domestic violence Archives

Here’s What You Need to Know About US Deportation Laws

Published on April 28, 2021

Deportation is the formal removal of an immigrant or non-citizen from the United States. There are several reasons that an immigrant can get sent to their country of origin. These reasons depend on what kind of immigrants they are.

Deportation lawyers from Law Offices of Robert Tsigler explain what types of immigrants can get deported and the possible grounds for their deportation:

Who can get deported?

Undocumented immigrants

Undocumented immigrants, or illegal aliens, get deported because they either crossed the border and entered the United States illegally or came to the country illegally but have stayed beyond the permitted time detailed in their temporary visa.

Documented immigrants

Documented immigrants who are still within their permitted time can get deported, too. Depending on their purpose for staying in the country, they can get removed if they violate their terms. Tourists, for example, can get deported if they receive work and compensation, and international students may face deportation if they violate student visa rules.

Even green-card holders, who are considered permanent residents, can also be deported for violating specific immigration laws.

Grounds for deportation

Upon deportation, the authorities will utilize an immigrant’s conviction as a reason for the order of removal. The Immigration and Nationality Act, or the Hart-Celler Act, was enacted in 1965 to reorganize the structure of immigration law and has since served as the basis of immigration policy. It provides definitions for immigrants or non-citizens and possible grounds for deportation.

Criminal convictions

Aggravated felonies

Section 238 of the Immigration and Nationality Act lists the expedited removal of aliens convicted of aggravated felonies. An aggravated felony falls into three types:

Crimes that are always aggravated felonies: kidnapping, drug trafficking, human trafficking, rape, prostitution, sexual abuse of minors, child pornography
Crimes that count as aggravated felonies if the sentence exceeds a year: bribery, burglary, counterfeiting, forgery, perjury, theft, obstruction of justice
Crimes that count as aggravated felonies if the victim’s loss exceeds $10,000: fraud, tax evasion, money laundering

Crimes involving moral turpitude

Aggravated assault
Attempted lewd acts on a minor
Arson
Child abuse
Domestic violence
Failure to register as a sex offender
Felony hit and run
Trespass

Drug crimes and firearms offenses

Conscious possession of any controlled substance (cocaine, heroin, LSD, peyote, and prescription drugs) without medical prescription
Purchasing, selling, using, owning, and carrying any firearm or destructive device

Domestic violence

● Domestic battery

Corporal injury to a spouse
Child abuse
Child endangerment
Child neglect
Elder abuse
Aggravated trespass

Security

Acts that can be classified as dangerous misconduct and endanger the security of other natural citizens are grounds for deportation. Section 237, Article 4 (A) lists three sub-clauses outlining distinct grounds:

Espionage
Putting public safety and national security in peril
Intentions to overthrow the government
Terrorist activities
Participation in Nazi persecution
Participation in genocide
Commission of acts of torture and extrajudicial killing
Recipient of military-style training from terrorist organizations

Who handles deportations?

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) handle everyday immigration matters, especially the application process. They can also send non-citizens for removal proceedings significantly if they exceed the approved number of years and have no right to remain in the country.

USCIS hearings are less formal than the usual court proceedings and have less regard for evidence. Witnesses are allowed to testify for the immigrant, and the judge will decide at the end.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

For any non-citizens arrested for crimes, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) handles immigration enforcement matters after prison time.

Customs and Border Protection

The Customs and Border Protection guard the United States’ territorial border and other points of entry. They have the power to expedite removals for matters concerning these points of entry and skip official removal proceedings.

Executive Office for Immigration Review

The final decision maker who dictates any matters concerning the previous agencies is the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). Aliens may defend themselves against the removal and prove their right to remain in the country. The EOIR holds the removal proceedings and has the power to override the deportation order.

What should an immigrant facing deportation do?

One of the things you can do when faced with a deportation charge is to voluntarily depart from the country before the removal proceeding is completed. However, if you’re not comfortable with this option and you’re undocumented, you can apply for the adjustment of status proceeding to apply for a lawful permanent resident status.

Some Amerasian immigrants who faced any form of abuse by a family member who is a U.S. citizen or resident filed a petition to legitimize their immigrant status through applications I-360 and AOS. They often seek the help of an immigration lawyer who will gather information to draft their application and affidavit. In the said affidavit, it must be shown that the applicant experienced a substantial form of psychological, emotional, verbal, physical, sexual, and financial abuse by their American family member.

Their affidavit must also show that they maintained good moral character while they’re in the United States. They should also show that they have not been involved in any criminal infractions and have respected the United States of America laws. Aside from that, they should also attest that they have been an active member of the community.

Furthermore, the U.S. Constitution grants a few rights for immigrants. Among these is the right to a lawyer. Immigrant authorities are obligated to refrain from immediate deportation and allow the immigrant a chance to be heard. Of course, this only applies to immigrants that can provide documentation of their entry.

Takeaway

Being faced with deportation charges could be life-altering. The fact that you’re far from your home country, family, and friends are already troubling, much more being forced to go to a foreign court to fight your case. If you find yourself in this situation, know that you’re not alone.

Immigrants that believe they have a right to remain in the country can insist on a hearing with representation to defend them. New York City especially has several experienced deportation lawyers due to the number of immigration cases held in the city. If you find yourself facing a deportation case, remember to seek NYC deportation help from a seasoned lawyer.

6 Ways you can Help Prevent Domestic Violence

Published on April 25, 2020

Life

The best way to live is by constantly being in a Zen state, surrounded by harmony and with people who share the same mindset. Unfortunately, sometimes people are unable to control their anger, and this can be caused by certain psychological conditions, as well as the heat of the moment.

Whether someone has a clinical condition and is diagnosed with anger issues, or they simply find pleasure in hurting others, violence should never be tolerated in any way, especially when the victim is a female.

We’re not saying that males are not the victims of domestic violence, but in most cases it’s the other way around. This is never a pleasant sight to see, especially if you are someone that’s part of a family in which things like these are happening, so today we decided to give you the six best ways that you can prevent this from taking place.

Even if this is not a problem in your family, you should still report any activity of this kind because in most scenarios, the victim is afraid to do so. Let’s begin.

Recognize the signs

We’ve all watched movies or even experienced something like this in front of our eyes, so it’s pretty transparent already that the abuser won’t do this publically. However, the things they do behind the curtains leave marks that can be seen publically, so if you notice that your neighbor has bruises and scars all over their body, it means that something is not right.

Of course, not every person that has a mark on their body is a victim of domestic violence, but if they keep reoccurring all the time, and they don’t look even nearly like the usual sports injury, you might be onto something.

Visual signs are not the only indicator for domestic violence though, so often you’ll hear arguing, yelling and screaming as well, if you are living next to the home where something like this takes place.

Talk to the person

If you are suspecting that you know someone who’s a victim, you should talk to them first before attempting to do anything that affects their life. Only in a situation where you’re sure that they might be more seriously hurt, you should try taking things into your own hands, and telephoning the services or the police.

If the person neglects your offer for help, and they tell you to stay away from their life, it can be because of two reasons. They are either afraid of their partner finding out, or they really think that it’s not that much of a deal. You can find the most about the situation by talking to the person because by the way, they’ll tell you these things, you will be able to determine whether they’re scared or not.

In some situations, you’ll find that the person wants you to stay away just because they don’t want the other person to find out about it, but they might be giving you secret signals that you should report their situation to the authorities. This will be up to you to decide based on what you see.

Report it and get a lawyer

If you are someone who experienced abuse either now or in the past, and you want to establish justice once and for all, it’s the right time to report it to the authorities and get a lawyer. According to Randolph Hough, P.A If you really want to take things to the courtroom, either to get your finance for all the injuries that you’ve received or simply to put a certain abuser behind bars, you’ll find the most success with an attorney.

Please remember that hiring an attorney is your right, and you shouldn’t be afraid to do it, no matter what kind of threats you’ve received from the abuser about doing it. Every human being has the right to feel safe and at peace in their home.

Offer your help

Often, when people are involved in such unfortunate situations, they think that opening up to someone will only worsen the problems. They are afraid for others to find out, because they think that nobody else that they know went through something like this. When you offer your help, however, you will let them know that you have an understanding for their situation, and that they are not alone.

This might not sound like a very significant thing at first, but just knowing that someone’s with you helps out a ton.

Try communicating with the abuser

Now this is something that can scare a lot of people, but it shouldn’t. There are currently a lot of campaigns, measures and awareness-raising methods that allow people to gather up the courage they need to confront someone who puts others in danger.

You shouldn’t think that the other person will harm you as well, and that you have to be afraid of them just because they are abusive to their partner, simply because they are the ones that have a lot of things to be worried about. You are just being helpful, and they can end up behind bars if the authorities understand what’s been going on. Maybe their partner is afraid of reporting it to the police, but you shouldn’t be.

Let everybody know

If you have a person that you know who’s in danger, either a family member, a close relative or just a friendly neighbor from across the street, you can help them out a lot by letting everybody know that their partner is being physically abusive towards them.

When you do this, a lot of people will start looking at them differently, offering help whenever they can, and most of them will even report it to the police.

It’s more than enough for just one person to let the authorities know about what’s going on for things to get much better than they already are. Also, there are so many anonymous numbers that you can call to report something like this, so nobody will ever have to know that it was you who took the measures.

From Booking to Bail – The Steps to Follow for Availing Bail

Published on April 13, 2020

Business

After the arrest of a person on some criminal charges, the chances of sending the person to jail are very high because the police require time to frame the charges and prepare documents for the trial after some weeks. The person could remain in jail for many days because there is no certainty when the trial would begin. In such a situation, to cut short the custodial detention, the arrested person or defendant can seek bail in a court and on fulfilling the conditions be released from captivity.

The bail process might appear simple but needs proper execution by understanding the various steps involved from the time of the arrest until the release of the person from custody. For more clarity about the bail process and the way it works, you can log on to bailbonds4u.com, and the brief discussion in this article should also help.

What Is Booking?

Booking is a term loosely used as a substitute for arrest. Soon after the arrest, the police take the person in their custody while recording the case details and this phase is known as booking, a term used for legal purposes. During this stage, the police record all personal details of the arrested person like name, gender, address, date of birth, and physical characteristics as well as information related to the alleged crime. They will also conduct a background check of the person to ascertain the criminal history besides taking fingerprints and photographs and even confiscating whatever belongings are found on the person. The person stays in jail or police custody until the trial begins after some weeks.

Hearing or Arraignment

After booking, the police read out the charges to the arrested person and provide a chance for seeking release by securing bail or based on a written promise depending on the case. For minor cases, the police will release the person after obtaining a written undertaking that he will appear in court and follow the directives of the police. In other cases, the person must follow the procedure of seeking bail from the court by appearing before a judge. After considering the nature of the crime and the person’s background and criminal record, together with the risks that the person might pose after release, including the chances of fleeing, the judge might fix an amount. Defying the bail conditions tantamount to a fresh crime and leads to the arrest of the person.

What Is Bail?

The court seeks a financial guarantee usually in the form of cash payment or bail bond that also acts as an assurance from the person about abiding by the law, following the conditions mentioned in the bail and appearing for trial when called upon. Fulfilling the conditions would entitle the person to receive a refund of the amount paid, but failing to comply would result in forfeiture of the money deposited and the arrest of the person for committing a fresh crime.

Posting bail means making the payment by cash, cashier’s check, or money order. For a larger amount, furnishing a bail bond with help from an appropriate agent is more convenient.

How Is a Bail Set?

Judges have the responsibility of setting bail. As many accused wish to get out of the imprisonment immediately, most of the jails are having standard bail schedules specifying precise amounts for some of the common crimes committed. An arrested individual could often be released from jail quite fast simply by paying off the amount that has already been set previously in the precise station house bail schedule.

If an arrested person is willing to post bail, however, he cannot afford the set amount specified in the bail schedule, he could request the judge to reduce the amount. According to the procedures existing in the state, the request for a reduced amount could be made in a special hearing for bail or when the arrested person appears in court for the very first time.

Bail Setting By Algorithm

Since the last few years, courts have begun using math for informing decisions regarding pretrial release. As per these jurisdictions, we understand that select information regarding the suspect is input into a program then a recommendation or a score comes out. All these bail algorithms that are known to consider factors such as criminal history and age would be evaluating the risk involved if the suspect fails to come back to the court for the next hearing or if the suspect commits another crime while out on bail.

As per the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment, the amount cannot be excessive. This implies that it must not be utilized predominantly for the sake of raising money only for the government. Moreover, bail should not be utilized as a tool for punishing an individual who has been accused of committing the crime. Do not forget that the main purpose of issuing a bail is to help the suspect to remain free until he is convicted of committing a crime.

However, in practice, many judges would be setting incredibly high amounts especially in such cases where the high bail would be keeping the arrested person in jail. He would be compelled to stay within the confines of the jail until the entire legal procedure is over and the precise case is over.

Conditions of Bail

Bailed-out suspects would need to comply with precise conditions of release. That is standard procedure. In the event, a suspect has violated any of the conditions, the judge has the right to revoke bail and ask the suspect to be arrested again and returned to police custody or jail. Certain bail conditions are quite common like the suspect must obey all laws. Some conditions may be reflecting the precise crime that was the reason why the suspect was arrested in the first place. For instance, a bail condition may necessitate a suspect arrested for perpetrating domestic violence to stay away from the alleged victim.

Conclusion

If you are arrested for any crime, you must take proactive steps quickly to safeguard your rights, as well as, your future. You must get in touch with your lawyer at the earliest, following your arrest, so that he could take steps to get you a bail.

domestic violence