Concerned About Deportation? Watch This.
If you are an immigrant, especially one who does not have legal status, you are probably worried about being deported and, you should be. You have probably asked yourself, what will get me deported? or how can I avoid deportation? Here’s a quick rundown of common things that will get you deported and how to avoid them. Please take a minute to watch our video and read through this article, then give us a call or chat with us about fixing your legal status once and for all.
President Biden Won’t Save You From Deportation.
I know that many people breathed a big sigh of relief when the Biden administration came into office in January 2021. Especially when Biden immediately started getting rid of the more harmful immigration policies put into place by Trump. However, that doesn’t mean that you can do whatever you want as an immigrant.
Biden has always been a strong advocate for deportations of criminals throughout his political career. Especially because Biden wants to get some immigration reform passed, I think he will continue to have this same policy because it makes Republicans happy. And if Republicans are happy with his stance on certain things to do with immigration – like being tough on crime with immigrants – they may be more likely to pass some of the reforms he’d like for immigration.
My name is Andres Mejer; I’m an immigrant, author, immigration rights advocate, and immigration attorney based in New Jersey. I help people to get a legal status no matter where they are in the US. I started helping people with their immigration issues because my family had a bad experience with an immigration attorney when I was growing up. My family paid an attorney to help us get our green cards, and they didn’t do anything. We lived in the shadows for many years until we could get legal and eventually become U.S. citizens.
Things to Avoid if You Do Not Want to Get Deported
First, maybe I should explain what it means to be deported. Being deported means, the US Government sends you back to your home country or the country you came from. This is done through a process called removal, but what we commonly call deportation.
Here is the shortlist of things that could get you deported from the United States:
If you came to the US without a visa, you could be deported. In other words, you entered the United States without legal permission from the United States government.
Suppose you came to the US with a visa and overstayed your visa. This is pretty straightforward; you came to the US with legal permission, but that legal permission said that you needed to leave by a specific date, and you failed to do so.
Failure to abide by the rules of your current visa. All visas have rules that you can or cannot do while you are in the United States. You agree to follow the rules before your visa is issued. Break those rules; you could be deported.
Let me give you a few examples:
- If you come to the US being sponsored by an employer and start your own business or go to work for a different employer, you are opening yourself up to being deported.
- If you entered the US on a tourist visa (B1/B2) and you work while here, you violate the terms of that visa, and you could be deported.
- If you’re here on your student visa and you’re not attending school or attending school, but you are working more than you should, you could be deported.
Failure to let USCIS know of a change of address could get you deported. Immigrants living in the United States must notify the USCIS with 10 days of your move that your address has or will change. If you do not notify the USCIS that you have moved, you may not receive important notices that require you to do things like appearing in immigration court. Being deported for failing to notify USCIS of your address change is not common, but it does happen, so why risk it?
You commit a crime. Most minor offenses won’t get you deported, but there are a few crimes that are generally considered minor that could. Immigration officials call the crimes that could get you deported crimes of moral turpitude. The list of crimes of moral turpitude is long, but it includes things like:
- Sex crimes (rape, child molestation, etc.)
- Drug possession or distribution
- Aggravated felonies
- Domestic violence and other violent crimes
- Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol
- And many, many more.
If you are an immigrant, any serious and some not-so-serious crimes could get you deported. If you are arrested for any reason, contact another immigration attorney who is also an experienced criminal defense for help immediately or us.
Violation of US Immigration law. There are thousands of pages in the US Immigration Code, and you could potentially be deported for not obeying any one of them. However, one of the most common ways to get deported is by committing fraud on your immigration application. You are committing immigration fraud if, for example, you marry someone only to get your green card. It doesn’t matter if you marry your best friend or pay a US citizen to marry you; if you do it only to get your green card, you commit fraud and could be deported for it.
Receiving public assistance or becoming a public charge. When you are an immigrant, you sign forms that you won’t use government benefits until you’re a US citizen. Violating this could make you deportable. When you immigrate to the US, you (and your sponsor) tell the US Government that you can afford to live here and will not become a public charge (like collecting some form of welfare). If you then start collecting public assistance before you are a US citizen, you could be deported. While this is rarely enforced, you may be the exception who gets deported. Avoid becoming a public charge; it is better safe than deported.
Contact us to stop deportation proceedings.
For the most part, if you heed the advice above, you will avoid deportation, but if you find yourself facing removal or deportation, give us a call or chat with us online. We truly care about immigrants because we were immigrants once, just like you.
