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I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA

300 points proberts | 1 comments | 14 Mar 25 14:39 UTC | HN request time: 0.267s | source

I'll be here for the next 6 hours. As usual, there are countless possible topics and I'll be guided by whatever you're concerned with but as much as possible I'd like to focus on the recent changes and potential changes in U.S. immigration law, policy, and practice. Please remember that I am limited in providing legal advice on specific cases for obvious liability reasons because I won't have access to all the facts. Please stick to a factual discussion in your questions and comments and I'll try to do the same in my responses. Thank you!
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fuzztail ◴[14 Mar 25 14:56 UTC] No.43363226[source]▶
I've seen recent examples of the government targeting green card holders for their speech. As a naturalized citizen who wants to exercise my free speech rights, how concerned should I be about potentially having my citizenship challenged on technical grounds? Are there realistic scenarios where this could happen despite First Amendment protections?
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mc32[dead post] ◴[14 Mar 25 15:06 UTC] No.43363333[source]▶
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nashashmi ◴[14 Mar 25 18:18 UTC] No.43365512[source]▶
> essentially long term visas

Not visas which are visitation permits. They are non-citizens who live in the United States. This is not visitation.

Revoking a green card is akin to expulsion from the country. And can only be used when laws are broken, treason is committed, or terrorism is waged.

In the case of the Columbia student, he was accused of terrorism without trial and had his revocation signed single handedly by the Secretary of State. This is a first time for the law to be used.

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walrus01 ◴[14 Mar 25 19:29 UTC] No.43366310[source]▶
> And can only be used when laws are broken, treason is committed, or terrorism is waged.

CBP/ICE has a pretty detailed explanation on their website that you can lose permanent resident status by remaining outside of the country for more than one year and failing to retain a bona fide residence and presence in the USA (US job with annual 1040 tax filings, residence, identity documents, etc).

I would wager that a scenario such as remaining overseas for multiple years is a much more common way for people to lose US PR status through negligence/lack of action than for people to get their PR status revoked through some legal process initiated for treason, terrorism, etc.

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1. nashashmi ◴[15 Mar 25 00:34 UTC] No.43368813[source]▶
Yes, leaving the country for a long time is another way to lose residency. I was focusing more on expulsion.