Criminal charges can cause chaos if you’re not a United States citizen. If you are an immigrant or a lawful permanent resident (LPR), a criminal conviction on your record could have consequences beyond going to prison or paying a fine.
If you are facing a serious criminal charge now, or if the charge against you is relatively minor but you have a previous conviction, you could find yourself unable to renew your green card. You could face detention, deportation or denied reentry into the United States.
Before you say anything to the police, talk to a lawyer who handles cases involving both criminal defense and immigration defense. Call Gireud | Hobbs, PLLC, (210) 864-8519 or contact us online to schedule a free initial consultation. Our attorneys have significant experience handing high-risk immigration matters.
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Do You Need a Criminal Immigration Lawyer?
You need a criminal immigration lawyer if you have a history of criminal convictions or are facing criminal charges and interacting with law enforcement or immigration officials. If you have new criminal charges or a history of convictions, you will need a criminal immigration lawyer if you are:
- In deportation proceedings
- A lawful permanent resident
- In the United States with a nonimmigrant status or temporary visa
- Seeking citizenship or a green card
A non-citizen with criminal histories or charges faces an uphill battle no matter what immigration benefit they are seeking. It’s important that your immigration attorney has experience successfully helping noncitizens through these processes.
Current Guilty Pleas and Past Criminal Convictions
Criminal offenses that involve drugs, theft, assault, fraud or burglary, are what the statute calls “crimes of moral turpitude.” If you committed and are convicted of a crime of moral turpitude, you could be deported or denied entry into the United States. If you have been arrested and charged with a crime – any crime — it is important to find out as soon as possible how these charges could affect your immigration status.
Any conviction that could carry a sentence of a year or more in jail could trigger removal proceedings. Old convictions (from less than five years since you were first legally admitted to the United States) and pleas can be used against you and put you into removal proceedings.
What was behind you may now need to be re-opened in order to fight the prior charge and overturn the conviction (or guilty plea).
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Preventing Deportation by Fighting Past Convictions
A criminal immigration lawyer will use all the tools available to help prevent your deportation. For example, our lawyers will try to reopen the original criminal case to get the conviction or plea overturned.
We have been particularly successful in basing our efforts on inadequate representation and bad immigration advice at the time of the prior offense. We can also look for errors in the trial record. If we find any, we can hopefully get your case reopened to undo the conviction that might be causing you immigration consequences.
Depending on the crime that you are accused of or convicted of, we may be able to try to fight other ways as well. We take action to help prevent deportation in any way the law provides. For example, if you pleaded guilty to a crime you did not commit, we may be able to reopen that case for you.
Applying for a Green Card with a Criminal Immigration Lawyer
Many of our clients believe that if they have a criminal history, they will not be eligible for a green card. While that may be true for some crimes, an experienced criminal immigration lawyer may be able to help foreign nationals become lawful permanent residents—even with a criminal history.
Even if you are already in the United States legally, your criminal history will be closely examined when you apply for a green card. This is true whether you are an asylee, the recipient of a family-based immigrant visa petition, or the recipient of an employment-based immigrant visa petition.
Crimes such as violent felonies including murder, aggravated assault and torture usually are ineligible for a waiver. This is also true of most drug-related crimes, tax evasion, human rights-related crimes and other felonies. Most other crimes are viewed differently and many people convicted of less serious crimes are eligible for a waiver of inadmissibility.
How a Criminal Immigration Lawyer Uses Waivers of Inadmissibility
Your criminal immigration lawyer will submit the waiver with your applications or petitions to request immigration officials to make a special consideration. These waiver applications don’t always work, but if you are already in the United State when you are denied immigration benefits, your criminal immigration lawyer can try to appeal your case or file a motion to reopen or reconsider your case.
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How a Criminal Immigration Lawyer May Present Foreign Convictions
Your criminal immigration lawyer might argue that your criminal convictions are not relevant to U.S. law. This could be because no such law exists in the United States, such as laws that are discriminatory or laws that violate human rights.
If your foreign prosecution and conviction were based on persecution due to your religious or political beliefs —which is true for many seeking asylum in the U.S.— we may argue that you are non-deportable. If course, we will try to get you all the immigration benefits you are eligible for and seek, but if your goal is to stay in the United States, we have this option available to us too.
Disclose All Interactions with Law Enforcement or the Judicial System to Your Criminal Immigration Lawyer
The only way your criminal immigration lawyer can help you is if you fully disclose your criminal history. We are here to help you. Our discussions are confidential. While it may be hard to trust others, we will be your strongest defender. But we can’t help you if we don’t know what we’re dealing with. Criminal histories complicate an already complex process. We must have time to prepare your defense, your waivers, and your paperwork.
The more information you give us, the better. While no criminal immigration lawyer can promise you success, we will do everything legally possible to get you the immigration benefits you desire. You have rights in this country, and we are here to make sure that they aren’t taken from you.
Call Our Immigration and Criminal Defense Lawyers
We know that facing removal proceedings are frightening. No matter what your immigration goal is, we are here to help. If you are already in removal proceedings, seek legal representation immediately. If you seek a green card, but have a criminal history, we have tools we can use to try to gain you leverage.
If you’ve been denied an immigration benefit due to your criminal history, we may be able to challenge that decision. If you were criminally convicted, it is important to call a criminal immigration lawyer before you file any applications, submit any petitions, speak with immigration officials, or discuss a situation with law enforcement so that we have time to ensure the best possible outcome. To talk with the immigration attorneys at Gireud | Hobbs, PLLC, call (210) 864-8519 to schedule your free initial consultation.
