PLEASE HELP - IMMIGRATION HOLD QUESTION

[Bensgirl1981]

My boyfriend is being held by INS and keeps trying to reassure me that everything will be okay and he will be home with in 6 months at the most. I think he is just trying to make me feel better about the situation so I have a few questions that maybe you can help me with.

My boyfriend like many people in our town got caught up in the drug game in high school we have one of the worst high schools in our state and it's known for allowing drug dealers who aren't students to enter the building and deal. Long story short he commited a crime to try to get money for drugs. He was charged with Larcany from a person, was sentence to two years and will have completed his sentence in January. HOWEVER, INS has a hold on him.

My boyfriend is originally from Algeria & has Asylum status. What are the chances that INS can deport him back to Algeria?

I have the INS reason code it's a letter with nine numbers is there a place that I can go to look up what it means... I tried the CIS/ INS website as well as the ICE website... no luck... if you know where else I could look I would appreciate that?

My final question is how long can INS hold him in jail if they can't deport him? He says 6 months tops... I don't know if this is true though.

I know that many of you probably think that just because he commited a crime he should be sent back to his country and whatever happens to him there happens... that's what he gets for breaking the law... But he's a good person and turned his life around 100% before his incarceration which is why he recieved a lesser sentence. He repaid all of the debt that was owed to the person he stole from, held an excellent job, an apartment and car and is a productive memeber of society. He is now paying his debt to society for his crime... US born citizens commit crimes everyday and go to jail many wind up being reoffenders in the correctional system... and are still allowed to be released to the streets of the United States. My boyfriend deserves a chance to pick up his life with me where we left off.

[lifeart]

This is not a question of whether he deserves or does not deserve to be deported, it is a purely legal issue.
You/he need(s) to contact a good immigration attorney that specialises in deportation issues and knows criminal law of your state as well. Go through the American Immigration Lawyers Association to find one. On your own you will not be able to solve this matter. Immigration law is complex at the best of times and even more so when criminal behaviour is involved.
With the little amount of details that you have provided it is hard to say anything definitive, except for the above. It looks like he may have comitted a crime that USCIS (INS no longer exists) would define as a crime of "moral turpitude". If that is the case, and taking the length of the sentence you mentioned into account, he may very well be deported, unless there are any mitigating circumstances that an immigration judge may feel compelled to take into account.
It also may make a difference whether he still has "asylum seeker status" or already is a permanent resident (holder of an unrestricted I-551)