Use Caution When Planning Travel Outside the U.S.

Risks of Delayed or Denied Readmission for Lawful Residents, Applicants for Visas, and Persons Subject to Removal Proceedings

January 29, 2025 – We have received reports of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents detaining, questioning, and removing certain returning lawful residents and persons with advance parole documents. These actions, evidently driven by recent hardline Executive Orders promising increased detentions and deportations, may be unlawful and based on misinterpretations of existing law. Other executive actions seek to terminate certain existing parole programs by which persons entered the U.S. lawfully and threaten them with expedited removal without a hearing by a judge. Other executive orders have instructed U.S. Consulates abroad and Department of Homeland Security officials to increase their scrutiny of all persons who apply for visas to the U.S. or seek to enter the U.S. from abroad. Finally, another executive order even calls into question whether U.S. citizens with lawfully issued gender-neutral passports may rely on their continuing validity, causing uncertainty or fear of harassment or abuse upon the citizen’s return to the U.S.

In light of these developments, we encourage anyone seeking to travel and return to the U.S. to:

• Consult with an experienced and reputable immigration attorney before you travel.
• Consider alternatives to nonessential travel abroad.
• If travel is necessary, ensure that all travel documents, passports, visas, and documentation supporting a temporary visa classification are in order and do not require extensions.
• Expect delays in applying for visa extensions and receiving visa interviews – utilize existing expedited procedures and automatic visa revalidation when available.
• Understand enhanced legal rights and protections in advance of travel, particularly for U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, including LPRs on conditional resident status – these persons are by law not subject to expedited removal except in certain limited circumstances.
• Understand that persons with advance parole documents are by law supposed to be allowed to return to the U.S. in the same status as they left, and be given a chance to plead their admissibility and claims to lawful status to an immigration judge.
• Refuse to sign any documents given to you by a DHS official that you do not understand.
• If questioned, be patient and polite, and answer any questions to the best of your ability. If it appears you will be refused reentry to the U.S., ask for an official’s name and position, request a supervisor to review the decision, and take detailed notes describing the encounter, including identifying the officer and stating all questions that were asked and all answers that were provided. Request a written explanation of why you are not permitted to enter the U.S. and contact a U.S. immigration attorney as soon as you are able.
• Keep copies of any documents you receive from any government official. If you provide a statement to a border official, request a copy.
• If you are the subject of wrongful detention or removal, contact your legal representative to determine options to challenge these actions.
• If you have been served with a Notice to Appear for removal proceedings, are in removal proceedings, or have ever had a removal order entered against you, do not travel outside the U.S.
• If you have any criminal arrest or conviction record, or have been accused of or admit to having committed any crime, do not travel outside the U.S.

Please contact Scott D. Pollock & Associates if you have any questions or concerns about international travel by phone at (312) 444-1940 or by email at consult@lawfirm1.com.