Recently, I attended a citizenship interview with a green card holder client who had a criminal conviction (computer fraud) from 1997. His conviction did not make him deportable or inadmissible under the immigration laws. I tried to explain this to the Department of Homeland Security when they stopped him at the airport in 2013, took his green card away from him, and started a removal case against him. I tried to convince them not to waste their time or resources (and my client’s time and resources). The DHS did not listen. In immigration court, I filed a motion to terminate my client’s removal case, and argued that he was not deportable from or inadmissible to the United States because of his one conviction. The immigration judge agreed with us that the client was not deportable or inadmissible and terminated the removal proceedings at the very first hearing. I then filed the client’s naturalization case and recently, his case was approved! Needless to say, he is beyond thrilled after having waited almost 20 years to become a US citizen!
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