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Immigrant DWI Flower Mound Texas TX

Reader’s Question:

One of my classmates who is a foreign citizen was charged for DWI here in Flower Mound, Texas. Does this mean that he will be deported and he can never go back here in the US?

Aaron

Flower Mound, TX

Immigrants in the United States are subject to deportation if convicted for a crime involving moral turpitude that carries a possible sentence of one year or longer. Even if the immigrant would be sentenced to less than one year of imprisonment, he would still be subject to deportation if the maximum possible sentence is one year or greater. But you failed to mention if this is a first or subsequent DWI offense because under the current law, a first DWI offense is not a crime of moral turpitude so, if your friend’s DWI case in Flower Mound, Texas is his first DWI and he gets convicted, he would not be deported. But if he is charged with second or subsequent DWI offense, he should consult an experienced lawyer to determine if he is vulnerable to deportation.

Under the immigration law, a conviction has a much broader meaning than that under criminal law. A conviction would occur when a formal judgment of guilt is entered by a court under the current immigration law. A conviction could also be found even where adjudication of guilt has been withheld if a jury or a judge has found the defendant guilty, the defendant has entered a plea of guilty or no contest or the defendant admits sufficient facts to warrant a finding of guilt and the judge has ordered some form of penalty, restraint or punishment on the defendant’s liberty to be imposed. This means that if no formal conviction is entered on a diversion program, it could still be considered a “conviction” under immigration law.

Tags: DWI, DWI conviction, DWI lawyer