Can You Get Deported For A DUI? (April 2025)

Immigrants Vulnerable to Deportation

What happens when you get a DUI as an immigrant depends on your legal status. Generally, immigrants fall into three broad categories:

Naturalized Citizens

Naturalized citizens have satisfied all the requirements to become citizens and taken the citizenship oath. They gain all the rights of natural-born citizens except the right to hold the office of U.S. President. Most importantly, they have the right to full judicial protections, like due process of law.

Lawful Immigrants

Lawful immigrants have the U.S. government’s permission to reside in the U.S. There are several ways to be a lawful immigrant.

Permanent residents, also called green card holders, can live and work in the U.S. long term. Asylum-seekers can remain in the U.S. while they await adjudication of their cases. They can also work after obtaining a work permit. Visa holders are permitted to enter and remain in the U.S. for the duration of their visa.

Visas include immigrant and non-immigrant visas. Non-immigrant visas require the visa holder to return to their country after their visa expires. Immigrant visas are issued to people who intend to stay in the U.S. long term. In both cases, the visa determines what the immigrant can and cannot do while in the U.S.

Undocumented Immigrant

An undocumented immigrant is not a naturalized citizen or permanent resident. They also entered without first obtaining a visa or applying for asylum. Thus, they do not have the U.S. government’s express permission to enter or live in the U.S.

Entering the U.S. without obtaining permission or re-entering after being expelled violates the law. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can detain these immigrants and refer them for prosecution.

However, detention and prosecution costs time and money. As a result, most undocumented immigrants sent back to their countries have not been deported due to a conviction for illegal entry.

Instead, they are most often removed for being in the U.S. without permission. This process is much quicker and cheaper than holding the immigrant for a trial. It also allows an immigrant who has not violated any other U.S. laws to apply for lawful entry after a five-year waiting period.

Grounds for Deportation in 2025

The grounds for deportation differ depending on whether you are a naturalized citizen, lawful immigrant or undocumented immigrant. Naturalized citizens have the highest level of protection. They can only be denaturalized and deported if they fraudulently obtained citizenship or harmed national interests by committing terrorism, sabotage or waging war on the U.S.

Lawful immigrants have the second-highest level of protection against deportation. They can only be deported on the following grounds:

• Obtaining their immigration status through fraud
• Violating the terms of their entry into the U.S.
• Committing a crime of moral turpitude eligible for at least one year of imprisonment
• Committing crimes of moral turpitude on multiple occasions
• Committing an aggravated felony

The same standards apply to green card holders as asylum seekers and visa holders. Thus, obtaining a green card is not a guarantee against deportation.

Undocumented immigrants have the lowest level of protection. Since they did not obtain permission to enter the U.S., they can be deported upon identification. In other words, ICE does not need any other reason, such as a DUI, to detain and initiate the deportation of undocumented immigrants. Merely being identified would be enough.

Can You Get Deported for a DUI?

Considering how many people die from drunk driving each year, the officials take this crime seriously. But can a permanent resident be deported for a DUI? What about asylum seekers or visa holders? DUI is generally not viewed as a crime of moral turpitude, although reasonable minds can differ.

Crimes of moral turpitude reflect on the moral character of the person. Generally, any crime that involves lying, dishonesty or reckless disregard for others raises questions about the perpetrator’s morals.

Many believe that simply having a blood alcohol content over the legal alcohol limit does not reflect on a person’s morals. However, driving under the influence can put others in danger and may be seen as reckless.

Whether an immigration judge will view a DUI as a crime of moral turpitude might depend on the circumstances. A judge may be more likely to deport a legal immigrant for a DUI involving any of the following:

• Illegal drugs
• Hit and run
• Repeat offense

Can you get deported for 3 DUI convictions or a drunk driving crash? While a DUI first offense might not get you deported, multiple DUIs might. Some states enhance DUI charges for repeat offenders and those who cause drunk driving accidents that injure or kill.

If a state increases these charges to a felony, a perpetrator risks deportation under the moral turpitude prong, multiple convictions prong or the aggravated felony prong.

Contact ConsumerShield to Learn More About DUI Deportation

Immigration law is a complex field with constantly changing rules and very few simple answers. ConsumerShield helps people facing deportation understand their options and find a lawyer. Contact us for a free case evaluation and referral to an immigration attorney.