Reentry after traveling abroad - Green Card with prior arrests

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

17 minutes ago, ElGuapo88 said:

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.

I would feel better after that email too

With the offenses being what you say and that response from your lawyer - I would def go and enjoy my margaritas if I were you.

Thnx for sharing

[Paulinadeb88 29]

4 hours 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.  

My brother in law got a DUI before he got his greencard. Each time he flies out of the country and back they just do a secondary inspection and let him back in. He said hes used to it by now and says its no big deal!

Edited October 4, 2017 by Je l'aime

[Boiler 45,837]

3 hours ago, Suss&Camm said:

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.

You are dealing with Immigration Law.not supposed to make sense.

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

2 hours ago, Boiler said:

You are dealing with Immigration Law.not supposed to make sense.

It's supposed to follow what's written in said law = make sense (to me anyhow) 

[Boiler 45,837]

17 minutes ago, Suss&Camm said:

It's supposed to follow what's written in said law = make sense (to me anyhow) 

Hang around here, I have a friend who is an IJ and he shakes his head.

[Nitas_man 3,100]

5 hours ago, Suss&Camm said:

I would feel better after that email too

With the offenses being what you say and that response from your lawyer - I would def go and enjoy my margaritas (without driving!!) if I were you.

Thnx for sharing

I know you meant to add that and just forgot

[Going through 5,671]

I don't think you'll have any problems with re-entering, as others have mentioned above.

If it makes you feel any better, my past crime *is* a CIMT, and I travelled frequently as a GC holder over the past 12 years and was never ever put into secondary questioning.  Like you, USCIS was aware of this charge back in my AOS days.

 

Now, that's not to say everyone is handled the same----as I said, just mentioned that to ease your mind a bit.  Enjoy seeing the world!

[ElGuapo88 19]

Update in case anyone else stumbles upon this post.  I went to Turks & Caicos for a few days and upon returning (Ft. Lauderdale, Florida) my wife went through no problem.  The CBP agent asked where I was coming from, and then asked if I had ever been arrested.  I said yes, and then he said "OK you're going to have to step into that room for further review".  I kind of expected this anyway so while it wasn't an ideal situation, I wasn't really nervous.  My wife wasn't allowed to come with me so I went into their detention room and waited around for the (unprofessional) agents to do their thing.  After almost an hour and a half someone called my name, handed me my passport and green card and told me to have a good night.  No questions, nothing.  I guess they just check their system for who knows what.  Waste of time and annoying, but other than that no big deal.  I guess I'll have to get used to this happening every time :/

 

Thanks again to everyone for their comments/opinions.