Help my Mexican friend not get deported (part 2) IKYANML

December 5, 2014 10:53 AM

My son and I helped this guy earlier this year. Ask Mefi was a big help. And now he got in another car accident and is in America undocumented and is afraid he'll get deported. Details inside

My undocumented Mexican friend got in a car accident, and he doesn't have insurance, nor drivers license nor documentation to be in USA legally. He is going to traffic court next week. What is the likely outcome for this for him? What about for someone who is a legal resident? He said he can't afford an attorney, what can I do to help him to give him his best chance of a good outcome? Thanks. IKYANML

posted by kikithekat to Law & Government (8 answers total)

Without insurance the other party's insurance company will probably sue him recover their expenses in repairing or replacing the insured vehicle. If that person was hurt then you get into medical expenses, lost wages, pain & suffering, etc. One of the first things the insurance company will do is verify his identity, check for past record of accidents, etc. So I would think right there is illegal status will come out. It wouldn't surprise me if the insurance company is legally required to report him at that point.

IANAL, and I don't even play one on the Internet, but lacking the cash to quickly settle with the other party, I don't see this goes well for your friend.
posted by COD at 12:07 PM on December 5, 2014

IAAL, IANYL. Your friend needs to stop driving. Do not lend him your car and tell him he is getting himself in more trouble when he keeps driving. If he ever becomes eligible to get legal status, he's going to have all sorts of traffic violations showing that he doesn't respect licensing laws. Not a good sign!

Differing jurisdictions handle this differently. Our municipal court won't generally report traffic violations to the federal authorities. Others will, although I don't believe it's a high priority for the feds.

Your friend needs to stop driving. He can eventually will get charged with a crime for driving without a license and criminals do get deported.
posted by notjustthefish at 12:20 PM on December 5, 2014 [26 favorites]

He said he can't afford an attorney, what can I do to help him to give him his best chance of a good outcome?

Give him a lot of money to get a great attorney.

Tell him to stop driving immediately.

If he owns the car that was involved in the accident, sell it and put the money towards an attorney or a settlement with the other person's insurance company.
posted by mikepop at 12:49 PM on December 5, 2014

Your friend is going to civil court, not criminal court, and according to these layers this is not going to lead to deportation.
posted by DarlingBri at 12:56 PM on December 5, 2014 [2 favorites]

I'm pretty angry about this. There's no reason for this person to be driving without a license, and without insurance. If he can't afford it, then he shouldn't be driving. Full stop. He can't afford to make good on any damage or injuries he inflicts on people he's in an accident with, and he's apparently a pretty shitty driver.

He's so worried and concerned about being deported, and he does NOTHING to not be put in this position. If he manages to extricate himself from this mess, I suggest that he apply for citizenship/green card status. Here's information from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services.

US Together
2021 E. Dublin Granville Road
Suite 190
Columbus, OH 43229
614-981-4851

Consult these folks and see what they recommend. Being a traffic menace isn't excusable. What if he hurts or kills someone?
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 5:00 PM on December 5, 2014 [11 favorites]

Lots of missing details here that could make a huge difference in the outcome... Is your friend being charged with anything related to the accident, or just with not having a license? Is there anything to indicate that your friend is at fault, not at fault, or more or less at fault than the other driver (e.g. part of the vehicles hit or if anyone was violating any other traffic laws other than driving without license and uninsured)? How does the jurisdiction your friend was driving in deal with fault in traffic accidents?
posted by anaelith at 5:40 PM on December 5, 2014

I agree with others that this person needs to stop driving. Not only does he not seem to be particularly good at it, not having insurance means that he is an even worse hazard for the other party if he injures someone or damages property.
posted by radioamy at 7:08 PM on December 5, 2014 [1 favorite]

There's no reason for this person to be driving without a license, and without insurance.

There's plenty of reasons. There are only four states in the US where you can get a license if you're an illegal alien. If you don't have a license, you can't get insurance.
posted by DarlingBri at 9:07 AM on December 6, 2014 [2 favorites]