A New Hampshire resident has reportedly been allowed to return home, more than three weeks after he was denied re-entry into the United States and then stuck in Canada following a family vacation.
Chris Landry’s immigration attorney tells the Boston Globe that the 46-year-old was able to return to the Granite State on Wednesday.
The legal U.S. resident, who has lived in New Hampshire since he was 3 years old, was with three of his children when he was stopped at the border in Houlton, Maine, on July 6.
“They pulled me aside and started questioning me about my past convictions in New Hampshire,” Landry told NBC10 Boston on July 10.
Three hours later, Landry — who has a partner, five children and a job in manufacturing — was told he couldn’t go home to Peterborough, NH, despite having a green card and being a legal U.S. resident.
“They denied me reentry and said, ‘Don’t come back or we will detain you,’ and the only way for me to get back in was to see an immigration judge,” he previously told NBC10 Boston from New Brunswick.
A New Hampshire man is facing uncertainty after being blocked as he tried to return from a trip to Canada.
The issue was two previous convictions for marijuana possession and driving with a suspended license, dating back to 2004 and 2007. Landry said he was given a suspended sentence and paid his fines, and that he’s had no criminal record since then.
“I never thought that that would threaten my status as a resident of the United States,” he previously said, adding that he goes to Canada at least once a year and has never had a problem before.
The Globe reports that Landry was allowed to re-enter the US without risk of detention only after a New Hampshire judge agreed to vacate those convictions, according to Ronald L. Abramson, an immigration attorney representing Landry.
“We’re obviously very pleased that Mr. Landry was able to return home to his family and his life in the United States,” Abramson told the Globe, adding that it’s unfortunate though that Landry and his loved ones had to go through this experience.
“This is not the immigration enforcement priorities we were promised during the campaign,” he added.
Landry previously told NBC10 Boston that he had supported Donald Trump, although he couldn’t vote for president as a Canadian citizen. When Landry was detained, though, he said he blamed the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration for his plight.
“I was definitely all for ‘Make America Great Again,’ and having a strong, unified country, and a bright future for my five American children, but now I feel a little differently,” he previously said. “I’ve been torn from my family. My life has been disregarded completely.”
Abramson said in a court filing that Landry was “ensnared in the constantly expanding net of an unprecedented hyper-aggressive immigration enforcement machine,” the Globe reports.
“Anyone in that situation should speak with an experienced lawyer before they find themselves either delayed, rejected, or detained,” Abramson told the Globe.