Legal Question in Immigration Law in California

My brother was paroled into USA in 2001 as refugee, in 2007 his status was adjusted to assylee. In 2009 he was sentenced to 12 months and 1 day of imprisonment in federal prison for the offence of IDENTITY THEFT (loss of 83,000.00), in violation of Title 18, Section 1028 (a) (7), (b) (2) (B), and (c) (3) (A). After serving his time, he was taken to Immigration jail, where he is waiting for a hearing before an immigration judge.

Please advise, if he has any chances not to be deported??

What are the criterias to be eligible for bond??

What are the chances to be released by order of recognizance??


Asked on 9/19/10, 10:42 pm

2 Answer from Attorneys
Cesar Ternieden Law Office of Shamieh & Ternieden

Your brother is a Lawful Permanent Resident. It appears that your brother may have a "theft" offense with 1 year or more sentence. Alternatively, your brother may have a "fraud" offense with loss of over $10,000 to the victim. Under either of these circumstances, your brother would have an "aggravated felony," which is a very serious problem for him.

If your brother has an aggravated felony, he is not eligiblee to release by OR, nor is he eligible for bond because he is mandatorily detainable.

Substantively, your brother is also removable (deportable) and would not be eligible for a waiver nor any pardons. Depending on his fear of persecution and/or torture, he may be eligible for withholding of removal or protection under the Convention Against Torture.

Because of the serious consequences, I strongly urge you to hire an immigration attorney to very carefully review his criminal documents to see if there are ways to argue that he does not have neither a "theft" nor a "fraud" offense.

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Answered on 9/25/10, 6:15 am


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