Our Reaction to Supreme Court Decision on Deporation

By Bindhu Vijayan
Immigration Attorney, The Law Offices of Spar & Bernstein

Kudos to the Supreme Court on the decision that immigrants to the United States have a constitutional right to be told by their lawyers whether pleading guilty to a crime could lead to their deportation.

We see many individuals in this office who are ineligible for forms of relief in removal/deportation proceedings or subject to mandatory detention and deportation as a result of past guilty pleas. Here’s a typical story – “My lawyer told me that if I plea guilty all I would do is pay a fine and be released. I didn’t know that this would be a problem.”

It’s a harsh lesson to learn that there are immigration consequences to criminal convictions, no matter how long ago the guilty plea was made.