In the current tense immigration enforcement environment, not only new immigrants but also green card holders need to be careful and abide by the law, otherwise their green cards may be at risk. For new immigrants, the premise of “complying with the law” is knowing what constitutes “legal” practices and how to handle encounters with law enforcement. Here are two experiences shared by a law firm interviewed by this newspaper that may be helpful to all readers who have not yet obtained citizenship.
Manager Wang from the Qin Susuan Law Firm explained to this newspaper that recently one of their asylum clients ran into trouble, where a minor warning escalated into a court summons.
The incident unfolded when a new immigrant was driving on a highway and noticed a police car behind him. He later told the law firm that he might have absentmindedly taken a convoluted route, catching the attention of the police.
Despite seeing the police car behind him, he was unaware it was following him and continued driving ahead without stopping. When the police car started flashing its lights, he should have pulled over, but as a new immigrant unfamiliar with U.S. traffic laws, he felt it was unsafe to stop on the highway and wanted to turn a corner before stopping.
However, the police weren’t going to wait. The police car then started honking, forcing the new immigrant to pull over nearby. As a result, he was charged with “disorderly conduct” and had to appear in court.
“Old immigrants cannot afford to make such mistakes,” Manager Wang said. “Because the police department conducts activities annually with the community, educating citizens on how to cooperate with law enforcement in case of encounters, demonstrating: how to park, keep hands on the steering wheel, lower the window, how to reach out, raise hands, and what to do if the police ask you to kneel down. But new immigrants who have not gone through this experience, only seen police chase scenes in American dramas, turned what was initially a normal traffic warning incident into a court summons.”
Manager Wang explained that the immigrant who committed the offense is a new immigrant with a work permit waiting to appear in court; this incident at the very least constitutes a misdemeanor, which could cause trouble if recorded and affect immigration status.
Recently, an old immigrant, a new client, knocked on the doors of the Qin Susuan Law Firm. He was the owner of a laundry shop in Queens. Interestingly, he got to know about this law firm from reading a Chinese newspaper. He is a Chinese green card holder.
The green card holder mentioned that as his laundry shop lease expired, the landlord did not return his security deposit promptly. He assumed he could still stay in the shop without the deposit being returned, but the landlord disagreed. On the day after the lease expired, when the landlord came to claim the property, an argument broke out in the shop’s restroom, where the Chinese immigrant pulled the landlord’s sleeve and splashed water from the toilet on the landlord’s face.
This escalated quickly, as the landlord, a 78-year-old, immediately called the police. Ultimately, the police charged the Chinese immigrant with a second-degree assault felony.
“This charge can lead to 7 years in prison, and if convicted, the green card will definitely be revoked because it falls under violent crime,” Manager Wang stated. “Our criminal lawyers are handling this case. Our first approach is to seek dismissal, though the probability is not high; the second is to try to reduce the felony to a misdemeanor, which could save the green card.”
Manager Wang wants to advise Chinese immigrants through this report, especially those living in residential hotels, to never engage in fights over trivial matters within the family. If someone reports the incident to the authorities, the individual could be charged with “assault” or “domestic violence,” jeopardizing their immigration status and potentially leading to deportation proceedings, putting their hard-earned American dream at risk.