Immigration Bonds Related to Criminal Convictions and Family Law Domestic Violence Voluntary Deportation and Removal

That’s why you have to go deal with feds and say — hey! My client can — you know — work with you guys but in exchange, we want an S visa while this is going to be going on because some of these I’m about to tell you — this can drag on the investigation drag on for a long, long time. So you apply for that and you’re buying some time. I had a client who was involved in the.. — Any of you’ll from Houston or Victoria through there. Okay. Do you remember the guy who, the people who died in the back of a truck, smuggling I think like 12 people were killed. But the driver and the truck was charged with murder. And my client did not die in that truck. His nephew died in his arms, his brother died with him. My client did not die and he was in that. He was in that last years, going into the federal court and my client we got him a material witness visa for him against the guy who was driving the truck and then in some cases you can part lay that into something more permanent down the road but sometimes you only look at the hearing and now and you can get me that through the next 6-8 months. So the material witness visa is the most available. Um. If any of you all do family law, if he have a victim of domestic violence. There is a whole another category not only for the victims domestic violence, the violence of women’s Act, that allows you to get a status for them – but also there is another there is a U visa, the battered immigrant women protection.

In that case the U visa does not — and those are those victims of any kind of offense – well felonies. Those visas do not require that the aggressor have legal status. For example, under the violence against women’s Act to get your residual violence against women act and have to been marry the spouse, the abuser had to be a resident citizen. But under this other visa you just have to have been the victim of that type of offense. And in that situation, you can’t get again you need the police or the law enforcement agency to cooperate and fill up the application and that can get into you the U visa which is temporary in nature which can be dragged out for a longer period of time and may result into something more permanent. That’s what those you can do over family law. You had a question sir??

The question is, a person is not eligible for bond and deported before and what else? Number one is he’s convicted of the removable offense of an aggregated felony and crimes and all the other offenses that we talked about this morning. If he’s going to convicted one of those offenses, he is subject to mandatory detention. So in that situation he will not be eligible for a bond. That’s the most common scenario you will find. That’s why I was trying, the point I was trying to make is if you got a person who has no priors and he’s got an immigration hold because of his immigration status alone because you know there’s only two reasons to get the hold its either because you have a prior conviction or you live here legally. So if you got a client with no priors and his immigration was because of his status. If you can bond him out while the charges are pending. You can then have a chance of getting him an immigration bond once he goes to the immigration judge. Okay? Now, I don’t want to complicate it but you raised another important… in your question. He talked about if you have not been previously deported. There are just like there is — between deferred [inaudible] and conviction and immigration is different between a deportation and voluntary return.

It’s hard to figure that out sometimes except that just the nutshell version is –If you saw a judge and you got sent back he probably got deported. More times it’s not in some cases you may have been caught at the border. You were coming in under the expedited removal laws – if you were caught at the border and you get less than 24 hrs in United States, the immigration can deport you without write to a judge or anything like that so it’s an expedited removal and that’s a deportation order. But a lot of folks, confuse deportation with voluntary return just like conviction with deferred [inaudible]. A voluntary return is not a deportation.

A voluntary return occurs when you voluntary relinquish your rights to a hearing with an immigration judge because you don’t want to sit in jail anymore or you relinquish your rights and you just sign your voluntary return and you go back. A voluntary return will not preclude you or your client from being able to get a bond down the road with immigration and one of the ways you’ll know if you client got a deportation or voluntary return is — if your client got a deportation or limits got him removal out of deportation. If your client got a removal order or deportation order, the chances are when he finishes with the State custody and he goes to immigration they’re going to put him on the next bus back because and that’s how you know because they don’t have to get him to an immigration judge, all they can re- use is that same removal they used to deport him before. Okay? But, if he’s in and he winds up in an immigration custody they don’t deport him and put him on next bus back because he doesn’t sign then there’s a pretty good chance of the last time he got sent back by immigration wasn’t a voluntary return not a removal and in which case he will be eligible for a bond. And what you see in a lot of these you know in Dallas. Um! About two three years ago, there was Dallas police, not Dallas it was Irwin and farmers branch police were arresting people of suspicion of being a Mexican. DWM, Driving While Mexican it was. They were stopping giving the traffic tickets no driver license take him in jail before even charge him with anything. Call ice! Take him to the ice.

And at that point ice would scare the hell out of them and they signed their voluntary return. –oh! You can get a lawyer you can see a judge, you can be here two weeks, the lawyer is not going to take your money, the judges will not do anything for you. Okay! I’ll sign. He gets sent back on a voluntary return, comes back three days later. That person is eligible for a bond because it was not a deportation, and the only offence he had is those traffic tickets.

Number one sometimes it just doesn’t matter — you are buying time just like a terminal patient is happy to be getting another two more years. Ahh! Once you bond him out in Dallas in San Antonio, you can keep him in US for at least a year. Um, they umm, in fact for about an year — because you go after you bond out they will get another detainee hearing that will be cancelled for non-detainee — that will be about four or five months [inaudible] you go to that first here and it’s the general rule — the judges will give you one reset and then after that if nothing else you can take voluntary return. The immigration judge will give you voluntary return they will give you a 120 days that’s the maximum. So if you are been fortunate, you bought him a year. Now during that – their guys — you thought of my clients who have been here for long they’re working. They will be making more, they will be working in that year put more money in their pocket, they can sell some other stuff they can give that ready if they’re going to have to leave or may be there in that year their common love US citizens girl from McKenzie’s US citizen wife. Now just common law but they go out and get married and file the papers. May be congress just signs an immigration bill. You’re buying time and time has a value for a lot of these folks because once you bond out the reality is you’re going to be in US before about a year.

The question was if he’s clean – try to expedite his plea. And no it’s the other way around, pay the bond and get him to the immigration custody right away. Because once you plead him out he will be subject to mandatory detention so what I am saying is the other way around — if the guy who is clean, and with no reason he got the hold because he is here legally. Pay the bond, get him to immigration and then bond him out with immigration because if you take a plea like unlawful carrying of weapons and domestic violence or something like that, then he goes to immigration and be subjected to mandatory detention. So it’s the other way around hold off the plea, pay the bond, get him to immigration while he still got no conviction and then you do it from there.

You are trying to get the judges to remove the criminal judges to reduce the bond. I mean at that … its…you know one of the things I was talking about, this morning is that a lot of judges, a lot of bond companies thinks that just because you get an immigration hold means you’re going to get deported. Number one, that’s not the case. Number two, you still have – even if you do have to go back to voluntary return and not deportation and you’ll be here for a year. A lot of judges are hesitant especially not so much in my experience – much as in Houston — there’s a lot of immigration and there’s a lot training on that but in small rural counties, where the judges soon as they see the immigration — forget it he’s going to get deported — and I am not going to get any bond and that’s not correct. Now if I say it happens here in the county here your response of your defense of attorney is get him a bond hearing and proof — you know what you have to get a bond here. Flight risk, danger the community but danger community got no priors he got flight risk he’s got family here he’s got his card, his wife his kids here is he’s got his property here. He’s got an immigration hold but it doesn’t means he’s going to get deported here. He doesn’t even have a hearing with the judge for a while. So no no no its just the matter of getting the judges on board and maybe if they are doing that as a collective or one you file something against that judge.

$35K. So $3500 is 10 % still for the $3500 you going to get the guy bonded out and the immigration get another bond and he is out for a year. I am just saying but that’s but do not – going back to it — you don’t want to plead him out in the immigration as quickly as possible – its the other way around you want to get him to immigration before you have taken a plea. Yes sir. I am sorry.

What they’re doing once they bond out. They’re going to send him over there or they send him outside. And then once he goes to INS, if your client doesn’t signs his voluntary return and ask for a hearing from a judge and ask to hear from his lawyer then they’ll — either the INS officer will give him a bond or if the INS agent doesn’t gives him a bond, then you file the application [inaudible] saying the bond with the immigration court and the judge will decide the bond for him. He gets two chances in immigration bond.