Being a U.S. Military Veteran May Not Save You from Deportation
Many immigrants who come to the United States as children serve honorably as members of the military. However, being a military veteran is not necessarily enough to keep you from facing removal charges from the United States if you are charged with and/or convicted of a crime after your return to civilian life.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has issued a report titled “Discharged, Then Deported,” which reviewed “59 cases of veterans who have been forced out of the country or are still in the U.S. but facing deportation.” These men and women believed that serving their country would speed up the naturalization process, but are now fighting to remain in or come back to the country that they love and served.
How is this possible?
The veterans in this position are permanent legal residents, also known as “green card” holders, but they are not citizens, which means they face removal at any time. There are a number of reasons why this can occur, such as:
- S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) failed to exercise discretion. A 2004 memo allowed ICE officials to exercise discretion when it comes to deportation action against veterans. Many ICE officials, however, seemed to have ignored that memo.
- The federal government did not naturalize the citizens. By failing to expedite paperwork (or to prove the paperwork or assistance at all), the U.S. government did not allow these men and women to naturalize during their time in the service or shortly thereafter. The report claims the government lost a lot of the applications.
- The laws regarding deportation and criminal conviction changed. Back in the 1990s, the government “eliminated the discretionary authority of immigration judges to consider factors like… military service,” so an immigrant who served our country, but was then convicted of, say, the wrong type of DUI, now faces possible removal if he or she did not fully naturalize before being charged or convicted. Many of these men and women cannot afford an immigration attorney, so they end up representing themselves.
- There is a lack of inter-department cooperation. The Department of Veterans Affairs and the State Department did not work hand-in-hand when it came to these events. As a result, veterans who were deported found themselves without the promised pension or benefits they earned by serving the country.
We have written about the types of crimes that can lead to removal, and how being charged with the crime is enough in some cases to face deportation. If you are a veteran of the U.S. military, or if your loved one has served our country but is now facing removal because he or she was charged with a crime, Nashville immigration attorney Perry A. Craft can help. He is an experienced immigration and criminal defense attorney, and will work with you and your family to fight the removal order.
We invite you to contact the Law Office of Perry A. Craft, PLLC, to speak with an experienced Nashville immigration defense attorney. You can use our contact form or call 615-953-3808. Don’t wait until it’s too late; we can help.
Perry A. Craft has dedicated his life to helping people in need. He has tried, settled, or resolved numerous civil and criminal cases in State and Federal courts, and has represented teachers and administrators before school boards, administrative judges, and the state Board of Education. Learn more about Attorney Craft.