What a DWI does to your immigration status (even if you are a green card holder)

If you are not a U.S. citizen and you have been arrested for a DWI in Dallas, the first thing you need to understand is this: a plain first-offense DWI, standing alone, is generally not a deportable offense under federal immigration law. That is the good news.

The bad news is that almost every DWI case has something else going on. And those “something elses” are where green card holders, DACA recipients, TPS beneficiaries, and undocumented residents get into real trouble.

What counts as an aggravating factor

Immigration officers and USCIS adjudicators look for a few specific things. Any of these can transform a “civil courtroom” DWI into an immigration problem:

• Child in the vehicle. DWI with a child passenger under 15 is a state jail felony in Texas and almost always an aggravated felony for immigration purposes.
• BAC over 0.15. Texas upgrades this to a Class A misdemeanor. It also looks worse on every immigration review.
• Accident or injury. Intoxication assault and intoxication manslaughter are felonies. These are categorically deportable.
• Second or subsequent offense. A second DWI within ten years, even as a misdemeanor, triggers immigration review.
• Refusing the test. Not in itself immigration-adverse, but it can affect how USCIS evaluates “good moral character” for naturalization applications.

Why the plea deal your friend got is bad advice for you

A U.S. citizen can plead to a first-offense DWI and take deferred adjudication, pay the fines, do the community service, and move on. For a non-citizen, that same plea can look completely different on a green card renewal, a naturalization application, or a border crossing five years later.

I never let a non-citizen client plead to anything without looping in immigration counsel first. This is the mistake I see most often — and the most expensive to fix later.

What we do differently

If you are not citizen-born, we run a parallel immigration analysis on day one. I work with three immigration lawyers in Dallas who specialize in crimmigration. Their consultation is usually included in my flat fee for non-citizen clients, because I do not want you finding out what the plea means for your status after you have signed it.