Possible Deportation
- Arrest or jail for violation of a support order may trigger a hold by immigration and lead to deportation proceedings (if not in status).
Possible Denial of Future Immigration Benefits
- Violations can be sources of information regarding “conduct-based” grounds of inadmissibility or deportability.
- Many immigration benefits like naturalization, LPR card, VAWA, VAWA Cancellation of Removal, BSW, Non-LPR cancellation of removal, require the applicant to show that they have been a person of “good moral character” for five years immediately before the application and up to the time of the Oath of Allegiance prior to application.
- Violations can be used as negative discretionary factors in immigration applications (i.e. LPR cards, citizenship, etc.), but these findings do not statutorily disqualify a child from immigration status.
- Even if it does not impact someone’s good moral character, many immigration benefits are discretionary.
