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Blog

Don’t Get Deported or Lose Your Status Over a Minor Criminal Conviction

Have you ever been convicted of a crime? (By the way, reckless driving in Virginia is a crime. It’s a Class 1 Misdemeanor). If you’re not a U.S. Citizen, even petty or minor crimes can cause trouble for your immigration case. Let’s go back to reckless driving. Let’s assume you are a lawful permanent resident (you have a green card), and you’ve just put your application in to become a U.S. Citizen.  While waiting for your test, you get a reckless driving ticket. Since you have a bad driving record, which shows you’ve had 3-4 speeding tickets, your traffic lawyer suggests you plead guilty to the reckless ticket, pay a fine, and you will be on probation for one year. You agree – you’re just happy you don’t have to spend any time in jail!

Pleading guilty to this would prevent you from getting your Citizenship when it’s time for you to go to your interview. The reason is that USCIS cannot approve a case while you’re on probation. Most traffic attorneys do not know this (John Gardner, my husband and traffic and criminal attorney of our law firm of course, knows this, but that’s because we represent almost exclusively people who are not U.S. Citizens).   So the outcome is you lose your $725 filing fee for your Citizenship case and have to wait until you are finished with probation to file again. For some who are waiting to file a petition for parents or spouses and/or children as U.S. Citizens, the delay in Citizenship is a delay in processing times for these petitions. For parents, you must be a Citizen to file.  Thus, a reckless driving ticket conviction delays your family’s immigration case.

Let’s say you have DACA (deferred action for childhood arrivals), and you get a DUI (conviction) for driving while intoxicated. You will not be able to renew your DACA – end of the story. You just lost your driver’s license, work permit, and immigration status, allowing you to stay in the United States. Muy mal!

What if you’re a permanent resident? And you get convicted of simple possession of marijuana. But because it’s a first offense, the marijuana conviction gets dismissed after you do drug classes and a year of probation. If you travel out of the country after this, you may be denied entry as a Permanent Resident. The worst-case scenario I have seen is that you get arrested at a deferred inspection and are put in immigration removal proceedings. All this time, you’re detained (locked up in immigration jail) since there is no bond.

Of course, there are even more horrible stories of long-time permanent residents being deported after being convicted of petty crimes.

How do you avoid this?  If you are not a U.S. Citizen and you’ve been charged with a crime, you need to seek out a criminal defense attorney who is very knowledgeable about criminal defense AND immigration. We do seminars for other lawyers about the consequences of criminal convictions, but we still see these very bad yet common outcomes for criminal cases. And these outcomes are harming our clients and their families. Please, please, whether it is our law firm or another qualified firm, use a criminal defense lawyer who either knows about immigration or will hire an immigration attorney to help them figure it out.  Your life depends on it.

Call Gardner & Mendoza, P.C. at (757) 464-9224 or contact us online to schedule a consultation today!

Filed Under: Immigration Blog Articles

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Well, hard to believe… job done! I’m frank to admit I had no idea that it would be so involved compared to 10 years ago when I did the renewal myself. Happily I was fortunate enough to find the best people to help get it done this time. When I was a working stiff it was mostly as a field guy in sales & marketing. High tech communication in those days was a pay phone in customers’ lobbies, so someone back in the office skilled in dealing w/problems was absolutely essential when I couldn’t be contacted. Most of those who supported me that way were good at what they did, some were outstanding. None were better than you!! This tedious & sometimes worrisome process would have been unbearable without your keeping it, & me, on track. So we want to extend our thanks to you and Radlyn. Hoping for Gardner & Mendoza to continue the good work for many years to come. - Anonymous
Gardner and Mendoza Law Firm is a great law firm no matter what kind of situation you may be in! For example I had court today, John Gardner, my attorney represented me today and got the charged dismissed totally the first time we both appeared in front of the judge in Virginia Beach Traffic Court. He uses every bit of knowledge he can to help you get the best results!! He also works very well with Latinos! They have a Spanish speaking person in their office at all times!! - Sebastian
My husband and I had a great experience with Mrs. Mendoza. She provided excellent information and a sense of urgency with every step of our immigration process. Her team was always supportive in getting us the information we needed throughout the whole process. This legal firm also treats their clients with the highest levels of respect. In all of Virginia I would say that the Gardener & Mendoza team is the best recommendation for same sex immigration cases and for immigration cases in general. It was a pleasure to work with them. - Anonymous
I Highly Recommend Radlyn Mendoza, An Excellent Immigration Lawyer. My wife and I were very worried about my wife’s immigration and legal status. We were quite impressed with Attorney Mendoza during our initial consultation. She proved to be a smart, knowledgeable, and very capable immigration attorney. She and her staff were very helpful and responsive to all of our requests. Kudos to her and staff, especially Leesa, for successfully handling our case. Thanks for a job well done. - Thomas and Cheong W.
My daughter received a reckless driving ticket going 60 in a 35 mph zone, so understandably, I was very concerned. In court, Mr. Gardner was able to get the reckless driving charge and ticket completely dismissed due to his knowledge of what the police officer had to present in court. Mr. Gardner was a familiar face to the judge and the clerks in the Virginia Beach courthouse. When we contacted John Gardner’s office at Gardner & Mendoza, he and his staff made us feel comfortable by explaining the whole process to us. His track record and the reviews online helped make the decision to choose Mr. Gardner over other attorneys easy. I highly recommend Mr. Gardner. He gave us peace of mind and won the case too! - Michelle

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