Charges after filing N-400

[Ashokanna 7]

Hello, my wife filed her N-400 in January, and based on current processing times, we expect her interview soon. However, she was involved in an incident this past Thursday. She left our 15-month-old child in the car briefly to make a quick purchase. A bystander called 911; the police arrived, detained her, and charged her with a felony under PC 273a(a). Our baby is fine and suffered no injuries. We are currently seeking legal counsel and have the following questions:

1. How will this affect her citizenship application? Is a denial inevitable?

2. If the charge is reduced to a misdemeanor, will it still negatively impact her path to citizenship?

Any suggestions, comments, or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated. We are devastated and unsure of how to proceed.

[Verrou 1,995]

40 minutes ago, Ashokanna said:

Hello, my wife filed her N-400 in January, and based on current processing times, we expect her interview soon. However, she was involved in an incident this past Thursday. She left our 15-month-old child in the car briefly to make a quick purchase. A bystander called 911; the police arrived, detained her, and charged her with a felony under PC 273a(a). Our baby is fine and suffered no injuries. We are currently seeking legal counsel and have the following questions:

1. How will this affect her citizenship application? Is a denial inevitable?

2. If the charge is reduced to a misdemeanor, will it still negatively impact her path to citizenship?

Any suggestions, comments, or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated. We are devastated and unsure of how to proceed.

This is way beyond VJ’s pay grade. I hope she finds an immigration lawyer in addition to a criminal defense lawyer. It’s best to have both working together, since a criminal defense lawyer may not know much about immigration, especially now that she has already filed her N-400.

Does she already have court dates? Hopefully she can sort everything out quickly before the N-400 interview. In my humble peasant opinion, when she has her N-400 interview, she should just show up, be honest about the situation, and hope for the best.

this is just me talking : It will probably be considered an issue related to good moral character. Given the current climate, getting her N-400 denied might be the least of her problems. What if the conviction affects her LPR status as well? That’s something to think about. Hopefully, it won’t impact her LPR status.
If it doesn’t, at least she will still be a green card holder and can apply for citizenship again five years after the conviction is resolved. By then, hopefully immigration laws will be different.

 

keep us posted and good luck. Sorry it happened to you and your family

[Sweetdreaming 400]

8 hours ago, Ashokanna said:

Hello, my wife filed her N-400 in January, and based on current processing times, we expect her interview soon. However, she was involved in an incident this past Thursday. She left our 15-month-old child in the car briefly to make a quick purchase. A bystander called 911; the police arrived, detained her, and charged her with a felony under PC 273a(a). Our baby is fine and suffered no injuries. We are currently seeking legal counsel and have the following questions:

1. How will this affect her citizenship application? Is a denial inevitable?

2. If the charge is reduced to a misdemeanor, will it still negatively impact her path to citizenship?

Any suggestions, comments, or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated. We are devastated and unsure of how to proceed.

I mean if the police managed to turn up to the car before she got back to it she must have been gone quite a while and more than I would consider "briefly", maybe there's more to it so I would suggest it's explained better to USCIS.

Going by just what you have stated here even if it's reduced to misdemeanor I don't think they will look on this favorably at all.

[Crazy Cat 46,553]

! agree with @Verrou.  This requires a good immigration attorney.  In addition, imo,  failure to disclose this at the interview (assuming she doesn't withdraw the N-400) could result in bigger problems later.  Good luck.

[Crazy Cat 46,553]

***Topic and replies split from an existing N-400 thread***  

[Ashokanna 7]

Thanks for all the support and feedback. Here are the responses to a few of the questions above:

1. The court date is set for the end of this month, but the attorneys are saying it will take 3–5 months for the arraignment.

2. She was away for 25 minutes. She went in for a quick "in-and-out" trip, but once inside, she remembered other things she needed and lost track of time. This is not an excuse for leaving the baby in the car, but rather an elaboration on what happened. What occurred was wrong.

3. I am talking to several criminal and immigration lawyers but have not finalized a decision yet. Criminal lawyer fees range from $2,500 to $25,000. It is very difficult to understand what I might be missing when choosing one over the other. Being unsure of what to ask is making the selection process more difficult.

Other questions:

1. Should we volunteer this information during the interview, or only respond if asked?

2. Can we withdraw the N-400 now and wait another five years? Is that a possibility, and would it be a good or bad idea?

 

[Crazy Cat 46,553]

17 minutes ago, Ashokanna said:

 

Other questions:

1. Should we volunteer this information during the interview, or only respond if asked?

2. Can we withdraw the N-400 now and wait another five years? Is that a possibility, and would it be a good or bad idea?

 

 

 

My Opinion as a non-attorney

1.  I would absolutely volunteer this info.  Failure to do so could result in misrepresentation later....talk to your immigration attorney.

2.  Yes, she can.  However, I would consult with an immigration attorney before deciding to doing so or not.

Edited 1 hour ago by Crazy Cat

[TBoneTX 49,692]

I agree 100% with Crazy Cat.