Deportation Defense Attorney Tampa

Deportation Defense

“Immigration law is a mystery and a mastery of obfuscation, and the lawyers who can figure it out are worth their weight in gold.” – CIS spokeswoman Karen Kraushaar

Immigration laws are extremely complex and obscure. Failure to properly defend charges of removal may result in catastrophic consequences, including being barred from re-entering the United States for three, ten, twenty years or even permanently. It is, therefore, important to analyze each case, including the person’s current status (whether out of status or a legal permanent resident), their length of time in the United States, and other mitigating factors.

Whether or not an individual is eligible for relief from deportation may depend on whether the Department of Homeland Security is charging the individual as “an arriving alien”, “an alien present in the United States who has not been admitted or paroled”, or as an alien who has “been admitted to the United States” but is now deportable. For example, a legal permanent resident who is currently in the United States, and who never departs the United States, may be free from any immigration consequences for a criminal charge previously lodged against him or her. However, should that same individual depart the country, they may be denied admission upon their return to the United States and instead placed in detention as they await removal proceedings.

The controlling law with regard to immigration is set forth in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Within the INA, circumstances that make an individual either inadmissible (INA § 212) or deportable (INA § 237) are categorized. Below you will find a sample of some of these categories:

INA § 212(a)(1)(A)(i): Any alien who is determined (in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services) to have a communicable disease of public health significance is inadmissible.
INA § 212(a)(2)(A)(i): Any alien convicted of, or who admits having committed, or who admits committing acts which constitute the essential elements of (I) a crime involving moral turpitude (other than a purely political offense or an attempt or conspiracy to commit such a crime), or
(II) a violation of (or a conspiracy or attempt to violate) any law or regulation of a State, the United States, or a foreign country relating to a controlled substance (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802)), is inadmissible.
INA § 212(a)(2)(B): Any alien convicted of 2 or more offenses (other than purely political offenses), regardless of whether the conviction was in a single trial or whether the offenses arose from a single scheme of misconduct and regardless of whether the offenses involved moral turpitude, for which the aggregate sentences to confinement were 5 years or more is inadmissible.
• INA § 212(a)(2)(C): Any alien who the consular officer or the Attorney General knows or has reason to believe (i) is or has been an illicit trafficker in any controlled substance or in any listed chemical (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802)), or is or has been a knowing aider, abettor, assister, conspirator, or colluder with others in the illicit trafficking in any such controlled or listed substance or chemical, or endeavored to do so; or (ii) is the spouse, son, or daughter of an alien inadmissible under clause (i), has, within the previous 5 years, obtained any financial or other benefit from the illicit activity of that alien, and knew or reasonably should have known that the financial or other benefit was the product of such illicit activity, is inadmissible.
INA § 237 (a)(1)(A): Any alien who at the time of entry or adjustment of status was within one or more of the classes of aliens inadmissible by the law existing at such time is deportable.
INA § 237 (a)(1)(B): Any alien who is present in the United States in violation of this Act or any other law of the United States, or whose nonimmigrant visa (or other documentation authorizing admission into the United States as a nonimmigrant) has been revoked …, is deportable.
INA § 237 (a)(1)(C)(i): Any alien who was admitted as a nonimmigrant and who has failed to maintain the nonimmigrant status in which the alien was admitted or to which it was changed …, or to comply with the conditions of any such status, is deportable.
INA § 237 (a)(1)(D): Termination of conditional permanent residence. (i) Any alien with permanent resident status on a conditional basis under section 216 (relating to conditional permanent resident status for certain alien spouses and sons and daughters) or under section 216A (relating to conditional permanent resident status for certain alien entrepreneurs, spouses, and children) who has had such status terminated under such respective section is deportable.
INA § 237 (a)(1) (G): Marriage Fraud - An alien shall be considered to be deportable as having procured a visa or other documentation by fraud (within the meaning of section 212(a)(6)(C)(i)) and to be in the United States in violation of this Act (within the meaning of subparagraph (B)) if (i) the alien obtains any admission into the United States with an immigrant visa or other documentation procured on the basis of a marriage entered into less than 2 years prior to such entry of the alien and which, within 2 years subsequent to any admission of the alien in the United States, shall be judicially annulled or terminated, unless the alien establishes to the satisfaction of the Attorney General that such marriage was not contracted for the purpose of evading any provisions of the immigration laws, or (ii) it appears to the satisfaction of the Attorney General that the alien has failed or refused to fulfill the alien's marital agreement which in the opinion of the Attorney General was made for the purpose of procuring the alien's admission as an immigrant.
INA § 237 (a)(2)(A)(i): Any alien who (I) is convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude committed within five years … after the date of admission, and (II) is convicted of a crime for which a sentence of one year or longer may be imposed is deportable.
INA § 237 (a)(2)(A)(ii): Any alien who at any time after admission is convicted of two or more crimes involving moral turpitude, not arising out of a single scheme of criminal misconduct, regardless of whether confined therefore and regardless of whether the convictions were in a single trial, is deportable.
§ 237 (a)(2)(A)(iii): Any alien who is convicted of an aggravated felony (as defined by INA §101(a)(43)) at any time after admission is deportable.
INA §237(a)(2)(E)(i): Any alien who at any time after admission is convicted of a crime of domestic violence, a crime of stalking, or a crime of child abuse, child neglect, or child abandonment is deportable.

If you, or a loved one, are facing removal (i.e., deportation) from the United States and you need competent and zealous representation, please contact Diaz Shafer, P.A. Our firm will give you an honest and well-informed analysis of your case.