Where the goal is to immigrate, the stakes are high – particularly since a single act of deportation can reduce, if not eliminate, the probability of a successful immigration to the United States.
1. Complaint and Documentation Review
For minor legal charges and suspected misdemeanors, your legal defense begins with a thorough review of documentation and charges against you. While you are awaiting a court date, each form, filing, reference, and all legal reporting documents should be reviewed by yourself and your legal team. In many cases, misdemeanors can be quantified in terms of severity.
For instance, some infractions, such as parking or speeding tickets, can be miscategorised as misdemeanors, which can impact legal proceedings. While you are applying for legal residency or your green card in the United States, it is imperative to avoid any misdemeanors or felony offenses, which can immediately disqualify your residency application. Double-check for any possible administrative errors in the filing of an infraction or fine, as a more serious misdemeanor charge.
A Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) report released in 2014 indicated that since 2008, more than 50 percent of American deportation requests were due to immigration documentation (filing or fee payment delays) or infractions. This can also include working without a legal permit, as is frequently the case with undocumented immigrant families, and is an infraction based on economic need – not criminal intention.
2. Undocumented Parents of American Born Children
There is some information regarding the legal rights of parents who do not have permanent residency. Culturally, it's a long held belief that if you have children who are born in the United States, then the parents inherently receive preferred immigrant status. This is not the case, and while children who were born in the United States may not be deported, parents who are here illegally or without status can be deported at the discretion of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
It is hard for families to understand how probable it is for children to be left alone in the United States while parents are deported back to the country of origin, but it happens to thousands of families every year. Children are then remanded to blood relatives who do have legal status in the United States; or, in some cases, they are referred to state child care and welfare agencies.
If you have been a law-abiding citizen of the United States, with the exception of documented status, and you have one or more children who were born in the United States, your legal team may be able to argue in court on compassionate grounds to keep the family together. However, in some cases, the court has decided that keeping the family together can also mean deporting the family to the country of origin together.
Birthright citizenship is endowed on any child who is legally born on American soil, and their rights are protected in the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. There is no provision, however, for parents, and leniency is decided on a case by case basis in court.
3. Fraudulent Statements or Crime of Omission
An individual seeking to achieve landed status in the United States must be 100 percent accurate and honest in all legal documents provided. However, in some cases, there may be some political or religious activism or involvement in certain charitable groups that may flag a candidate in the immigration process. For instance, affiliation with a religious group in the past which may now be involved in terrorist activities can preclude someone from immigrating to the United States, and that information may be deliberately left off background checks, references, and other documentation.
Arguably, leaving something out is far better than lying or deliberately misrepresenting a former employer, association, or other information. If there were understandable reasons for omitting the information, you can make that case in court. However, if the information pertains to a previous history of criminal activity, it is unlikely to assist your case.
Immigration accounts for a small 0.3 percent annual population growth in America, but as there is increased focus, both on domestic security and anti-terrorism, the outcome for illegal residents frequently results in deportation, with punitive measures that include prison time for repeat offenders.
If it is your first infraction, you have the right to plead your case in court. Second-time offenders are frequently not given the right to appeal a previous judgement. If your intention is to fight deportation, legal assistance will be required.
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