OMFG!!!

[Ms. Toad]

67. Hope he calls soon - and that it is all a false alarm.

But I've heard too many horror stories about immigration - even before now from folks who get tangled up in the criminal justice system and accept pleas - not realizing the consequences.

Prior to now, most of the horror stories were from kids whose parents adopted them when US citizenship was not automatic upon adoption. They didn't realize they needed to actively seek citizenship for their children - and when they reached young adulthood (typically) they ran into relatively insignificant legal problems they were booted back to their country of origin, including pleading guilty to crimes they (or their attorneys) thought would not have an impact on their residency status - but did. There was a pretty infamous case in the town I used to work in - a young man in his 20s sent back to Brazil for seling marijuana to an undercover policeman. He didn't speak a word of Portugese. It did not end well.

That loophole has now gotten closed, but the non-immigration attorney involved in the criminal matter didn't have a clue about (1) citizenship status of the young man or (2) the impact of a minor conviction on his ability to stay in the country.

I hope you've heard from him - and that it was all a false alarm! But do what you can to make sure he understands how dangerous times can be for anyone who isn't the "picture-perfect" citizen from birth.