Beware; Before Your Signature Puts You in Deportation
The worse thing that can happen to any immigrant in this enforcement driven immigration policy of the Obama Administration is inflict an “immigration wound” on oneself that could lead to deportation. It just happened to someone, don’t be the next victim of this abject stupidity. When President Obama assumed office on January 20, 2009, many immigrants expected immigration law enforcement to be relaxed a little compared to the Bush’s administration, but the reverse is the case. Many immigrants just let down their guards by taking risks they would not have taken under the former President Bush’s administration. They were caught in the “he is our brother’s syndrome” and are paying dearly for it now in various immigration detentions across the United States. Let this be clear to all immigrants, President Obama is not your brother, he is the President of the United States. It is true that we all expect some level of humane policies from him, but don’t bait him by acting foolish and getting burnt in the process. It is highly inconceivable to report that many immigrants are still being pulled out from their seats in a local flight waiting for departure order simply because they presented virgin passports during check-in which imply that they are illegal aliens. Many of them have their hopes and dreams shattered by the simple pleasure of wanting to attend someone’s birthday party in another State. It is important for all immigrants to know that the U.S. government has not taken a rest since the September 11, 2001 disaster that rocked the world. Their enforcement networks are getting smarter by the day; do not present yourself their next victim. Now, the latest is that your signature could lead to your deportation when you least expect it. Be careful what you sign otherwise you will pay for it. I am not talking about money. There was a situation where someone married a citizen of the United States. The U.S. citizen petitioned for the foreign national spouse and within 5 months of the marriage a two year green card was issued to the foreign national. Everything was going on very well until the time came for the filing of the I-751 to remove the condition on the permanent resident status of the foreign national to enable the so-called permanent 10year card to be issued to this foreign national. Alas, there was a little misunderstanding between the United States citizen petitioner and the foreign national beneficiary. The marriage was going through the usual adjustments experienced by many marriages where there is a clash of culture. The foreign national without consultation with an immigration attorney took the law into his hands and signed his spouse’s signature on the I-751 application for removal of condition. This foreign national signed for himself and filed the I-751 as jointly filed by both parties. He was hoping that the application would be approved without interview or if any interview is scheduled he would have resolved the misunderstanding with his wife at that time. His friends assured him that they got their own condition removed without interview, so he should not worry.Unfortunately, this person did not know that the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services usually take time to look closely and compare signatures on some of these applications. It was spotted that the U.S. citizen’s signature was slightly different from the signatures in the previous petition submitted to the USCIS. The foreign national tried in signing the wife’s signature but since there is forensic technology, the difference was not difficult to detect. The U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services decided to schedule the case for interview with a note for further probe by the interviewer. As predicted by the foreign spouse, the dispute between him and his wife was long resolved before the interview, but what he did not know was that there was a “time bomb” waiting to explode on his face at the interview. Both of them went for the interview and the question ended up focusing on the signature. After a few minutes of threat, the American spouse confessed that she did not sign the I-751 and the husband had no choice than to confess to signing it. You would think the examiner will pat them on the back for telling the truth and ask them to re-sign the form, but the opposite happened. The immigration interviewer immediately alleged the commission of fraud, ruled the marriage to be fraudulent, terminated the permanent resident status of the foreign spouse and issued a notice to appear before an immigration court for removal proceedings. It has now become a compounded problem that could end up in the deportation of the foreign spouse. This immigrant imposed a self-inflicted wound on himself. No one can blame the USCIS in this case. There was no reason to have forged the signature. The immigrant could succeed in removing the condition on his permanent resident status without the cooperation of his spouse. The I-751 form contains the provision for filing alone if his spouse was not willing to sign the form. He did this to himself; do not let this happen to you. Let me point this out also, U.S. resident immigrants who are petitioning for their spouses abroad often claim that they could sign their wives’ signature. Don’t do it. It is not wise. It is okay for you to wait for a month for the form to return from your home country with her real signature than for you to sign for her and deny her future access to the U.S. if you are caught. It is better to err on the side of caution. A similar case was brought to me; beware, lest your signature puts your dreams on hold. For those in the U.S. who have never attended Stokes Interview or 2nd interview before, you will notice that the immigration examiner usually shows the petitioner the signature page of the I-130 petition for alien relative form. After identifying the signature, the interviewers don’t stop there, they often ask petitioners to sign the same signature on pieces of paper three times. What do you think they use the signatures for? It is important that every immigrant learn from the mistake of others to protect themselves from the dangers of arrests and forfeiture of their status. A word is enough for the wise. Have a wonderful summer!This article is for your information only. It is not to be substituted for a legal advice that can only be rendered by an attorney after evaluation your case. If you need legal advice, please feel free to contact Attorney Joseph Famuyide at 718-647-6767 or send email to
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