Green card holders are permanent residents who are not citizens yet. Those individuals are at risk of losing their status and green card if they commit a crime. There are a lot of types of crime and every case is different. Sometimes, the green card holder will hire a criminal attorney and also an immigration one, and they both work together on one case. The only person who can make a decision to deport the non-citizen individual is an Immigration Judge. No one can take an individual’s green card without a court order.
Non-citizen individuals who violate immigration law and/or have criminal backgrounds can be deported from the United States. One example is a green card holder who was convicted of providing false information to immigration authorities or fake information to obtain visas or any other forged documents. In this way, an immigration judge will make a decision to deport such an immigrant or impose any other penalties.
Green card holders cannot call themselves US citizens in order to get benefits or any other purpose. In this case, such individuals will have problems and may be asked to appear before the immigration court. They can lose their permanent resident status as well.
Non-citizens can be deported if they participated in espionage, sabotage, or any criminal activity that has a threat to the public or national security of the country.
If the individual voted in elections while he/she had a green card and no right to vote, this is a violation of the law and such an individual can lose his/her lawful permanent resident status.
An immigration judge may deport the non-citizen immigrant from the United States because his/her presence can lead to potential adverse consequences for the country’s foreign policy.
Marriage fraud is another popular reason for deportation. Any fraud will lead to investigation and penalties, but marriage fraud is one of the common cases in courts. It can also happen when the immigrant already has a conditional resident card (green card valid for 2 years) and gets divorced during that period and then is married again. The immigration authorities check details, documents, and will transfer the case to the immigration judge to make a final decision.
When an immigrant has violated the US Selective Service Registration without reason, he can be deported from the country. This is only for males.
An immigration judge can make a decision to deport a non-citizen because the individual was not allowed to enter the country or violated the terms of his/her visa, green card, or another immigration status.
Green card holders or any other immigrants cannot help illegal immigrants and foreigners illegally cross the border or support their intention to practice polygamy, kidnapping, and other illegal activities.
US citizens who got their green cards according to immigration law and later on were naturalized are protected from deportation.
Attorney’s commentary:
Dmitry Efros, Esq.
Law Office of Dmitry Efros, P.C.
160 Broadway, Fl. 10, East-Bldg.
New York, NY 10038
Tel.: (212)-233-0020
Fax: (646)-661-5725
This article provides important information for all current green card holders, and to those who have already applied for permanent resident status but are still waiting for the final adjudication of their application. In addition to the valuable information contained here, I would like to also make the readers aware of the most recent USCIS policy update regarding additional checks that USCIS plans to conduct for all green card holders who would be applying for naturalization after November 18, 2020. Most importantly the new policy highlights that any LPR (or green card holder) is ineligible for naturalization in cases where that applicant did not obtain LPR status lawfully (including cases where the U.S. government was unaware of disqualifying material facts and had therefore previously granted adjustment of status to that of an LPR or admitted the applicant as an LPR). This Policy change dramatically expands the USCIS guidance on how to assess whether someone has a “lawful admission” for purposes of naturalization eligibility under INA § 318. As an example, the prior guidance on this eligibility requirement was three pages. The “updated” version is a completely re-written twenty-page directive to officers to engage in extreme vetting and unnecessary scrutiny of all naturalization applicants. Indeed, requiring such detailed scrutiny, the Policy Manual is asking USCIS to second guess not only its own agency decisions of whether an applicant lawfully adjusted status, but also adds exhaustive vetting, and unnecessarily requires USCIS officers to re-adjudicate the green card process, even when nothing in the applicant’s immigration history appears erroneous or raises suspicion. I will provide readers with an example about when this updated policy could be triggered and lead to negative consequences: a person, after filing the Form I485, and during wait time for the adjudication his/her application for permanent residency, commits a disqualifying act, such as fraud, or a disqualifying criminal act, or even divorcing the principal beneficiary during the pendency of the Form I485. Such a person would normally not be able to adjust status, but because USCIS was not made aware of such a disqualifying act, it has issued the person’s green card. When it is time for that person to apply for citizenship, USCIS has the authority to re-adjudicate prior immigration cases based on unreported disqualifying acts and place the person in removal proceedings (before an immigration judge). We are hopeful that the newly appointed USCIS director will reconsider or abolish this updated policy, but until that happens all LPR applicants for naturalization should be mindful of this update. You can read more information about this USCIS policy update at the link below or contact any of the attorneys if you think that your case may present difficulties when applying for naturalization.
For more information, please access the link below: https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/policy-manual-updates/20201118-LPRAdmissionForNaturalization.pdf
Photo by Timon Studler
