Musings on Immigration

Does My Criminal Record Ever Go Away? I get many questions about whether someone can erase their criminal record after completing probation or after the passage of a certain amount of time. In the United States, your criminal convictions are never automatically taken off your record just due to the passage of time. If you have a conviction from 1999, that conviction will appear on your criminal record the same way in 1999 as in 2015. Nothing changes. You may petition the court to withdraw a guilty plea or file a petition for habeas corpus to vacate your plea. These motions and petitions can be granted if there were constitutional or other issues with your plea. But there are strict time limits for these motion and petitions. A motion to withdraw a guilty plea almost always must be filed within the same "term of court." That could be two months or even one day after your plea. A petition for habeas corpus must be filed within 180 days after a conviction for a traffic offen...

Most people think that you can only have a “conviction” on your record if you plea guilty to a crime or are found guilty at trial. And even then, you might hear that if you “pay everything” or have no problems on probation that your record will be clean. Right? WRONG! You do not have to plead guilty to a crime, or even be charged with one, to have a conviction under the immigration laws. What immigration considers a "conviction" Under ​INA 101(a​)(​48)(A)​, immigration defines conviction as: “a formal judgment of guilt of the alien entered by a court or, if adjudication of guilt has been withheld , where - (i) a judge or jury has found the alien guilty or the alien has entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere or has admitted sufficient facts to warrant a finding of guilt , and (ii) the judge has ordered some form of punishment, penalty, or restraint on the alien's liberty to be imposed. Wait – a conviction even “if adjudication of guilty has been withh...

Porque a partir de Noviembre 20, 2014, el Departamento de Seguridad Nacional (“DHS” por sus siglas en Ingles), tiene nuevas prioridades de deportación ( http://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/14_1120_memo_prosecutorial_discretion.pdf ). Si usted no es ciudadano Americano y su situación conlleva uno de los escenarios descritos aquí abajo, usted podría caer en un centro de detención: • Usted tiene una condena por una felonía; • Usted ha sido recientemente aprehendido en la frontera con Estados Unidos; • Usted tienen una condena por una felonía agravada como está definida en la sección         101(a)(43) de Acta de Naturalización e Inmigración (“INA” por sus siglas en inglés); • Usted tiene una condena por un misdemeanor significante (por ejemplo, ofensas de         DUI, violencia doméstica, abuso sexual, robo, armas de fuego, y distribución y         trafico de droga); • Usted entró a los Estados Unidos...

On March 4, 2013, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services implemented a new Provisional Waiver process for those individuals who are married to a United States citizen, or who have a USC parent or child, but the applicant is not legally eligible to file for a green card in the U.S. because they entered the country without inspection.   This new process allows applicants to file the waiver application in the United States and await a decision before having to depart the U.S. for a consular interview.   Until now, if there was a reason to believe an individual that an applicant may be subject to grounds of inadmissibility related to any criminal issues at the time of their interview, the officer would determine they are automatically ineligible for the provisional unlawful presence waiver.   Today, USCIS issued a Memorandum providing field guidance that is mandatory for all USCIS officials.   The Field Guidance states the following key points that MUST be fo...