Green Card holder may be deported due to past criminal conviction

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Cloyd Edralin, a Green Card holder from the Philippines who was living in New Jersey was detained by federal immigration agents on his way to work Monday morning, according to a WNYC report.

Edralin, a 47-year-old father of four, left his home in Highland Park at about 5:30 a.m. to go to his new job as a machinist when agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) approached him, his wife Brandi Davison-Edralin told WNYC.

There is a chance that Edralin could face deportation due to an 11-year-old conviction on a gun charge, after President Donald Trump showed an initiative to remove legal and permanent residents who have committed crimes in the past.

Edralin applied for a Green Card when he was 17 and it was approved, he has been living in the U.S. for 30 years now while all his Green Card renewals have been approved.

Davison-Edralin told WNYC that Edralin was put on probation back in 2007 for having illegal possession of an air gun and that he had been struggling with an addiction to methamphetamines after the death of his father.

“Back when the conviction happened, we did know felony convictions could impact someone’s immigration status. After he had renewed his green card with no issue I had made the assumption that this was fine. The government continued to give him permission to live here when they had that information,” she exclaimed, adding that Edralin has been drug free since then.

Edralin is currently being held in the privately-run Elizabeth Contract Detention Facility where he will spend weeks or months until he appears before an immigration judge either to request bail or fight his deportation, according to WNYC.