Can someone be deported without being present?
Dear Mrs Walker-Huntington, I AM baffled by the United States’ use of the word‘ deportation’ to describe the situation involving two young children who were never in the United States of America when that decision was made. It begs the question: how can it be ascribed to these two children who were never in breach of immigration laws or in the States for any period beyond three or four weeks, and both were minors?
Both children were filed for by their mother and subsequently granted temporary green cards. However, both were in the care of their father who was schooling them here in Jamaica and allowed them to visit the States on holidays. The mother failed to renew the temporary green card, hence the children had never had the opportunity of returning to the States, but have been designated as deportees – a label which has hurt the chance of returning to the United States. We have been trying to get this designation removed from their files, without success.
What would you advise, seeing that these children are now adults and would like to visit the United States?
WH
Dear WH,
A person does not have to be present in a court room when they are ordered deported from the United States – they can be deported in absentia.
It would appear from your query that the children never lived in America, and neither did their father – the petitioner’s husband, and that the marriage may have disintegrated as a result of this separation. When a spouse receives a green card through marriage, and that marriage was less than two years at the time of the green card approval, the immigrant receives a two-year conditional green card. Ninety days before the expiration of the two-year card, both spouses are to file to remove the condition on the green card – in essence, apply for a 10-year green card. If the parties are no longer together, they are required to be divorced and the immigrant file a petition for the 10-year card on their own. Any children that were filed for by the American spouse must also be filed to remove the condition on their green cards.
In some instances, the application for the removal of the condition is denied and the matter referred to immigration court. If the immigrant does not appear for the immigration hearing, they can be removed/deported in absentia.
If the children’s petition was filed by their biological mother, they should have received permanent green cards. I suggest that these now adults contact an immigration attorney to retrieve their immigration files and to review and advise them on what transpired; and what, if anything, can be done to correct their status.
Dahlia A. Walker-Huntington, Esq, is a Jamaican-American attorney who practises immigration law in the United States; and family, criminal and international law in Florida. She is a diversity and inclusion consultant, mediator, and former special magistrate and hearing officer in Broward County, Florida. info@walkerhuntington.com *