IMMIGRANTS AND ARRESTS

This section aims to provide:

prospective immigrants
green card holders, also referred to as resident alients.
other visa holders visiting the US as international students, tourist, exchange visitors and work programs

information on how the US criminal justice system can affect their visa status if they are involved in a crime involving moral turpitude.

Moral turpitude is a legal concept in the USA which refers to"conduct that is considered contrary to community standards of justice, honesty or good morals." It is of great importance for immigration purposes, as only those offences which are defined as involving moral turpitude are considered bars to immigration into the USA.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_turpitude

"Moral turpitude" is a Federal immigration issue but don’t let that fool you when it comes to the involvement of the local criminal justice system! Immigrants need to understand "moral turpitude" because it makes legal immigrants "deportable" or bar returning immigrants back into the country.

Importantly, to be subject to "moral turpitude" guidelines would involve your local criminal justice system i.e. police, detectives, probation, prosecutors, etc charging you with crimes that involve moral turpitude. In other words, the Federal Government is rarely going to deport you under "moral turpitude" without the involvement of your local law enforcement.

Moral turpitude has therefore, created a system of fear amongst legal immigrants who know and understand the dilemma they face with these laws. Those that are not aware of the law, don’t concern themselves with it, believing that they can’t be affected by something that is only meant for hardened criminals! Think again.

We have already spoken about the good people in law enforcement; we have also mentioned those (and there are few of them) that are in the justice system only to abuse their power. We aren’t the only ones saying this. A look at other web sites involving the criminal justice system and/or a look at local newspapers will highlight from time to time the problems that we do have with an abuse of power in the criminal justice system. This is not a new topic. As an immigrant, what you need to concern yourself with is that you don’t come into contact with any one in law enforcement that abuses power. Some will set you up with the type of charges that will make you breach "moral turpitude" and therefore, make you deportable. As an example: if you were deserving of a misdemeanor trespassing charge, you could instead be given a burglary charge which is a felony charge along with other charges. Again, this may not seem to be the norm but it does happen. The criminal justice system will then deal with you and at the end of it, hand you over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) who can then detain you and try to deport you.

So, how can this happen? How can local law enforcement and prosecutors have such an affect on your life in immigration matters?

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There is much collaboration now between federal immigration and local (criminal justice) police and related law enforcement services. This is good for the community because it helps get a handle on those immigrants and other visitors that abuse our laws. However, this collaboration also provides some in local law enforcement with powers that they can and do abuse. This group (those that abuse their power) in law enforcement will create a scenario that will create the most disruption to your life and set you up to breach "moral turpitude" immigration guidelines that will make you deportable. (If you then don’t have an immigration lawyer, you will be forced to say goodbye to your life in America. It is as simple as that.)

This section discusses some aspects of the post criminal justice phase and how you can end up in immigration detention and subject to deportation from the US. The worst case scenario is that you can be held in any US immigration detention center whilst your case goes through immigration court (yes, this is after your criminal court case).

So where does this begin? Why does it happen, particularly to US resident aliens (green card holders)?

The reason the process of deportation for crimes began when the US decided that they would not accept people involved in certain crimes to remain in the US. In other words, they would have the right to withdraw resident status or indeed any other visa from immigrants and other visitors, when it was believed there was a crime committed that fell within the guidelines of "moral turpitude". Moral turpitude generally speaking consists of crimes that fall within the category of "felony" and/or other crimes that raise issues and concerns of moral character. This is good for us as a community. We have enough problems so we don’t need to import even more problems!

The issue therefore, is not about the US Department of Homeland Security’s (HOM) decision to have a law that protects America because this law is good news for America! The issue generally for people caught up in this law is that this law does not take into account the many problems we currently have in the criminal justice system which involves some issues of abuse of power and charging individuals with the wrong crimes and therefore, making them breach the `moral turpitude’ law. It is unfair for these individuals to then also be subjected to more injustice through the deportation charge.

Again, there is little doubt that some resident aliens and other visa holders must face deportation because they have done some awfully bad things in this country and we do not need criminal elements here. This is a good thing. However, there are many good people also languishing in immigration detention centers because they did something awfully stupid but not deserving of a "felony" charge; some then accept a plea deal because they got told by prosecutors that they’d get 5, 10 and 15 years for their crimes. So, what would you do if you are an immigrant, possibly not English speaking or come from a country where there is a fear of police, you do not commit a crime or commit a crime but do not believe it deserves the charges that are being levied against you? Importantly you are poor. What would you do? Usually this group of immigrants will accept a plea deal so they can move on with their lives and untangle themselves out of the justice system because they are told they are likely to remain in jail for long periods.

Do not discount the possibility that some in our criminal justice system that want to exploit their power, know fully well what is considered "moral turpitude" and will set you up with a higher level charge just so that you are inconvenienced through the criminal justice system and then nabbed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and subjected to deportation. Therefore, as a resident alien or the holder of a visa in the US, a plea deal for a felony charge and even some non felony charges can get you picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a section of the Department of Homeland Security (HOS).

So, while you are in the criminal justice system, don’t accept a plea deal if you are innocent unless you are concerned that you won’t get a fair trial for whatever reason. Remember also if the charge involves a breach of "moral turpitude" guidelines in the criminal justice system, you will leave yourself open to deportation unless you get an immigration lawyer and fight this through immigration court and of course there is never a guarantee that you will succeed.

Detention at an immigration detention center is not easy - just like the criminal justice system, it will also expose you to the worst elements in our society; some awful criminals who definitely need to be deported for some awful crimes. The most important thing for you to do is to get yourself a good lawyer and we mean a "good" lawyer and there are many good lawyers. Therefore, choose carefully. If you can’t afford a lawyer, see if you are entitled to free legal advice.

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In summary, if you are a resident (and not yet a US citizen) be very wary of accepting a plea deal for a felony and even a non-felony as ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) will be picking you up soon after you take your plea deal! We might add that in the Miami/Ft Lauderdale area the cost to hire a good immigration attorney is a minimum of $12,000 just to get you through the court system. This is a minimum and this is after all you have been through and paid for in your criminal court case. Therefore, if you are not guilty or if you believe the police are charging you with the wrong crime, fight the case unless you have a strong feeling that the area you live in may have a jury that could be biased. Some will disagree but when it comes to your life, do not take any chances. If you are a minority in an area that has very few minorities and there are racial tensions in that region, don’t expect an unbiased jury. You may have no choice but to accept a plea deal or to get a high profile lawyer (a dream team) and fight your case.

Also read the information at Arrest/Probation/Plea