Criminal Defense of Immigrants

If a criminal defendant is outside the United States, it is possible to seek humanitarian parole as a means to enter the country to stand trial,[250] to attend a probation interview, to attend sentencing hearing, or to appear to serve a sentence.  See § 15.14, infra.  Such an entry would not be within the terms of a non-immigrant visa, such as a non-immigrant business visa or be considered a formal “admission” for immigration purposes.[251]  The defendant needs permission from the DHS to be paroled into the United States for those purposes.  Myra Moore is the ICE point of contact for public benefit parole requests, of whom counsel may make a request for parole that would allow the defendant temporarily to enter the United States for these legal purposes.[252]  For future trips, after sentence has been completed, the defendant may qualify for a nonimmigrant waiver of inadmissibility.  See § 24.30(E), infra.[253] 

[250] Mansour v. Gonzales, 470 F.3d 1194, (6th Cir. Dec. 14, 2006) (noncitizen who was paroled into the United States to stand trial in a criminal case did not make a lawful admission, for purposes of becoming eligible to apply for INA § 212(c) relief or making a motion to reopen removal proceedings), citing Simeonov v. Ashcroft, 371 F.3d 532, 536 (9th Cir. 2004) (holding that a noncitizen paroled into the United States pending completion of exclusion proceedings did not lawfully enter the United States and was therefore ineligible for withholding of deportation).

[251] INA § 101(a)(15)(B), 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(15)(B). 

[252] She may be reached at (202) 732-8168.

[253] INA § 212(d)(3), 8 U.S.C. § 1182(d)(3).