We think later I may be facing deportation,PLEASE HELP!

[milleniumgirl 0]

My husband and me don't know what to do and are totally lost.

On August 2008 I applied to remove the conditions based on my marriage(2nd green card),received the letter extending permit to travel as well as the time to work,fingerpints were done too.My time to receive this second green card for 10 years expires on august 2009.On october 2008 I was diagnosed with an:"acute anxiety reaction",while having a relapse of symptoms my husband tried to calm me down but unintentionaly with my hands I left a red spot and scratch on his arm,wich i don't remember doing it and now mention and know only cause my husband told me about it later.He called the clinic to find a dr,there was no dr,he was told to call the police, because they could take me to ER in a hospital.They arrived ,asked us general questions about what was happening,they center their attention on my husband's red arm not on me needing to see a dr and told us that since"violence had ocurred"they had to arrest me anyways and charge me with:"assault causing bodily injury to a family member" and at the jail they'd decide if i had to go to the hospital or not.My husband and me agreed to whatever they said,big mistake we now think... they recorded him with their video camera making a statement to the judge saying clearly that his call was not to complain of family violence but to get help for me,to be taken to a hospital!After this i was arrested,put in jail for one night ,still sick and they never took me to the hospital.The next day my husband went to get me out of jail on bonds,they had already given me a court date to go,we thought to drop the charges due to the misunderstanding and circumstances, But he was told a big: "NO! "even if you want to drop the charges the state of Texas is now prosecuting your wife,all you can do since there is already a court date is to let the court know about your wife sickness, ask for deferred probation and complete the probation so her case can be dismissed"

during the period of time waiting for the court date we didn't hire a lawyer,we do not have the money and due to my medical condition back then i lost my job, so there was not and there is not money for one.Now I'm on deferred ,it is supposed to be completed sucessfully now in march, (even tho i was given 270 days for it,community service,class of anger management(ironic)and keep it up with therapy and meds,wich I have done)the police officer in charge of my case has encouraged me to finish it as soon as I can,pay the fees,finish community service and after the completation of all this requirements,my case is supposed to be dismissed but I found out that :

1)If a defendant (me)successfully completes a deferred adjudication, the judge must dismiss the case against the defendant, leaving the official record to show that the defendant has not been convicted of a crime. However, there are other laws that contradict that conclusion.

2) Federal law also has altered the concept of deferred adjudication by treating even a successfully completed supervision as a conviction for the purpose of deciding immigration status. This change, made in 1996, was applied retroactively and has resulted in the removal of numerous defendants who otherwise would not have qualified for deportationby federal law and maybe deported.

So as you can read law is hard to understand...

I was adviced by this immigration lawyer about most of my case, but still it is not clear to us...due to the way my case was treated at court and the way is being treated now with the deferred adjudication(point number 1 and 2)

1)"If the charges are dismissed, USCIS cannot use the charges against you. You would either have to have an adjudication of guilt or a withhold of adjudication. But a full dismissal, a not guilty, or a nolle pros would be what you would need so that USCIS cannot use it. So negotiate that with the prosecution and you should be ok"

2)"No. Nolle Pros is just that the prosecutor has decided not to prosecute the case. It is almost as good as a dismissal.

You would need to clarify with the prosecutor if your case is getting dismissed or if they have agreed just not to prosecute the case.

When you plead no contest, you are not saying you are guilty, but you are not saying that you are not guilty either. You just need to make sure it is a dismissal or a nolle pros. If they are going to do a Withhold of Adjudication, then that will not help you. Better to fight it and present the medical evidence to get an acquital"

3)The adjudication is what worries me. You have to hope that they will change that to a dismissal or a nolle pros at the end of your probation because if not, it is going to be a problem for you. Now is the time to handle it because even if you present evidence of your medical problem to immigration, they will not re-litigate a criminal case. So you have to handle that now during the criminal case.

4)yes, you should hire a criminal lawyer.

sweat...now, that money is the last thing we have,my case do not apply for appeal,it is a plea bargain...I plead "no contest" and this doesn't qualify on the "not guilty" categories...The day at the court the judge asked me:how do you declare yourself, guilty or not guilty? and I answered: what?I do not know your honor,I was told to ask for deferred probation?...and she aksed me do you admit what happened?and I told her the truth!:"I do not have memories of what happenned I was sick at the moment of the incident" and then she said:"mrs xx,the police report says that with your hands you left a red spot and scratch on your husband's arm",are you telling me that you do not remember what happenned?in that case you can plea no contest",so after I hear what she told me I said "yes, I do not remember what happenened,I plea no contest"."Ok", she said,I'm going to put you on deferred adjudication,community service 40hours,anger management class and keep it up with therapy and medicine if given to treat your condition, you're dismissed!

I left the court thinking that everything was going to be ok...believe me if I knew that no contest was considered " guilty" I would have said "not guilty" immediatelly, i had just been told to ask deferred I thought I had to do that in front of the judge.Hell of advice I got!

Also since I'm on probation it has been horrible to try to find a job,nobody has given me a chance, neither to explain neither to nothing!!They see me as a criminal,worse as an "immigrant criminal",I have feelt humilliated...employers have been ready to judge me and even ask me crazy questions thinking that an anxiety reaction means to be insane forever...and not a sickness that can happens to anyone.My husband and me are sad, because we both know what happenned was not a criminal act,it was "me not being myself and being sick",our relationship is plenty of true love and it is real!We have gone thorugh several things together,miscarriages,losing jobs,plenty of money, few money,sicknesses,being left alone by some family members and the church,etc but we're still together because we love each other!!

At this point we do not know what to think, what to do?there is not money for a lawyer,neither two lawyer as it seems i may need one crminal lawyer now and later an immigration lawyer...

Does anyone here who is reading my case see the hope we can't see?I 'm sorry any christians here,no offesne, but we DO NOT FEEL GOD IS with us,since we found out about the posibilty of me being deported due to this crapy situation there is no day that I do no cry over this, my hubby is trying hard working 80 hours and more to cover our life together,we both and each other are our only support,PLEASE ANYONE ADVICE US WHAT WE CAN DO?ANYONE ON THE SAME OR SIMILAR SITUATION? if we can not hire lawyers how should we comfront this situation in front of USCIS?Are they really going to be that hard on me?Thank you everybody and I'm sorry about this very long post,but we really need to get advice,help,info,anything.

[John24689 0]

I would contact Catholic Charities. They may be able to help you or refer you to someone who can. I do think you definitely need a lawyer. Good luck.

[Chocolot 0]

I am so sorry to hear of your situation, hold on and stay strong. We all know the stresses immigration can put upon us. I don't have any helpful answer but wish you the very best.

My husband and me don't know what to do and are totally lost.

On August 2008 I applied to remove the conditions based on my marriage(2nd green card),received the letter extending permit to travel as well as the time to work,fingerpints were done too.My time to receive this second green card for 10 years expires on august 2009.On october 2008 I was diagnosed with an:"acute anxiety reaction",while having a relapse of symptoms my husband tried to calm me down but unintentionaly with my hands I left a red spot and scratch on his arm,wich i don't remember doing it and now mention and know only cause my husband told me about it later.He called the clinic to find a dr,there was no dr,he was told to call the police, because they could take me to ER in a hospital.They arrived ,asked us general questions about what was happening,they center their attention on my husband's red arm not on me needing to see a dr and told us that since"violence had ocurred"they had to arrest me anyways and charge me with:"assault causing bodily injury to a family member" and at the jail they'd decide if i had to go to the hospital or not.My husband and me agreed to whatever they said,big mistake we now think... they recorded him with their video camera making a statement to the judge saying clearly that his call was not to complain of family violence but to get help for me,to be taken to a hospital!After this i was arrested,put in jail for one night ,still sick and they never took me to the hospital.The next day my husband went to get me out of jail on bonds,they had already given me a court date to go,we thought to drop the charges due to the misunderstanding and circumstances, But he was told a big: "NO! "even if you want to drop the charges the state of Texas is now prosecuting your wife,all you can do since there is already a court date is to let the court know about your wife sickness, ask for deferred probation and complete the probation so her case can be dismissed"

during the period of time waiting for the court date we didn't hire a lawyer,we do not have the money and due to my medical condition back then i lost my job, so there was not and there is not money for one.Now I'm on deferred ,it is supposed to be completed sucessfully now in march, (even tho i was given 270 days for it,community service,class of anger management(ironic)and keep it up with therapy and meds,wich I have done)the police officer in charge of my case has encouraged me to finish it as soon as I can,pay the fees,finish community service and after the completation of all this requirements,my case is supposed to be dismissed but I found out that :

1)If a defendant (me)successfully completes a deferred adjudication, the judge must dismiss the case against the defendant, leaving the official record to show that the defendant has not been convicted of a crime. However, there are other laws that contradict that conclusion.

2) Federal law also has altered the concept of deferred adjudication by treating even a successfully completed supervision as a conviction for the purpose of deciding immigration status. This change, made in 1996, was applied retroactively and has resulted in the removal of numerous defendants who otherwise would not have qualified for deportationby federal law and maybe deported.

So as you can read law is hard to understand...

I was adviced by this immigration lawyer about most of my case, but still it is not clear to us...due to the way my case was treated at court and the way is being treated now with the deferred adjudication(point number 1 and 2)

1)"If the charges are dismissed, USCIS cannot use the charges against you. You would either have to have an adjudication of guilt or a withhold of adjudication. But a full dismissal, a not guilty, or a nolle pros would be what you would need so that USCIS cannot use it. So negotiate that with the prosecution and you should be ok"

2)"No. Nolle Pros is just that the prosecutor has decided not to prosecute the case. It is almost as good as a dismissal.

You would need to clarify with the prosecutor if your case is getting dismissed or if they have agreed just not to prosecute the case.

When you plead no contest, you are not saying you are guilty, but you are not saying that you are not guilty either. You just need to make sure it is a dismissal or a nolle pros. If they are going to do a Withhold of Adjudication, then that will not help you. Better to fight it and present the medical evidence to get an acquital"

3)The adjudication is what worries me. You have to hope that they will change that to a dismissal or a nolle pros at the end of your probation because if not, it is going to be a problem for you. Now is the time to handle it because even if you present evidence of your medical problem to immigration, they will not re-litigate a criminal case. So you have to handle that now during the criminal case.

4)yes, you should hire a criminal lawyer.

sweat...now, that money is the last thing we have,my case do not apply for appeal,it is a plea bargain...I plead "no contest" and this doesn't qualify on the "not guilty" categories...The day at the court the judge asked me:how do you declare yourself, guilty or not guilty? and I answered: what?I do not know your honor,I was told to ask for deferred probation?...and she aksed me do you admit what happened?and I told her the truth!:"I do not have memories of what happenned I was sick at the moment of the incident" and then she said:"mrs xx,the police report says that with your hands you left a red spot and scratch on your husband's arm",are you telling me that you do not remember what happenned?in that case you can plea no contest",so after I hear what she told me I said "yes, I do not remember what happenened,I plea no contest"."Ok", she said,I'm going to put you on deferred adjudication,community service 40hours,anger management class and keep it up with therapy and medicine if given to treat your condition, you're dismissed!

I left the court thinking that everything was going to be ok...believe me if I knew that no contest was considered " guilty" I would have said "not guilty" immediatelly, i had just been told to ask deferred I thought I had to do that in front of the judge.Hell of advice I got!

Also since I'm on probation it has been horrible to try to find a job,nobody has given me a chance, neither to explain neither to nothing!!They see me as a criminal,worse as an "immigrant criminal",I have feelt humilliated...employers have been ready to judge me and even ask me crazy questions thinking that an anxiety reaction means to be insane forever...and not a sickness that can happens to anyone.My husband and me are sad, because we both know what happenned was not a criminal act,it was "me not being myself and being sick",our relationship is plenty of true love and it is real!We have gone thorugh several things together,miscarriages,losing jobs,plenty of money, few money,sicknesses,being left alone by some family members and the church,etc but we're still together because we love each other!!

At this point we do not know what to think, what to do?there is not money for a lawyer,neither two lawyer as it seems i may need one crminal lawyer now and later an immigration lawyer...

Does anyone here who is reading my case see the hope we can't see?I 'm sorry any christians here,no offesne, but we DO NOT FEEL GOD IS with us,since we found out about the posibilty of me being deported due to this crapy situation there is no day that I do no cry over this, my hubby is trying hard working 80 hours and more to cover our life together,we both and each other are our only support,PLEASE ANYONE ADVICE US WHAT WE CAN DO?ANYONE ON THE SAME OR SIMILAR SITUATION? if we can not hire lawyers how should we comfront this situation in front of USCIS?Are they really going to be that hard on me?Thank you everybody and I'm sorry about this very long post,but we really need to get advice,help,info,anything.

[milleniumgirl 0]

hello, it is me again,we haven't find a solution for our case yet but because God is powerfull and has help us somehow we may have money to try with a criminal lawyer who knows of immigration law as well.I've already found out that there may be several solutions for my case,I'd like to mention them all here so they may be helpfull for anyone else who someday may be going throught what we're going right now.I must say that to this experience:my point of view has changed about several matters with immigration,I used to think ("shame on me"):how come there are several illegals outthere who come to this country and wait to stay here ilegally,they must go home!".I'm not an illegal of course,you all know that,I'm totally a lawfull permanent resident but our situation has been so stressfull for my husband and me that now my thoughts are very different:I think that everybody deserves a chance ,once you have decided to have a family and if you have entered this country without real criminal intentions,you DO deserve chances!I hope that if our case comes out good we can be an example for those outthere who are looking for help due to similar matters.Please do not misunderstand me, I do know that there is people who come tothis country faking marriages, faking lifes and lying and always no matter what they seem to do really damage this country with their crimes, they do not change and they had and have a very bad background, for them I think it is up to God to decide,and if they should stay here or not is not up to my opinion,anyways for everybody else I think there should be always an oportunity.

Well, as i said we have found out about some things that may be done in my case,we'll try to discuss them with some legal help soon:

1)since my probation is not longer than one year and maybe it will result in less than 6 months,my case may not be considered as deportable.Most of the "crminal cases" wich sentences(in my case not a conviction,but deferred probation is a conviction for immigartion purposes)are less than a year as well as incarcenation are not be deportable.

2)the charges in my case may be reduced ,due to the circumstances of what happenned and how everything happenned(me being sick),so let's say it may go from "assault causing bodily injury to a family member" to "simple assault".

3)there is what is called; "nole prosecuti" and it means that the prosecutor stop having charges against me, all of this should be done due to the circumstances of my case, it must be in writting, the main reason must not be for immigation porpuses,and it may be possible specially because of my sickness and the statement from my husband to the judge saying that he was requestion to the police to take me to an hospital.

4)the "no contest plea" may be withrowed and changed to not guilty.

5)a full reverse of my case my apply specially of what happenned and how it happenned,the incident in fact happenned when I was not "allright" and there is prove of it.

well, there may be many other solutions,also the fact that this is for criminal law eye's is my 'first offense", also that I do not have criminal records back in my country,and well I do not know, I guess the consideration of the judge,the immigration officer in charge of my case will play a important rol with my case, let's hope for sensivity,emphaty and understanding and a lot of help from GOD too because we need it.

One more thing I forgot to mention: a letter from USCIS was sent to me in february the 12th as well as 2 e-mails saying that our case has been trasferred to california(february the 12th was after i had started my probation and after the records are part of my background)may this be something good for us?I do know that right before they send the green card they do another back ground check, am i wrong?,if this is the case,let's hope that they wait at least until we get my case resolved without bad consecuences for immigartion purposes.

we were thinking with my husband,what about a possible interview, do they still do an interview if your case has been transferred?we have been thinking that this may be a good chance for us to explain what has happenned to immigration?we were also thinking that maybe we could make an Info pass?but i must mention that this may be a "doble's side weapon" cause just for having a criminal charge pending on my record an immigartion officer or any reprsentant of the law can arrest me anytime because for their eyes I'm already deportable.please some opinions on this last questions we have.we'll keep posting here to let ya'll know what's going on with us, and PLEASE kepp us in your prayers.

Thank you and good night.

Thank you

[milleniumgirl 0]

one more question, does anyone here could tell me what is this congressman/woman help that sometimes people here refers to?and how does it work?if a lawyer doesn't really help us maybe this may be our last chance."Vacate" the case seems to be the best option for us.But well we won't know until we talk to a lawyer if we can afford it.

thank you.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Eh, looks to me that when M_G's extension letter expires, she'll be eligible to submit an N-400.

[melusine 5]

That's one of the craziest story ever.....

I hope things will get better for you.

[wannabe_texan 0]

one more question, does anyone here could tell me what is this congressman/woman help that sometimes people here refers to?and how does it work?if a lawyer doesn't really help us maybe this may be our last chance."Vacate" the case seems to be the best option for us.But well we won't know until we talk to a lawyer if we can afford it.

thank you.

Your Congressional Representatives will depend on where you live. http://www.house.gov/zip/ZIP2Rep.html

Senators: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_info...enators_cfm.cfm

You'll need to do a release form so they ask USCIS about your case, often the release form is on the Representative's website.

Good luck!

Edited March 2, 2009 by wannabe_texan

[milleniumgirl 0]

I have learned...whenever and ever God don't let you down:)everything came out wonderfully!transfer letter,extension letter,approved letter and production and GC!

just still waiting on the case with the charges...

god have mercy on us again:)

Just wanted to share our happiness with you guys!

gute nacht!good night!

[milimelo 4,467]

COngratulations! Hope everything goes ok with the other case as well.

[ricebird 0]

Congratulations and I hope the rest of your concerns will get good results. God bless!

[Immigrant2009 0]

Congratulations!!.

[milleniumgirl 0]

Thank you to each one of you who took part of your time to read my veeeeery loooooong posts and for understanding my concerns,as well as anyone else who is outthere and had the chance of reading it considering that each one of us has gone through some kind of "eternal waiting"due to "you know who"...and well also why just not say it?I may have been part of your prayers too,GOD bless you all as well!

I'm so happy I cant's stop saying THANK YOU:)

let's hope everything goes well with the other case..."sights"...

nite:)

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Huge congratulations! Way to hang in there, good luck!

[Immigrant2009 0]

Thank you to each one of you who took part of your time to read my veeeeery loooooong posts and for understanding my concerns,as well as anyone else who is outthere and had the chance of reading it considering that each one of us has gone through some kind of "eternal waiting"due to "you know who"...and well also why just not say it?I may have been part of your prayers too,GOD bless you all as well!

I'm so happy I cant's stop saying THANK YOU:)

let's hope everything goes well with the other case..."sights"...

nite:)

Indeed you were part of our prayers and I do hope those whose case are pending get approved soon.

I do hope and pray that your other case gets resolved soon and your probation ends soon.

Good Luck with that as well.