Can a foreign-born inmate be deported after serving time?

If an inmate is not a United States citizen, deportation after serving a federal sentence is very likely. Immigration and Customs Enforcement routinely places detainers on non-citizen inmates, meaning the moment they finish their sentence they are transferred to ICE custody and removal proceedings begin. A lengthy sentence combined with a prior criminal record makes deportation even more probable.

Dual citizenship changes the picture significantly. If someone holds both U.S. citizenship and citizenship in another country, the U.S. government cannot forcibly deport them. They are legally an American citizen and have the right to remain in the country after completing their sentence. The foreign citizenship does not override the American one.

For anyone in this situation, the priority is establishing and documenting citizenship status as early as possible. If dual citizenship exists, that needs to be clearly on record. An immigration attorney with federal criminal experience is worth consulting sooner rather than later, because immigration consequences in federal cases are often determined well before the sentence is finished.

One thing that does not change regardless of citizenship is that the sentence must be served first. Deportation or release to another country is not a substitute for the time imposed by the court. Whatever comes after is decided at the back end, not before.

If there is any uncertainty about citizenship status or what documentation is needed, an immigration attorney can help sort that out before it becomes a larger problem.