Reentry after traveling abroad - Green Card with prior arrests

[ElGuapo88 19]

Hello.  I finally received my green card after a 9 month process.  Having been out of status for years, I am looking forward to finally traveling out of the country.  However, I have been seeing that people have had issues coming back into the country due to prior arrests.  I don't understand why this would be an issue if the arrests happened prior to receiving the green card.  You would think that if you were able to qualify for the green card, you would have no problems coming back in.  However, there have been people held for questioning, and even sent to deferred inspection where you run the risk of losing your green card.  Has anyone had any experiences with this?  The arrests were not crimes of moral turpitude, and did not affect me receiving my green card in any way.  

[Cyberfx1024 7,978]

7 minutes ago, ElGuapo88 said:

Hello.  I finally received my green card after a 9 month process.  Having been out of status for years, I am looking forward to finally traveling out of the country.  However, I have been seeing that people have had issues coming back into the country due to prior arrests.  I don't understand why this would be an issue if the arrests happened prior to receiving the green card.  You would think that if you were able to qualify for the green card, you would have no problems coming back in.  However, there have been people held for questioning, and even sent to deferred inspection where you run the risk of losing your green card.  Has anyone had any experiences with this?  The arrests were not crimes of moral turpitude, and did not affect me receiving my green card in any way.  

As long as everything was adjudicated and ok'd in the greencard process then you are fine. So don't worry just be happy. 

[f f 725]

do keep in mind it is possible to be inadmissible but nor deportable. so they won't force you out but they won't let you back in either

[IowacityGuy 152]

Just enjoy your trip.. while coming back they going to finger print you. If it comes up they might as your about the situation or take you to secondary inspection and once they see everything is settled.. they will put arrival stamp on your passport and they will let you go.. nothing to worry..

[Boiler 43,392]

Depends what it was, what does your lawyer say?

[Cyberfx1024 7,978]

40 minutes ago, f f said:

do keep in mind it is possible to be inadmissible but nor deportable. so they won't force you out but they won't let you back in either

That is if he has a criminal charges AFTER he got the greencard. But now that he has it and the charges were taken of in the past and everything was put forward during AOS then he is fine. 

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

You are always questioned when entering the US - that is nothing to worry about.

"Deferred inspection" isn't some place they take you to strip you of all your rights. You get pulled in either cause they have further questions or on random. This is also nothing to worry about. I agree with @cyberfx1024 - any inadmissibility issues would have prevented you from obtaining the GC in the first place.

Edited October 4, 2017 by Suss&Camm

[Boiler 43,392]

As has been mentioned something that passes for adjustment may not pass for admission.

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

34 minutes ago, Boiler said:

As has been mentioned something that passes for adjustment may not pass for admission.

Well that doesn't make sense - I know that there are different laws for deportability and inadmissability, but since the law of inadmissibility applies to aliens seeking adjustment of status, he should have already been deemed admissible in the AOS process

 

edit - unless - the crimes were committed after the AOS of course. 

Edited October 4, 2017 by Suss&Camm

[Boiler 43,392]

8 minutes ago, Suss&Camm said:

Well that doesn't make sense - I know that there are different laws for deportability and inadmissability, but since the law of inadmissibility applies to aliens seeking adjustment of status, he should have already been deemed admissible in the AOS process

 

edit - unless - the crimes were committed after the AOS of course. 

Why should it make sense?

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

11 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Why should it make sense?

Because otherwise it sounds like you're just making stuff up 

 

I agree with what @f f said that one can be not deportable but inadmissible. My point is that the same law that applies for inadmissibility when you seek admission at the border applies when you apply for AOS. Therefore inadmissibility for the OP should only apply to new crimes that haven't already been scrutinized.

Edited October 4, 2017 by Suss&Camm

[mindthegap 2,521]

1 hour ago, Boiler said:

As has been mentioned something that passes for adjustment may not pass for admission.

True, but in such an event, as a LPR they do have the right to see an immigration judge who would (hopefully) determine that any prior crimes that were disclosed in full during the AOS are not a barrier to admission.

 

 

I concur with the general consensus above, that as long as it is not a new crime, they shouldn't worry (much).

[ElGuapo88 19]

Thanks all for your input.  My attorney thinks I should have no problems.  As mentioned by others above, USUALLY the only issues are with people that have been arrested after the AOS process is completed and green card received, or with previous crimes of moral turpitude, neither of which are my case.  However, as with a lot of things in immigration law, this is a grey area.  There is no black and white law that states that once you receive a green card, you are allowed back into the USA every time.  Because of this, the best way to see what might happen is to look at the experiences of others.  A quick google search of "reentry into USA with green card with prior arrests" will quickly bring up many first hand accounts of people having issues returning.  Sometimes just questioning, which seems normal.  But sometimes they get a deferred inspection where it seems they basically go through the entire vetting process again and could ultimately be brought to removal proceedings.

 

Trust me, it makes no sense to me at all that after disclosing all this information during AOS and receiving a green card that it would be an issue coming back into the country.  You'd think that once you pass all their "tests", you'd be good to go.  But that doesn't seem to be the case.  Some people say "why risk it by traveling", and I agree that the risk isn't worth the reward if the risk we're talking about is not being allowed back into the country and the reward is simply drinking margaritas in the Caribbean.  But after not being able to travel for so many years, I'm itching to go see the world. 

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

1 minute ago, ElGuapo88 said:

 There is no black and white law that states that once you receive a green card, you are allowed back into the USA every time.

That is true for anyone at any time. Good that you got some advise from your lawyer on how to proceed.

[ElGuapo88 19]

1 minute ago, Suss&Camm said:

That is true for anyone at any time. Good that you got some advise from your lawyer on how to proceed.

Here is the entire email I got from my lawyer.  It did make me feel better, however, there is no lawyer that can tell me with 100% certainty that I won't have any issues since it's totally up to the CBP agent I get when coming back in.  I have read experiences where people come and go 9 times with no issues, but then the 10th time they see something they don't like.

 

And FYI the arrests were DUI (under legal limit, charges dropped) and driving with expired license over 6 months (guilty).  

 

Secondary inspection does usually happen. For your type of arrest though, you should not be given deferred inspection. What that normally is entails them paroling you in, taking the resident card and asking the person to show up with certified copies of the criminal records. However, it is normally reserved for offenses such as drug offenses, suspected immigration fraud, crimes involving moral turpitude (child abuse, burglary, crimes of violence, etc.). Basically, issues which could make a permanent resident (or conditional) removable.

 

In your case, all should be fine. You MAY be pulled to secondary, but may not even. DUI is not a deportable or inadmissible offense, so deferred inspection wouldn’t be appropriate. Definitely a great question, but I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Coming back from Venezuela, I could see higher scrutiny under this administration, Caribbean- you are fine. And as we discussed, I think Venezuela travel ban involves people with political ties or government ties, and I think also is limited to non-immigrant entry (visas) as opposed to returning residents.

 

You should be fine. And yes, I do have tons of experience with deferred inspection and removal cases, and I definitely don’t think you have anything to worry about. Yes, the overstay is no longer an issue either you are correct on that, basically the approval of residence means that is all past, and free to travel. The issue becomes normally where people are arrested AFTER they become residents (quite common unfortunately).

  

Please feel free to email anytime with any questions. But, rest assured you should be good to go.