Getting arrested is scary enough for anyone in Missouri. But what if you’re not a U.S. citizen? Could an arrest lead to you getting deported? Our attorneys get this question all the time from clients across the Kansas City metro, St. Louis County, and everywhere in between: does an arrest in Missouri mean I’m getting deported? The honest answer is, it depends, but the risks are real enough that nobody should wait around to find out.
For immigrants, removal proceedings are one of the most serious possible consequences of a criminal chare. Certain criminal convictions can lead to you getting removed from the country (also known as deported) no matter how long they have lived here or how strong their family ties are. That’s part of why our firm treats immigration related legal matters as something that has to be handled alongside the criminal case from day one, not as an afterthought once the damage is already done.
Documented Doesn’t Mean Safe
Here’s something we hear constantly, and it’s dead wrong. People assume that having a green card, a work visa, or even pending asylum protects them from deportation. It doesn’t. Depending on your immigration status, certain categories of crime carry serious consequences beyond jail time. Offenses that fall under what immigration law calls an aggravated felony, or a crime involving moral turpitude, can trigger removal even for someone who has lived in Missouri for decades. Drug charges, theft, fraud, domestic violence, and firearm offenses tend to be the ones that cause the most trouble.
Undocumented immigrants face an even steeper hill. Since there’s no lawful status to protect in the first place, virtually any criminal charge, even a relatively minor one, can give immigration authorities a reason to begin removal proceedings. And detention can happen before there’s ever a conviction. Simply being arrested and held can put someone on ICE’s radar.
What Missouri Courts Can and Can’t Do
This part trips people up. Missouri judges generally are not allowed to factor immigration consequences into a sentence, though those consequences can influence whether a judge accepts a particular plea bargain, and they may factor into other sentencing decisions. To clarify that last point: this creates room, real room, for creative plea negotiation. A skilled criminal defense attorney who also understands immigration law can sometimes negotiate a charge reduction or an alternative sentencing arrangement that keeps a case from ever counting as a removable conviction. That’s not a guarantee. It’s a strategy, and it only works when someone starts thinking about it before the plea gets entered, not after.
A lot of noncitizens, understandably, want the fastest and cheapest way out of a criminal charge. They take a plea that avoids jail time, thinking they dodged a bullet. But immigration law defines a conviction differently than Missouri criminal law does. A plea deal that lets someone avoid jail time can still count as a deportable conviction under federal immigration rules. We’ve seen this catch people off guard more times than we’d like to count.
Our Recommendation
We encourage anyone facing charges in Missouri who isn’t a citizen to reach out as early as possible. The timing here is genuinely important. Once a plea gets entered or a conviction is on the books, the options available to protect someone’s immigration status shrink dramatically. From St. Louis to Springfield to Kansas City, we’ve represented clients whose entire future in this country hinged on decisions made in the first few weeks of a criminal case.
Every situation is different, and nobody can promise a specific outcome. But understanding how these two legal systems collide, and getting guidance before decisions get locked in, gives people the best shot at protecting both their case and their life here.