What is a Green Card and What Does It Mean

As we continue to explore how our American government works and what we, as citizens can do and cannot do this week, we’re taking a look at the “Green Card.” Perhaps you’ve heard of the green card before. I know that it’s a card that people from foreign countries can apply for in order to live and work here in the United States for a specific period of time. That ends my knowledge of the green card. But now, let’s explore and see what else we can learn.
A green card, known officially as a permanent resident card, is an identity document that shows that a person has permanent residency in the United States. Green card holders are formally known as lawful permanent residents (LPRs). As of 2019, there are an estimated 13.9 million green card holders, of whom 9.1 million are eligible to become United States citizens. Approximately 65,000 of them serve in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Green card holders are statutorily entitled to apply for U.S. citizenship after showing evidence that they, among other things, have continuously resided in the United States for at least five years and are persons of good moral character. Those who are younger than 18 years old automatically derive U.S. citizenship if they have at least one U.S. citizen parent.
The card is known as a “green card” because of its historical greenish color. It was formerly called a “certificate of alien registration” or an “alien registration receipt card.” Absent exceptional circumstances, immigrants who are 18 years of age or older could spend up to 30 days in jail for not carrying their green cards.
Green card applications are decided by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) but in some cases, an immigration judge or a member of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), acting on behalf of the U.S. Attorney General, may grant permanent residency in the course of removal proceedings. Any authorized federal judge may do the same by signing and issuing an injunction. Immigrant workers who would like to obtain a green card can apply using form I-140.
An LPR could become “removable” from the United States after a criminal conviction, especially if it involved a particularly serious crime or an aggravated felony, “for which, the term of imprisonment was completed within the previous 15 years.” Those who the Attorney General admitted to the United States as refugees and later adjusted their status to that of LPRs are statutorily immunized against deportation for a lifetime, in much the same way as those who are “nationals but not citizens of the United States.”
The Immigration and Naturalization Service was formed as part of the Department of Labor in 1933, and in 1940 was moved under the Department of Justice along with the Nationality Act of 1940. During the 1940s, the predecessor to the “Permanent Resident” card was the “Alien Registration Receipt Card” which on the back would indicate “Perm. Res” in accordance with the Immigration Act of 1924.
The INA, which was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1952, states that the term ‘alien’ means any person, not a citizen or national of the United States.
On September 30, 1996, President Clinton signed into law the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA).
As of 2014, there are approximately 13.2 million LPRs of whom 8.9 million are “eligible for citizenship. These LPRs can secure many types of jobs just like U.S. citizens can. For example, about 65,000 LPRs are members of the U.S. Armed Forces. LPRs can register the property under their names and live anywhere within the United States. They can similarly operate any type of business in the United States.
An LPR loses the right to become a U.S. citizen after suffering a conviction for any crime involving moral turpitude (CIMT). An LPR can even get deported from the country after suffering such a conviction, especially an aggravated felony “for which the term of imprisonment was completed within the previous 15 years. It makes no difference if the aggravated felony was committed in Afghanistan, American Samoa, Australia, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, the United States, or in any other country or place in the world. After the successful elapse of such “15 years” (without sustaining a new aggravated felony conviction), a long-time LPR automatically becomes entitled to both cancellations of removal and a waiver of inadmissibility. Such LPR may (at any time and from anywhere in the world) request these popular immigration benefits depending on whichever is more applicable or easiest to obtain.
Those who were admitted as refugees and later adjusted to that of LPRs inside the United States are statutorily protected from deportation for a lifetime. These are families, including children, who escaped from genocides and have absolutely no safe country of permanent residence other than the United States. This legal finding is supported by the latest precedents of all the U.S. courts of appeals and the BIA, which are binding on all immigration officials.
These refugees have already “been lawfully accorded the privilege of residing permanently in the United States” by the Attorney General, but decades later, the immigration officers unconstitutionally turned these firmly resettled Americans into refugees again. Unlike other aliens in removal proceedings, the refugees obviously owe permanent allegiance solely to the government of the United States. This makes them nothing but a distinct class of persecuted Americans. The ones who are denied U.S. citizenship are statutorily allowed to live in the United States with their American families for the rest of their life. Deporting such Americans shocks the conscience because it is plainly unconstitutional and a grave international crime.[44] In 2009, Congress enacted 18 U.S.C. § 249 (“Hate crime acts”), which warns the public and every government official by expressly stating the following:
Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, willfully causes bodily injury to any person …because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin of any person—(A) shall be imprisoned not more than 10-years, fined in accordance with this title, or both; and (B) shall be imprisoned for any term of years or life, fined in accordance with this title, or both, if—(i) death results from the offense; or (ii) the offense includes kidnapping.
LPRs are also subject to similar obligations as U.S. citizens. For example, male LPRs between the ages of 18 and 25 are subject to registering in the Selective Service System. Like U.S. citizens, LPRs must pay taxes on their worldwide income (this includes filing annual U.S. income tax returns). LPRs are not permitted to vote in federal elections, and they cannot be elected to federal office. They may vote in certain local elections and hold local and state offices (subject to state/city law and Constitutionality).
An LPR can file an application for naturalization after five years of continuous residency in the United States.[5][47] This period may be shortened to three years if married to a U.S. citizen or during service with the U.S. armed forces.[48][49] An LPR may submit his or her applications for naturalization as early as 90 days before meeting the residency requirement. In addition to continuous residency, the applicants must demonstrate good moral character, pass both an English test and a civics test, and demonstrate attachment to the U.S. Constitution. In the summer of 2018, a new program was initiated to help LPRs prepare themselves for naturalization.