Can prospective GC holder be deported?

Caminante

Registered Users (C)
I have a childhood friend who is now living and working in California under a H1B, he is 45 years old.

When he was 25 while illegally crossing the border he was apprehended by immigration officers and put in jail. He was photographed and fingerprinted; after 2 days he was sent back to Mexico; he is from South America but lied stating he was from Mexico, he also gave a fake name.

A few days after that he finally crossed the border and remained in the US for around 2 years, then he returned to South America.

Twenty years after that he was offered a job in California and got a H1B, he has been working there 5 years now. His employers want to sponsor him and his family (all South Americans) for permanent residence.

In my opinion the USCIS will review his fingerprints and find out about what he did 20 years ago; he is very confident and believes the US Government "erases" all files and databases, retaining only data which is not older than 10 years, I believe he is dead wrong.

Am I right? will he be caught and deported?
 
Yes, prospective green card holders can be deported, and actual green card holders can be deported.

The US govt. doesn't have a policy of erasing everything after 10 years. If he is lucky, the systems that existed 20 years ago might not have stored his fingerprints in a way that makes them easily accessible today.
 
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