges can be very seriously affecting your immigration process.
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