His Record Was Expunged. He Thought He Was Fine. He Wasn't.
Arzoo Connor • March 4, 2026
What immigrants need to know before trusting their criminal attorney with their immigration future.
I've had this conversation more times than I can count.
Someone comes in, stressed, and walks me through their situation. They had a run-in with the law a couple of years back. Nothing major, they say. They hired a criminal attorney, took a plea deal, got the records expunged. Their attorney told them they were good. Their family told them they were good. They even found someone in a Facebook group who went through the same thing and came out fine.
So they moved on. Until a green card application came up, or a renewal, or a petition for a family member. Now they're sitting across from me. And I have to tell them the thing nobody told them before: expungement means nothing in immigration court.
The look is always the same. Disbelief, then the slow weight of what that actually means.
Two Systems. Two Very Different Rules.
Here's what a lot of people don't know, and honestly, what a lot of criminal attorneys don't fully think about either. The criminal justice system and the immigration system are separate. Completely. What fixes your record in one does not fix it in the other.
When a criminal record gets expunged, the state is saying it didn't happen. You can say no on job applications. It won't show on most background checks. That matters and it's a real relief.
But immigration law runs on federal rules. And under those rules, that arrest, that plea, that conviction it still happened.
USCIS can see it. An immigration judge can weigh it. Depending on the charge, it can affect a visa application, a green card, even whether someone ends up in removal proceedings.
It is not a technicality. It is just how these two systems work. And not knowing it can cost someone everything.
The Case I Keep Thinking About
I'll walk you through a real situation. Details are changed, but the facts are ones I see all the time.
A client came to me after being arrested a few years earlier for possession of a weapon. Not a U.S. citizen. His criminal attorney was good, got him a plea deal, record got expunged. Case closed. Nobody brought in an immigration attorney because from the criminal side, there was nothing left to do.
Then he went to apply for his green card. That charge came up. And because of how immigration law handles weapons offenses, it created a real problem. One that would have been a lot easier to deal with, maybe even avoidable, if I had been in the room before he signed that plea.
This is something I want people to hear: I work with criminal attorneys regularly. When I get involved before a plea is entered, we can sometimes push for a lower charge, or frame the plea in a way that does less damage on the immigration side. Not every time. But enough times that it matters. And that difference is someone staying here with their kids or not.
Once the plea is signed, the options get a lot harder. You work with what's there.
Why This Keeps Happening
I'm not blaming criminal attorneys. Most of them are good at their job. But immigration law moves fast, the rules keep changing, and it is hard to track unless it is all you do. They are focused on the criminal case. That is what they should be focused on.
The problem is nobody thinks to ask. When you're scared and just arrested, you call a criminal attorney. That is the right move. But if you are not a U.S. citizen, you need to tell that attorney immediately. And a good criminal attorney, when they hear that, should call someone like me before advising you on any deal.
Then there is social media. I cannot tell you how many people come in after reading a post from someone who swears
their expungement cleared everything for immigration too. Maybe that person's charge was different. Maybe their status was different. Maybe they just got lucky and don't know it yet. Immigration cases are not the same. What worked for one person can absolutely wreck another.
What to Do If This Sounds Familiar
If you are not a U.S. citizen and you have a criminal record, even something minor, even something expunged, even something dismissed, talk to an immigration attorney before you file anything. Don't assume it was taken care of. Find out for sure.
If you are dealing with criminal charges right now, tell your criminal attorney you have immigration concerns. Ask them to get on the phone with an immigration attorney before you accept any deal. Any attorney who takes their job seriously will do that without hesitation.
And if someone in a group chat or a comment thread told you your expungement fixed your immigration situation, please don't treat that as legal advice. Come in and let us actually look at your case.
One Conversation Can Change a Lot
I do this work because it is personal to me. My family came here in 1996. I became a citizen in the middle of my first year of law school. Everyone in my office has been through their own version of this process. We know what is actually at stake for the people who sit across from us.
My consultations run 45 minutes to 1 hour. I go through every option, what it costs, what the timeline looks like, what the risks are. If I can't help you, I will tell you straight and explain why. I turn people away regularly. But at least they leave knowing exactly where they stand.
It costs $50 to come in. If you have a criminal matter in your past and an immigration case anywhere in your future, that is a conversation worth having now, not when something has already gone wrong.
Ready to talk? Call ARC Legal Services (469) 200-0158 or reach out online. We respond the same day.
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If you miss your immigration court hearing, the judge will almost certainly issue an in absentia order of removal. That means you are ordered deported without being present, without being heard, and often without knowing it happened until ICE comes to your door or you try to travel and find out at the border. This is one of the most common ways people lose cases that could have gone differently. I see it in Dallas immigration court regularly. Someone got a notice to appear, life got in the way, they thought they could reschedule, or they never received the notice at all because it went to an old address. The hearing happened without them. The order was issued. Now they are asking me what can be done. What an in absentia removal order means for your case An in absentia removal order is a formal order of deportation entered by an immigration judge when a respondent fails to appear. Once it is issued, you are subject to removal from the United States. If you have any pending applications or relief that you had not yet presented to the court, those matters are not automatically preserved. The order treats your failure to appear as a waiver of your right to be heard. The order also creates a ten-year bar on most forms of discretionary relief and makes it significantly harder to reopen your case, though not impossible in every situation. Can an in absentia order be reopened? Yes, in certain circumstances. You can file a motion to reopen an in absentia removal order if you can demonstrate that you did not receive proper notice of the hearing, or if you can show that exceptional circumstances caused your failure to appear. Exceptional circumstances under immigration law means something serious and beyond your control, not a scheduling conflict or a misunderstanding about the date. In immigration courts right now, judges are scrutinizing motions to reopen carefully. The standard for what qualifies as exceptional circumstances is applied strictly. A credible showing that notice was not properly received carries more weight than an argument that you forgot or were confused about the date. There are also deadlines. A motion to reopen based on lack of notice must generally be filed within a reasonable time. A motion based on exceptional circumstances must be filed within 180 days of the order. These deadlines matter and missing them closes additional doors. What if you never received notice of the hearing? Notice issues are more common than people realize. If the address on file with the immigration court was incorrect, if the notice was sent to an old address you had not updated, or if there is a documented problem with the notice that was sent, you may have grounds to reopen the case. Courts do look at whether notice was properly given before holding someone responsible for failing to appear. If you received a notice to appear that listed a time or date as TBD or to be determined, there is ongoing litigation about whether a subsequent notice sent to the address on file constitutes proper notice. This area of law has shifted in recent years and it is worth discussing with an attorney who practices in your specific immigration court. What to do right now if you have a missed hearing If you missed a hearing and you know an order may have been entered, do not wait to find out. Contact an immigration attorney as soon as possible. The sooner you act, the more options exist. Every day that passes after an in absentia order closes windows that may not reopen. If you are not sure whether an order was entered, you can check the status of your case on the EOIR website using your alien registration number. Your attorney can also pull the case record and determine what happened and when. If you have a hearing coming up and you are afraid to go, I understand that fear. But not going is almost always the worst outcome. An immigration judge who sees you show up, present your case, and engage with the process has the ability to exercise discretion. A judge who sees an empty chair does not. If you have a missed hearing or an upcoming court date you are not sure how to handle, call us. Attorney Arzoo Connor ARC Legal Services | Fort Worth, TX | Hablamos Español 469-200-0158 | www.arclawoffice.com This post is for general informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Immigration law is complex and every case is different. Please consult a qualified attorney about your individual situation.
If a parent is detained or deported in Texas, the documents that protect your family are a financial power of attorney, a medical power of attorney, and a legal designation covering your minor children. Without these in place, the people who want to help your family may have no legal authority to do so, even if they are immediate family members. I practice immigration law and estate planning. I see both sides of what happens when a parent is detained without warning. The immigration side is what people call me for. The other side is the part nobody plans for. Who pays rent? Who can access the bank account? Who has legal standing to pick the children up from school, consent to a medical procedure, or make decisions when you cannot? Courts can eventually resolve all of these things. But court proceedings take time and money, and in the middle of a family crisis that is exactly the wrong moment to start a legal process to establish basic authority over your own household. What a financial power of attorney does for an immigrant family A financial power of attorney authorizes a person you trust to manage your accounts, pay your bills, handle your property, and make financial decisions if you are unavailable. If you are detained, someone still needs to pay rent. Someone still needs to handle your car payment. Someone still needs money for your children's food, school supplies, and medical appointments. Without this document, the people who love you and want to help have no legal standing to touch any of it, no matter how close they are to you. In Texas, a durable power of attorney remains in effect even if you are incapacitated or unavailable, which is exactly what you need for a detention scenario. A regular power of attorney can lapse. A durable one does not. This distinction matters and it is the version you want. What a medical power of attorney covers A medical power of attorney authorizes someone to make healthcare decisions for you if you cannot make them yourself. If you are detained and a medical situation arises, this document determines who speaks for you and what decisions they can make. Without it, healthcare providers are limited in what information they can share and what decisions family members can authorize, even in an emergency. The documents that protect your children specifically For parents, Texas law provides two additional tools that matter most in an enforcement scenario. The first is a designation of guardian for minor children, which is your written statement of who should care for your children if you are unable to do so. The second is what Texas calls an authorization agreement for nonparent relative care, which gives a relative or trusted adult specific legal authority to enroll your children in school, consent to their medical care, and make day-to-day decisions without going to court. Schools require documentation. Hospitals require documentation. An aunt or grandmother saying the parent is detained is not enough without legal paperwork behind it. I have seen families where children missed weeks of school and medical appointments because the adults who wanted to help could not get past the front desk of the school or the admissions desk at the clinic without documentation the family did not have. What I have seen happen without a plan I have seen families get through the immigration part of a crisis and then face months of chaos on the other side. The parent got through detention. The underlying immigration situation stabilized. And they came back to a family that had lost a vehicle to repossession, fallen behind on rent, missed medical appointments for children with ongoing conditions, and had a landlord who had started eviction proceedings because nobody had authority to handle the finances. The immigration case was the part they had thought about. The rest caught them completely off guard. A simple packet of documents, prepared ahead of time with an attorney, prevents all of that. Who to name and what they need to know Name someone stable. Someone nearby. Someone without legal complications of their own that might limit their ability to act. Name an alternate in case your first choice is unavailable. And before anything happens, have a real conversation with the person you are naming so they know where to find the documents and what to do with them. Put together a written letter with the names and phone numbers of your attorney, your children's school, your doctor, your landlord, and the location of your important documents including your passport, immigration paperwork, lease, and bank account information. Give a copy to the person you trust. Keep a copy somewhere accessible. This is not a legal document but it is the thing that holds everything else together when someone is trying to help you under pressure. A note on why immigrant families in Texas specifically need this Every family should have these documents. For immigrant families in Fort Worth and the DFW area in 2026, the urgency is higher because the consequences of not having them are more immediate. This is not about assuming the worst. Not planning does not prevent something from happening. It only guarantees that if it does happen, your family is less protected than they could have been. I handle both immigration and estate planning at this office, which means I understand your full situation. If you have been putting this off, stop putting it off. Attorney Arzoo Connor ARC Legal Services | Fort Worth, TX | Hablamos Español 469-200-0158 | www.arclawoffice.com This post is for general informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Immigration law is complex and every case is different. Please consult a qualified attorney about your individual situation.
If you have a pending U visa, T visa, or VAWA application, a federal court ruled on May 20, 2026 that ICE cannot routinely arrest, detain, or deport you while your case is pending. The ruling came in a case called ICWC v. Noem, and it restored protections that had been in place for over thirty years before the Trump administration reversed them in January 2025. I have clients with pending cases in all three of these categories. I want to explain what this ruling actually does, what it does not do, and what it means for you if you are sitting in Fort Worth right now wondering whether it is safe to go to your USCIS appointment. What changed in January 2025 and why it mattered For over three decades, ICE operated under a practice of not pursuing enforcement against people with pending U visa, T visa, or VAWA applications. This was not a loophole. Congress created these programs specifically to encourage crime victims to come forward, cooperate with law enforcement, and seek protection. A U visa only works if the person who reported a crime and filed for protection can actually go to their USCIS appointments without being arrested on the way in. In January 2025, the Trump administration issued guidance known as the Vitello Memo that reversed this. Under the new policy, having a pending application no longer protected you from arrest, detention, or deportation. ICE could treat your case as though it did not exist. One of the named plaintiffs in the ICWC lawsuit is a woman named Carmen. She survived domestic violence, reported her husband, and filed for a U visa. ICE detained her and her young child at a scheduled check-in and deported them. When she landed in her home country, her abuser was waiting at the airport. The court ordered the government to facilitate her return to the United States. That is the policy the court blocked. What the court actually did The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California issued a preliminary injunction and certified three nationwide classes of people protected by the ruling. The first class covers people with pending U visa, T visa, or VAWA self-petitions who ICE detains or attempts to detain for civil immigration enforcement. The second covers people who were granted deferred action based on a pending U or T visa petition and who ICE detained or removed without notice or a hearing. The third covers people with a pending U or T visa petition who have been detained and requested a stay of removal. The court restored the victim-centered enforcement approach that existed before January 2025, directing ICE to return to the framework that disfavors detention and removal of survivors with pending cases. It also ordered the government to facilitate the return of named plaintiffs who were unlawfully deported while this case was pending. What this ruling does not do This is a preliminary injunction, not a final ruling. The case is still ongoing and the government may appeal. Courts can modify injunctions. The legal landscape can shift again. If you have a pending case and you have an upcoming ICE check-in, court date, or biometrics appointment in the DFW area or anywhere else, please speak with an immigration attorney before you go. This ruling changes your position meaningfully but it does not eliminate all risk in every situation. The difference between a U visa, T visa, and VAWA petition I get asked about the difference between these three constantly, so let me explain them plainly. The U visa is for noncitizens who have been victims of certain serious crimes and who have cooperated or are willing to cooperate with law enforcement investigating or prosecuting that crime. The list of qualifying crimes includes assault, domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking, kidnapping, and others. You do not have to have been the person who called 911. You have to have been harmed and be willing to help. The T visa is specifically for survivors of human trafficking, both sex trafficking and labor trafficking. It requires that you comply with reasonable law enforcement requests and that you would face extreme hardship if removed from the United States. Given what trafficking survivors have been through, this standard is generally met. VAWA, which stands for the Violence Against Women Act, allows noncitizens who have been abused by a US citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse, parent, or adult child to file for immigration protection on their own. Without the abuser knowing. Without their cooperation. Without their involvement in any way. It was built specifically so that the threat of deportation could never be used to trap someone in an abusive relationship. All three programs are protected under this ruling. All three are cases I handle at this office. What to do based on where your case stands If you have a pending U visa, T visa, or VAWA petition and you are in removal proceedings or have an upcoming enforcement encounter, contact an immigration attorney before you do anything. The class certification in this case means you have legal protections, but those protections need to be properly invoked and documented in your specific case. They do not apply automatically without anyone knowing about them. If you were detained or deported while your application was pending, contact an attorney immediately. The court ordered the government to address those situations and there may be a path to return. If you have been thinking about filing but have been afraid to because of what might happen, this ruling does not erase every risk. But these programs exist because you came forward. The court has now said the government cannot use that against you. You should not be making this decision alone. Our office handles U visa, T visa, and VAWA cases. A consultation is $50. Call us. Attorney Arzoo Connor ARC Legal Services | Fort Worth, TX | Hablamos Español 469-200-0158 | www.arclawoffice.com This post is for general informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Immigration law is complex and every case is different. Please consult a qualified attorney about your individual situation.