applying for green card, charge of attempted ag assault with prison time, what are my chances ?

[des57564]

My husband and I were married in Oct 2011, in November 2011 he was involved in an incident that left him charged with Agg Assault. We started our application for his Green Card in Jan 2012 and successfully passed all the tests and what not involved. In July 2012 he plead guilty to Attempted Ag Assault and was sentenced to 1 yr in the South Dakota state penetentary, he only has to serve 6 months with good behavior and 5 yrs probation. We were not notified during his hearing of what the consiquenses would be of pleading guilty or having a felony and how it could jeopardize his GC application. We have done all of the steps for the Green Card application and are now just waiting for the final answer when he is released, which will be Jan 8, 2013. We have been told that ICE has a hold on him already but want to know what our chances are that he will be approved for his green card. He has no prior charges in either South Africa or the US and has had no problems while in prison and in fact is being held in the minimum security unit. He has also completed every class available to him including getting his GED, AA, parenting, and more. Any informatin will be helpfull at this point.

 

[Hexa]

The most telling information is the ICE hold, that means the ICE believes he is deportable. Your husband seemed to be convicted for an aggravated felony, so once his prison term is up the ICE will take over the detention and proceed to deport him. This is far too technical for anybody who doesn't understand both criminal & immigration law, so you need to talk to a lawyer competent in both areas of the law.

Edit:
You mentioned that nobody advised your husband of the immigration consequences of pleading guilty. A competent immigration/criminal lawyer can probably claim deficient representation by the previous attorney, and work something out with the prosecutor and court.

 

[ananga73]

Correct. Per a Supreme Court ruling, that is sufficient grounds to throw out the case for a retrial at which you can negotiate a guilty plea to a lower charge which won't trigger immigration/deportation.

Edit:
You mentioned that nobody advised your husband of the immigration consequences of pleading guilty. A competent immigration/criminal lawyer [U]can probably claim deficient representation by the previous attorney, and work something out with the prosecutor and court[/U].