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The Trump administration appears to have stepped up the criminal background checks of legal permanent residents as they reenter the country. That's led to some high-profile detentions and removals. And as NPR's Martin Kaste reports, those cases have many green card holders wondering if they should risk leaving the country at all.
MARTIN KASTE, BYLINE: Outside the ICE detention center in Tacoma, Washington, last week, a rare display of joy.
(CHEERING)
KASTE: Family and friends celebrated the release of Lewelyn Dixon, a 64-year-old Filipina who'd been locked up for almost three months since her arrest at the Seattle Airport.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Crying) Oh, I love you so much.
KASTE: Dixon has lived in the U.S. for half a century, and she has deep roots here, which helped her during her detention.
LEWELYN DIXON: Thank you. Thank you for the letters. Thank you for the prayers. Thank you so much.
KASTE: So why would a permanent resident so connected to her American community be arrested coming back into the country? Her immigration attorney is Benjamin Osorio.
BENJAMIN OSORIO: So she has an old conviction from 2001.
KASTE: Dixon was caught stealing on the job. She did time in a halfway house and then put the matter behind her. Legally, though, that criminal record jeopardized her green card status, but it didn't come up, even when she traveled overseas, until this year.
OSORIO: We're in a maximum enforcement era now - right? - where the goal is to pick up as many people and charge as many people and put as many people in removal proceedings and ultimately deport as many people as possible.
KASTE: He convinced an immigration judge to let Dixon back into the country based on her clean record in more recent years, and now she plans to apply for citizenship. Osario says he never used to get cases like this since he started practicing immigration law 12 years ago. Now he's had three more like this since February. And some say this tougher enforcement is overdue.
JESSICA VAUGHAN: It shouldn't be the case that once you get a green card, you're in home free.
KASTE: Jessica Vaughan is with the Center for Immigration Studies, which supports President Trump's immigration enforcement policies.
VAUGHAN: If you do something after getting a green card that disqualifies you, well, that should be looked at and enforced.
KASTE: NPR asked the administration if it's telling border officers to be stricter when checking the backgrounds of permanent residents. In a written statement, Customs and Border Protection replied, quote, "the Trump administration is enforcing immigration laws, something the previous administration failed to do," end quote. As a result, worried green card holders are now flocking to immigration attorneys such as Michael Cataliotti.
MICHAEL CATALIOTTI: In the cases of folks who have arrest records or encounters with law enforcement, the first question is always, you know, can I expunge it? Can I wipe it out? Like, wouldn't that save me? Not really. They'll still be able to see it.
KASTE: And he says, where before immigration officers may have let an old criminal record slide, green card holders can't count on that now.
CATALIOTTI: The safest thing, obviously, unfortunately, is to not travel, to have a plan, whether it be an attorney, whether it be an accountant, a friend, a family member. It doesn't really matter. That's just something that a lot of folks are asking me for.
KASTE: It is important to point out here that only a fraction of 1% of the 13 million green card holders have been refused reentry to the U.S. this way. But Attorney Benjamin Osorio says, when it happens, it can take people by surprise. He says, often, a single criminal incident is not enough to get you deported, but it can keep you from being allowed back in. And that means some green card holders find out there's a problem only when they're trying to come back home. Martin Kaste, NPR News.
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