Long story short...My husband got a speeding ticket in 2001 in CA. Paid it but the check bounced, we moved from address, changed banks, etc never heard from CA again. Went to INS interview in March 2004 no problems (Got LPR). Husband lost drivers license (forgot in work uniform went to cleaners never saw again) went to DMV NV said have ticket in CA. We try to pay over phone they said we have to mail in payment to address they gave us.
Today while I am at home for lunch there is message for me (not my husband, but the guy mentioned my husbands name) stating to call this person back. Turns out he is from California Recovery, a collections agency. Tried to call him back, unfortuantely he is not there. They told me to call tomorrow. Why am I posting on here? Here it is.

Tomorrow at 11am my husband leaves for Canada. Is there a possibility there is a warrant out for his arrest for this unpaid ticket? I am concerned that when he tries to come back in a week there will be problems. He went to Canada and came back in November 2003 with no problems, but my concern might be that because he called and talked to the courts he is back on the map so to say. Anyone with any ideas? Please help!

I hope he gets deported ! We do not want lawbreakers in America !!! Get out !!!

AMERICA - LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT !

An unpaid speeding ticket *can* result in a warrant.

So yes he technically could be taken into custody at the border if his name pops up on the warrant database.

personally i'd go finda local cop and ask him to run your husbands name on his computer to see if there are warrants.

-= nav =-

Thanks Moondin...

Doesnt sound like theres a warrant issued yet.

It appears that the case has been sent to collections, which is the normal debt resolution process in most cases esp for small monies like this.

But please do what moondin said and have a cop run a check on his name.

The above is just my opinion.

Good morning Ardainia. I pray that your situation turns out for the good. Please look over that ugly and VERY immature comment from Michae. Thankfully not all Americans are as narrow minded and prejudiced as he.

You have my prayers, and I solicit yours for a friend who is being detained at the local police department. He failed to make his most recent meeting with immigration officials. On yesterday, as he was leaving work, he was pulled for going a bit too fast. A normal traffic stop lead to the discovery that he missed his last appointment and NOW he faces being deported back to Honduras. He is a good, hard-working man, and my heart is heavy for his situation. As well as for so many others in the same situation. The issue of immigration and all the rules that must be followed is new to me. I wish everything was not so complicated and prejudiced, in many cases.

I am an American; born and raised here by American parents. But I see no color or race. We are all God's own and THAT is what makes the REAL difference. Take care and be blessed.

I would be really careful if I were him. I would wait until he cleared his ticket up and was sure. You can call the police station and find out if he has any warrants.

As for Michael, getting a ticket doesn't make you a criminal you idiot. Get a life. Why do you and BOOOOB go find somewhere else to live if you don't like the people who immigrate here. Unless you are a Native American you are an immigrant too.

Speeding ticket doesn’t make a grint criminal; not paying for ticket does!!!! Now get out of USA!!!

"Thankfully not all Americans are as narrow minded and prejudiced as he." This is not true ! All REAL AMERICANS are narrow minded and prejudiced; that is what makes America great.

AMERICA - LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT !

Thank you all for your advise. There are no warrants out for his arrest. We are clearing the traffic ticket up (CA courts said we had to mail it in, couldn't pay by phone). He is off to Canada for a week though. The call yesterday that had me so worried was for something entirely different.

Needless to say I agree, he does need to clear up his traffic ticket and we have already made arrangements to do so.

Michael, I never take your comments seriously, so I don't know why you ever bother responding to anything. My husband is a well trained chef from Canada who many employers (including his current one) were willing to do the immigration paperwork for him, but it was easier through me and we didn't have to feel as though we were chained to a specific company.

MizBrandon- the question you need to have answered is why did your friend miss his last meeting with immigration. What was the meeting for and why would be a good start, depending on those answers would be whether or not he would be deported. I wish your friend luck, and let us know what happens.

Ardainia:

It’s absolutely correct what ‘moondin’ has said here in one of his statements. Let me quote his statement: “an unpaid speeding ticket *can* result in a warrant.”

However, his other statement is not correct at all when he said: “yes he technically could be taken into custody at the border if his name pops up on the warrant database”. Because, first of all, there is nothing about being technical or untechnical here. If there would a warrant for his [your husband] arrest, then it will definitely show up in the INS computer at the port of entry. So we cannot say- ‘if’ or ‘technical’ kinda thing here. Only thing we can talk here- a warrant or not warrant. If no warrant then no problem, but if there is any, then he will be arrested right away at the port of entry upon his arrival.

The INS computer at port of entry is linked to Law Enforcement agencies, so if there would a warrant, then without a doubt it will pop up. Besides, if he gets arrested in another state than where such warrant is issued, then he will be staying couple of months in jail there before he will be extradited to the state where a warrant is issued. It could be 4 months to a year or more, depending upon the local laws of that particular state where he would get arrested. Since ‘not paying the fine for speeding’ or ‘passing a bad check’ is not a high profile case like murder, rape, kidnapping, robbery etc, thereby mostly State usually doesn’t pay that much attention in speeding the extradition process for an individual who gets arrested in another state. That’s why people remain much longer in jail if they get arrested in other state than where a warrant is issued.

We don’t know the real cause of issuing the warrant, if there is any. It could be for unpaid speeding ticket, or maybe for writing a bad check. However, I personally don’t think that there is any warrant for him. Why?

Because- [1] Traffic courts usually don’t issue warrant for a person who fails to pay fines for speeding, unless a repetitive demands for payment for the fine are ignored by such an individual. And since you guys have moved from your previous address, then it is high possibilities that they might be kept sending you correspondences to your previous address for him to pay the fine, and in the absence of not hearing from you anything, they might have thought that you are in contempt of court (or even not paying the fine too), which may have caused a warrant for his arrest.

[2] You said that a person from a collection agency called at your house and was looking for your husband, then it means- no warrant out there for his arrest. Because, if there is a warrant then Police would have already come to pick him up than a collector calling him. If I were you, I won’t be that much sure for all this. Because, without first speaking to this collector, you cannot say for sure that this collector is calling your husband for this outstanding payment for fine for traffic violation or something else. There might be possibility that collector is calling him for some other unpaid bill than this traffic fine. It is VERY unusual that a collection agency will come after for traffic fine, however it is possible because of the check that got bounced. I’ve seen many times if somebody gives a check to an govt. agency and if that check gets bounced then after several attempts of trying to collect the outstanding bill/fine/fee, that agency hands over the account/debt to a collection agency. So it could be either possibility unless he doesn’t owe any other bill. Regardless, bounced check should be taking care of first.

You should also know that passing a bad check is a crime and falls under felony. As well, it is a deportable crime also. That said, if he ever gets convicted for this crime [or any crime that falls under aggravated felony] then he would be deported without a doubt, since there is no relief available for LPRs who get convicted of ‘aggravated felony’. As well, he will be barred for LIFETIME to come to USA. I assume he is a LPR, unless he is a USC.

He should have paid the fine for speeding ticket right then after knowing that his check got bounced. Instead, it’s seemed that he went ahead in ignoring this matter when you guys moved to other place without notifying to court or without taking care of bounced check first. I mean- he should not play the Russian roulette with the law after becoming LPR. Just because he had no problem before when he reentered USA, doesn’t mean that he won’t have problem now. Sometimes, some cases take time to go further or prosecute. I’ve seen people get prosecuted after 5 yrs of writing bad checks. They thought nobody can do nothing since matter is old. No one will be able to save your husband, even USC-spouse or USC-children if he would get convicted being a LPR. That’s why LPRs should keep this in mind. Now, you should talk to this collector first, and then if it will seem that collector asking money for this outstanding fine for speeding, then you should send the fine thru money order or cashier check right away on behalf of your husband. If I were you, I will use next day service, like Federal express to mail the fine to them if this collection agency will not accept credit card payment. However, I am more than sure that collection agency will most definitely love to take the payment thru credit card, because they do all the times. This time you are not dealing with traffic court or any State agency, because most of them don’t accept credit card for any kind of payment. So, go ahead and pay the fine first.

At last, you cannot go to the cop to find out whether or not there is a warrant. Cops don’t work for shopping malls or grocery stores so that general public can inquire about whether certain item is available or not. Why should they even tell you this? They are allowed to share this information only with other law enforcement agencies, or for the use of some official business than sharing with general public/citizen, unless you personally know the cop. However, some criminal attorneys may be able to find this out for you since they know certain ways, like sometimes they know someone inside the law enforcement agencies. However, I can find this out for you within a minute if you want. Take care.


ps: Please disregard my post since I wrote it a while ago, but you cleared something already.