INADMISSIBLE
ALIENS Section
212(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) (8
USC § 1182 - Inadmissible aliens) provides grounds for inadmissibility and
deportation that include various crimes, communicable diseases, past
immigration violations, and the likelihood of needing government financial
assistance. Crimes on an immigrant’s
record are analyzed under the grounds of “deportability.” Anyone who has committed a serious or
violent crime is likely to be both inadmissible and deportable. Conviction of a crime
involving moral turpitude (but not a purely political offense) includes any
attempt or conspiracy to commit such a crime and excludes crimes committed
when the person was under the age of 18 years, so long as the person was
released from jail more than five years before applying for a visa or other
immigration benefit. It also excludes crimes for which the maximum penalty
did not exceed one year in prison and the person was not, in fact, sentenced
to more than six months in prison. · Conviction
or admission of a controlled substance violation, whether under US or foreign
law, including any conspiracy to commit such a crime. · Convictions
for two or more crimes (other than purely political ones) for which the
prison sentences totaled at least five years. This multiple-offense ground of
inadmissibility applies whether or not the convictions came from a single
trial and whether or not the offenses arose from a single scheme of
misconduct or involved moral turpitude. · Conviction
of or participation in (according to the reasonable belief of the U.S.
government) controlled substance trafficking. This includes anyone who
knowingly aided, abetted, assisted, conspired, or colluded in illicit drug
trafficking. It also includes the spouse, son, or daughter of the
inadmissible applicant if that person has, within the last five years,
received any financial or other benefit from the illicit activities, and knew
or reasonably should have known where the money or benefit came from. · Having
the purpose of engaging in prostitution or commercialized vice upon coming to
the United States, or a history, within the previous ten years, of having
engaged in prostitution. · Procurement
or attempted procurement or importation of prostitutes, directly or
indirectly, or receipt of proceeds of prostitution, any of which occurred
within the previous ten years. · Assertion
of immunity from prosecution after committing a serious criminal offense in
the U.S., if the person was thus able to depart the U.S. and has not since
submitted fully to the jurisdiction of the relevant U.S. court . · Commission
of particularly severe violations of religious freedom while serving as a
foreign government official. · Commission
of or conspiracy to commit human trafficking offenses, within or outside the
U.S., or being a knowing aider, abettor, assister, conspirator, or colluder
with such a trafficker according to the knowledge or reasonable belief of the
U.S. government. Also inadmissible are the spouse, son, or daughter the
applicant if they, within the previous five years (but when older than
children), received financial or other benefits from the illicit activity and
knew or reasonably should have known that the money or other benefit came
from the illicit activity. · Conviction
of an aggravated felony, inadmissibility for 20 years. · Seeking
to enter the U.S. to engage in money laundering, or a history of having
laundered money, or having been (according to the knowledge of the U.S.
government) a knowing aider, abettor, assister, conspirator, or colluder with
money launderers. · Security
violations, such as involvement in espionage, sabotage, terrorism, Nazi
persecution, totalitarian parties, and so forth. |
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of Dr. Vepachedu