I have a Green Card. Can I Be Deported?
Question:
Should Green Card Holder be concered about losing their legal protections under the Trump Administration?
Since 1997, Green Card Holders have faced possible deportation for certain criminal convictions.
Green Card Holders face deportation if they have a conviction and travel outside the U.S.
The Trump Administration is now targeting Green Card Holders' speech on certain topics as grounds to deport them, citing "national security" concerns.
Student visa holders have been targeted for detention and deportation due to their participation in last year's student campus protests decrying Israel's attacks on Gaza.
In the future, the U.S. Supreme Court may be asked to reaffirm that Green Card Holders have First Amendment rights.
Ever since last month’s detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident who is married to a U.S. Citizen, I’ve tried to make sense of what his case means for other Green Card holders currently living in the United States – an estimated 12.8 million people.
To the extent that Trump Administration officials have been willing to discuss their rationale for detaining Kahlil and others like him, the explanation is both chilling and unprecedented. As one long-term immigration attorney recently said to me: “I lived through Trump 1.0. That was bad but Trump 2.0 is even worse than I could have imagined.”
Some Green Card Holders are in the Crosshairs of ICE
Since March, the Trump Administration has targeted Green Card holders for detention and possible deportation for two primary reasons: 1) speech the government believes has “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States”[1]; and 2) those who have a criminal (conviction) record. I will first address the criminal conviction basis.
Deportation Based on a Criminal Conviction
Following the passage of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, certain convictions – in some cases, a single conviction (e.g., a drug offense) or a combination of convictions (e.g., multiple crimes involving moral turpitude, misdemeanor theft, battery) – became a legal basis for revoking someone’s Green Card and seeking their deportation.
As part of my criminal records relief practice, I routinely warn individuals against leaving the country because, due to their conviction, they would be detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the airport and immediately placed into deportation proceedings. This warning pre-dates Trump 1.0.
Two recent incidents highlight the danger of Green Card holders traveling abroad with a criminal conviction.
One case involved a woman by the name of Lewelyn Dixon. Ms. Dixon came to the U.S. from the Philippines when she was 14 years old. She is now 64. She was detained last month when she returned from a visit to her homeland. Although her detention by ICE came as a shock to her family, it shouldn’t have.
In 2001, Ms. Dixon was convicted of embezzlement. Although news reports do not indicate if Ms. Dixon was convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor, based on the amount embezzled, it likely was a felony.
Even though the immigration law placing Ms. Dixon in legal jeopardy of deportation had been on the books for a few years by the time of Ms. Dixon’s arrest, her attorney had no legal obligation to notify her of the adverse immigration consequences of pleading guilty to embezzlement – a crime involving moral turpitude. That duty did not exist until 2010.
The other case involved a man by the name of Fabian Schmidt, 34. Mr. Schmidt, a German national, arrived in the U.S. in 2007. He obtained his Green Card the following year. Last month, Mr. Schmidt was detained by ICE at Boston’s Logan airport on his return from Europe.
ICE reportedly detained Mr. Schmidt because a 2016 state misdemeanor cannabis possession charge. Last year, Mr. Schmidt renewed his Green Card without a problem.
Mr. Schmidt’s mother has claimed in news reports that her son was not convicted because the charge was dropped after California decriminalized the recreational use of cannabis in 2016.[2] How state prosecutors dismissed Mr. Schmidt’s criminal charge may determine if the U.S. government has the legal authority to deport him on that basis.
Takeaway: As these recent cases highlight, any criminal conviction has the potential of flagging a Green Card holder for detention and possible deportation if one subjects him or herself to ICE’s oversight. The best way to avoid ICE’s reach: Don’t travel outside U.S. borders.
Deportation Based on National Security Concerns
Unlike the previous section, the Trump Administration’s reliance on “national security” concerns to revoke Green Cards and student visas has not been used by recent Administrations to deport people based on activities protected under the First Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court has previously held Green Card holders -- like U.S. citizens -- have free speech rights.
In researching this article, I skimmed through Project 2025’s chapter on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).[3] In that chapter, Project 2025 offered this recommendation to the next Republican administration:
Ultimately, Congress should prevent ICE from ignoring criminal aliens identified by local law enforcement agencies …. However, before congressional action, ICE should be directed to take custody of all aliens with records for felonies, crimes of violence, DUIs, previous removals, and any other crime that is considered a national security or public safety threat as defined under current laws.[4] (Emphasis added.)
Both Mr. Khalil and another Green Card holder, Yunseo Chung, are now facing deportation for actions and/or statements they’ve made in support of the Palestinian people on college and university campuses.
Mr. Khalil, who is believed to be 29 or 30, arrived in the U.S. in 2022 on a student visa to study at Columbia University. He was born in a Syrian refugee camp. After marrying a U.S. citizen, Mr. Khalil obtained his Green Card last year.
Ms. Chung, 21, came in the United States with her parents when she was seven years old. Her family arrived from South Korea so her father could attend college. Ms. Chung has had a Green Card since 2021. Prior to her Green Card being revoked, Ms. Chung was enrolled as an undergrad at Columbia University.
Mr. Khalil has been detained since his arrest in a Louisiana detention center. Ms. Chung would likely have been detained at the same facility had she not been accidentally tipped off that ICE was seeking her arrest. Neither Mr. Khalil nor Ms. Chung were advised prior to ICE’s efforts to detain them that their Green Cards had been revoked.
Both Mr. Kahlil and Ms. Chung have filed suit in federal court challenging the legal basis for why their Green Cards were revoked. Given the government’s stated rationale for targeting these two individuals, it is likely their cases will end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
There are two questions the Court may be asked weigh in on: 1) Was Mr. Khalil’s and Ms. Chung’s speech (expressing support for the Palestinian people) protected under the First Amendment? and 2) Did their speech in fact create a “national security or public safety threat” owing to the U.S. government’s support of Israel’s efforts to eliminate Hamas?
How the Court answers these questions is the proverbial one-million-dollar question. The outcome of these cases is likely to have far-reaching implications beyond the rights of Green Card Holders and visa recipients.
Takeaway: Secretary of State Marco Rubio has bragged about revoking more than 300 student visas. Student visa holders should assume that what they say or do can abruptly -- and without warning -- upend their visa status. It is much easier to revoke a visa than a Green Card.
Conclusion
Under Trump 2.0, the U.S. Constitution and federal laws are being routinely ignored. President Trump prefers ruling by Executive Order – which explains why he has issued 111 (and counting) such orders.
With respect to its immigration policies, the Trump Administration (namely, the Department of Justice) has shown an utter disregard and contempt for the due process protections built into our immigration laws. To that end, immigration court judges have been fired and are not likely to be replaced.
Given the events over the past month, the best advice I can give a Green Card holder or visa recipient: Don’t do anything to unnecessarily call attention to yourself. As the granddaughter of Jewish immigrants, it saddens me to have to write these words.
[1] To date, the only speech that has been cited as triggering a national security and/or public safety threat to the U.S. is "anti-Semitic” “speech” by college students. The alleged “anti-Semitic” speech occurred following Israel’s prolonged invasion of Gaza (in response to the 2023 deadly attack in Israel by Hamas). To date, the Israeli invasion has caused the deaths of more than 50,000 Palestinian civilians.
[2] Despite the legalization of cannabis in many states, under federal law the drug remains illegal. Consequently, state decriminalization efforts do not benefit Green Card holders.
[3] Project 2025, also referred to as the Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, was published by The Heritage Foundation in 2023. Project 2025 was intended to be a road map for reinventing the federal government the next time the Republican Party controlled the White House. President Trump has sought to implement many of the recommendations contained in Project 2025.
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24088042-project-2025s-mandate-for-leadership-the-conservative-promise/
[4] Project 2025, p. 141.