TSA Checking Immigration Status?

Our client was recently placed in removal proceedings or what is commonly understood as deportation proceedings before an Immigration Judge. One might ask how he got there given that he had no prior criminal history, was not picked up during a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) worksite raid, nor was he randomly stopped while on a greyhound bus going out of state.  

His violations of the Immigration Laws of the United States of America was that he entered the U.S. more than ten years ago with a B2 visitor's visa and should have left the United States more than nine years ago when his I-94 expired.   

Our client lives in New York City and his girlfriend at the time, lived in Florida.  To maintain this long distance relationship, he was traveling back and forth from New York to Florida almost every month for more than six months, not on Greyhound nor Amtrak, but was flying on public passenger planes.  He flew inter-state for six months presenting nothing more to the Transportation Security Agents (TSA) than an international driving license: a non-government issued identification. 

Around November of 2010 while making his sixth trip to Florida using the same piece of I.D., he was stopped in Florida by TSA agents and asked once more for his I.D. He showed the agents his international driver’s license with confidence because by this time he felt that his I.D. was not a concern since he had routinely used it before without issue. Our client was about to learn that doing something repeatedly does not give it legitimacy.   Because our client could not show the TSA agents an official I.D., they directed him to ICE agents who asked him questions about his passport, (which he did not have in his possession), his citizenship, how he got into the United States etc., took his fingerprints, arrested him and placed him in detention in Florida for about a week.  He was eventually released and he came back to New York with a Notice to Appear before an Immigration Judge.

Fortunately for our client he was going to Florida to see his U.S. citizen girlfriend, whom he married after his release from ICE detention.  When we got to immigration court, we explained to the Judge that our client was now an immediate relative of a U.S. citizen, because he married a US Citizen, and that this should enable him to get a green card in the U.S.  The Immigration Judge asked him for his wife and fortunately for him she was present with him in the court. 

Because the marriage took place after my client was released by ICE, we were asked by a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Attorney and the Judge to submit a Stokes Package to the court, which required both my client and his wife to submit an affidavit stating that they did not get married to circumvent the Immigration Laws of the United States.  This was exactly what we did and it is very likely that our client will be able to adjust status in the United States because he does not have a criminal record and his relationship with his wife is bona fide.

This entry is not written with the intention of dissuading undocumented individuals from traveling within the United States on public passenger planes but only to make persons aware of the potential risks that might be involved if they decide to do so.  If you have any comments or concerns on the matter please drop us a line.

Smith & Stephenson LLP resolves immigration concerns for individuals and businesses. We are a full-service Immigration Law Firm and represent clients in all areas of immigration law, including family based immigration and employment-based immigration. If you have immigration questions, we have answers. You can call our Law Offices 24/7 at (212) 400-7147. Our Immigration Law Firm is located in New York, New York. Our firm serves primarily clients from the Tri-state area, however, we offer telephone consultations and we can help clients all over the United States and throughout the world.