United States Immigration Law Blog

Have you ever looked up the long list of Michigan state statutes? How about the federal list? Prepare yourself for some heavy reading. There are many laws, statutes and regulations that aren't to be broken. For those that are accused of doing so, criminal charges and their potential penalties can be daunting. It's perfectly reasonable to build a quality criminal defense against such allegations.

One issue that affects many living in the Michigan area is DUI and drunk driving accusations. While at first glance this may appear to be nothing more than a moving violation, you shouldn't be so sure. The state has cracked the whip on alleged DUI offenders in recent years. A DUI conviction could have huge impacts on your criminal record, bank account, license and others.

With the highly publicized and polarized issue of immigration status, there are people on both sides of the issue. There are many people living in our community who are undocumented. Despite legislation that calls for deportation of undocumented residents, there are organizations working on behalf of those who have be targeted in these deportation attempts. Undocumented University of Michigan students have been sought out as a group who could use help.

There have been several raids over the last decade in which undocumented residents were rounded up and deported. Under the Trump administration, there have been more workplace raids than in previous years. Organizations like University of Michigan welcomes applications for student admission regardless of immigration status, according to their website. Many undocumented have expressed fear about using medical care and social services that interact with the government - either state or federal.

If you or a loved one is seeking to become a citizen, there are ways to approach the process that could prove beneficial. For most, this means receiving a green card and becoming a citizen. However, there may be some things that are more challenging. If a person has been accused of a crime of moral turpitude, it could hinder the green card process.

Moral turpitude crimes aren't necessarily felonies, however, they could be. When a person is accused of crimes of moral turpitude, it refers to acts that are determined by a court to violate the accepted moral standards of the community. These are crimes that question a person's moral compass. Perjury, tax evasion, wire fraud, carrying a concealed weapon and child abuse have all been deemed by courts in the past to be issues of moral turpitude, although, this is not an exhaustive list.

There's been much talk about immigration reform since the change of presidential office last year. An amendment has been proposed called the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2017 that has been a hot topic recently. If the amendment were to pass, the size of the country from which a person emigrates would determine the person's status, as larger countries would have precedence over smaller countries.

Specifically, the wording of the bill seeks to get rid of the per-country numerical limitation for employment-based immigration. At the moment, each country has a numerical limit of seven percent or 9,800 of the 140,000 green cards issued per year by the United States. This percentage is without regard to population. The bill intends to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to eliminate limitations relating to place of birth.