On January 29, I was surfing the internet on my cell phone and the top trending news of the day was President Donald Trump signing an executive order banning people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the United States for the next 90 days. I then went on YouTube and watched a vlog created by Casey Neistat with the video titled Muslim Ban at JFK Airport. The video showed the protest at the New York airport and also showed brief interviews with some of the people who were there that day. Two of the people Casey were sisters waiting for their mother to arrive from Iraq. When President Trump made the executive order the New Jersey born sisters’ mother was already in the air. During the time of the video several federal courts were trying reject the executive order and because of this their mother was being held at the airport not allowed to leave or enter the United States until they were notified. After watching this video, I began wonder about the process of deportation in specific, what causes a person to be deported and what rights do they to fight against deportation.

Deportation is one of the main things immigration attorneys deal with. There are many reasons an immigrant can get deported. A person who is a non-U.S. born citizen and came here illegally can face deportation. Also an immigrant who came here legally can face deportation if there is a violation with their visa card. Some violations include staying in the country past the date your supposed to leave and misinterpreting yourself on your visa card. There are also different types of visa cards available for people who fit in a specific category. One type of visa is a visitor visa which allows a foreign person to stay in this country temporarily to visit friends and family or places for vacation purposes. Another type of visa is an employment visa which allows foreigners to work in the United Sates. Another way a person can face deportation is if they were denied asylum in the U.S. Due to war in different regions around the world the number of refugees seeking asylum and resettlement is increasing. In the fiscal year of 2015 the “United States resettled 69,933 refugees” (Zong and Batalova). Committing a crime in the United States can also be a way immigrants are removed from this country. Now let’s see a quantitative picture of immigration in the year 2014.  A research conducted by Jens Krogstad, Jeffrey Passel, and D’Vera Cohn in 2014 reported that “There were 11.1 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S.” In total there were 42.4 million immigrants living in the U.S in 2014 according to the U.S Census Bureau of American Community Surveys. Also during that year there were around 414 thousand immigrants deported and a total of 247 thousand non-criminals made up this population (Gonzalez-Barrera and Krogstad). The process of coming into the country can be long, stressful, and confusing, but if an immigrant spends the money to hire an immigrant attorney then in the long run deportations can be avoided.

If an immigrant gets a mail notice stating that they, in some way, violated the laws of immigration, they must know their rights. The one person who knows the rights better than anyone else is an immigration attorney. Every immigrant facing deportation has a right to an attorney. The first action that should be done is calling a lawyer. Even if everything doesn’t go as plan during your hearing in court and the judge ends up favoring the opposing lawyer there are still options available. An immigration lawyer will carefully go through the options an immigrant has for relief of deportation. One way to be exempt from deportation is to change your status by marrying a U.S. citizen. A person can also apply for relief if they are seeking asylum. Asylum may be granted if a person fear of prosecution is from political opinion, religious belief, nationality, race, or member in a particular social group. Cancellation of permanent and non-permanent residents can also be a way to be relieved from removal. Both claims come with their own requirements to satisfy. For permanent residents, the person would have to have the status for at least five years, lived in the U.S for seven years, and not have been convicted of any crimes. For non-residents the person would have to be present in the U.S for at least 10 years, have good moral character for at least 10 years, and state that the removal will result in hardship to their family who are U.S. citizens. The last option a person facing deportation can consider is voluntary departure. Voluntary departure allows immigrants to leave the country and in return, they won’t have to face the unfavorable legal consequences when returning to the United States (U.S. Immigration Visa Center). The amount of rights an immigrant has when facing deportation is a lot to take in and absorb. So the number one right that all immigrants must know is the right to an immigration lawyer. Once an immigration lawyer is obtained, he/she will provide the best possible solution for the given situation.

As immigration rates continue to rise in the United states it is important that an immigrant know at least the basic immigration laws in order to prevent deportation. If an immigrant is faced with deportation they should know rights they have available to counter with. The best solution to deportation is hiring an immigration lawyer not just when you’re in legal trouble but when you start to consider living in the United States.

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Gonzalez-Barrera, Ana, and Jens Manuel Krogstad. “U.S. Immigrant Deportations Declined in 2014, but Remain near Record High.” Pew Research Center. Pew Research Center, 31 Aug. 2016. Web. 01 Feb. 2017.

 

Krogstad, Jens Manuel, Jeffrey S. Passel, and D’Vera Cohn. “5 Facts about Illegal Immigration in the U.S.” Pew Research Center. Pew Research Center, 03 Nov. 2016. Web. 01 Feb. 2017.

 

N/A. “Deportation.” US Immigration Visa Center. US Immigration Visa Center, N/A. Web. 01 Feb. 2017.

 

Zong, Jie, and Jeanne Batalova. “Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States.” Migrationpolicy.org. Migration Policy Institute, 14 Apr. 2016. Web. 01 Feb. 2017.

 

Zong, Jie, and Jeanne Batalova. “Refugees and Asylees in the United States.” Migrationpolicy.org. Migration Policy Institute, 28 Oct. 2015. Web. 01 Feb. 2017.