Immigration Attorney in Brooklyn: Consequences Of Criminal Convictions In The US

If you or a loved one has been found guilty of a criminal offense in the United States, it can have a long-lasting impact on your life. This means that if you or someone close to you is accused of a crime, charged with a crime, or found guilty, it can greatly impact your immigration status. For example, you may lose your work visa, and/or your green card. Even if you are a legal resident of the United States, you could face some pretty serious consequences beyond the usual criminal sanctions. You could lose your right to citizenship, end up in jail, or worse.

If you are already in the United States and are found guilty, you may be removed from the country and unable to return for many years. Therefore, it is essential to protect your rights. If you or your loved one is facing a criminal charge, it is best to get legal help right away. An immigration attorney in Brooklyn can help you with this, and all the complicated legal stuff that comes with a criminal charge, and they can also give you advice and tips on how to stay safe.

If you have ever been accused of a crime, it could really hurt your chances of staying in the US. Immigration laws can be confusing. If an immigrant is convicted of a crime, what happens to them depends on if they are an immigrant, when the conviction was made, and what the crime was. So, it is important to know how the criminal and immigration justice systems work together because if you get convicted, it could mean you cannot stay in the US.

Here is some info on how criminal conviction can affect your immigration status.

What Does It Mean To Be Convicted?

If you are convicted of a crime, it can mean a lot of things. Not only can you face a fine or jail sentence, but you could also be facing deportation and lose your immigration benefits if you are not a US citizen. Generally, if you are charged with a crime, you can plead not guilty or a no contest. But if you are a non-US citizen and you plead guilty to certain crimes, you could still be in danger of being deported.

The INSA defines “conviction” as a formal finding of guilt by a court or if a judge or jury finds that a non-citizen is guilty or has admitted enough facts to be found guilty, and the judge orders some kind of punishment, fine, or restriction on your freedom. Want to know if you are under a criminal conviction? An immigration attorney in Brooklyn can help you make that determination.

How Does Criminal Convictions Affect Immigration Status?

If you have been convicted of a crime, two main things can happen to your immigration status. First, you can become inadmissible. Second, you can be removed, meaning you can be kicked out of the US.

1. What does it mean to be inadmissible?

If you are an inadmissible person, you cannot enter the US. That means you will not be able to get a green card within the US or change your status from inside the US. If you are leaving the US, even if you have a green card, and you want to get back, you will be considered inadmissible. If you are a foreign national asking for any kind of immigration status to enter the US, you could fall under the inadmissible grounds.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has the authority to deny entry into the US for illegal immigrants. This applies to anyone who USCIS says is a foreign national or a non-US citizen who has been convicted of certain crimes.

2. Crimes that can make you inadmissible

If you have been found guilty of any crime, it could affect your immigration status. The crimes that can make you inadmissible could include things like drugs, trafficking in human beings, prostitution, or money laundering. It can also be crimes like foreign government representation, trying to sneak into the US to break US laws, or exporting illegal goods, tech, or sensitive info.

3. What does removal mean?

The second form in which a criminal conviction can affect an individual’s immigration status is by rendering the individual removable from the United States. Basically, it is called “removal”, and it is for people who are here on a visa and are not trying to get a new one or move in from somewhere else. Removal affects people who are in the country on a valid visa but are expelled or removed due to a criminal conviction. It also includes people who entered the country with a valid visa once but who have lost their valid visa.

4. Crimes that can lead to removal from the US

If you have been found guilty of a crime (like Crimes Involving Moral Turpitude – CIMT) or a felony (like an aggravated felony), you could be automatically deported.

5. CIMT

A CIMT is basically a crime that is done intentionally or recklessly. Examples of CIMT include hitting a kid or a cop, killing someone, raping, setting fires, torturing animals, stealing cars, and so much more. Perjury is one of the first and second-degree CIMT. If you are found guilty of any of these, you will probably be considered immoral. But if you can prove you did not do it in court using evidence like police reports and other witnesses, you might be able to get out of it.

6. Aggravated offense

If convicted of an aggravated felony, you could be in jail, lose your green card, and face a permanent bar. It is important to look at the offense, your record, and the sentence the court gave you (usually more than a year in jail, no matter how long you served). All of this is compared to the definition in the law and case law on aggravated felonies. If you are found guilty of an aggravated felony, you will not be able to get immigration relief, but it does not mean it is impossible.

You can also apply for relief under the Convention Against Torture (CAT), which requires you to prove that there is a 51% chance of you being tortured if you go back to your home country. You will need to look at your background to see how likely you are to win a CAT claim. An immigration attorney in Brooklyn can help you with this.

7. Mandatory detention and Denial of Naturalization

If you are convicted of a crime in the US, you could face some serious immigration problems. You could be inadmissible to the US and face expulsion. There are other consequences too, depending on the crime. You could face mandatory detention, restrictions on readmission, denial of naturalization, being unable to ask for a judge to review your removal status, having to go through a fast-track process, and even worse penalties if you re-enter illegally.

If you think you may have been convicted of any crime, losing hope is unnecessary. An immigration attorney in Brooklyn may be able to help you out.

Fighting Criminal Conviction With an Immigration Attorney in Brooklyn

If you do not know whether you have been convicted or what it means, it might be a good idea to reach out to an immigration attorney in Brooklyn. The conviction is not final, as you can fight it by appealing the conviction or sentence or try to get relief from the immigration court. If you are in the process of being deported, there are some things you can do to get out of it, like asking for asylum or withholding removal.

If you have been convicted of a crime, like an aggravated crime, this might be difficult. But your situation is not hopeless. An immigration attorney in Brooklyn can help you figure out what kind of relief you can get, and they can also help you prepare and present your case to immigration.

Get Help!

The immigration process is tricky, but criminal conviction complicates it even more. When you are dealing with such complicated immigration issues, it is super important that you or someone close to you knows exactly how to go about it.

To avoid putting your plans on hold for a long time, get in touch with an experienced immigration attorney at Gehi and Associates for a quick chat. We will get to know all the details of your case, give you helpful advice on how to proceed, and walk you through every step of your case. Book an initial free consultation with us now!

FAQs

1. Is it all crimes that can affect my immigration status?

Yes. If you get convicted of any kind of crime, whether it is a minor or a serious one, you can be deported.

2. How will the USCIS know about my criminal conviction?

The USCIS background check will look for any convictions or arrests you have had in the past. Depending on the case and what kind of immigration benefit you are applying for, the extent of your background check will vary. Generally, though, it will look at your criminal history from when you were born until now.

3. Can mere arrest affect my immigration case?

Yes, it can. An arrest does not have to result in a conviction, but it can still affect your immigration status. For example, it can be used against you in a removal case, and you may lose some of your immigration benefits.

4. If I am inadmissible, is there anything I can do?

Yes, you can try to get a waiver. If you have a criminal record, you can sometimes get out of being inadmissible if you can prove that if you were admitted to the US, you would not pose a threat to anyone. You might still be able to show that your immediate relative, who is a citizen or green card holder in the US, would be in “extreme hardship” if you were not allowed to live in the US.

5. Can a pardon clear my criminal record?

If you have been found guilty of a crime in your state that makes you a deportable criminal and cannot get your conviction thrown out, you can try to get the pardon of your state’s governor, pardon board, or prison review board. However, this process can take years in some states.

You can apply to the President for a pardon if you have been convicted in a federal case. If you are successful (it is almost not likely, though), your conviction would be clear, along with any immigration issues it would have caused.