Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

Dear Atty. Gurfinkel:

I just received a jury summon from the County Courthouse, but I am in illegal status (TNT). How did they get my name and address? Do I have to serve on a jury? Will Immigration be able to track me down? Will I be reported to Immigration? How can I get out of serving on a jury? Should I just ignore or throw away the jury summons?

I am really worried about this, and have not been able to sleep since I received the jury summons in the mail.

Very truly yours,

A.S.

Dear A.S.,

County Courthouses (or the County Office of Jury Commissioner) typically select potential jurors from voter registration lists or DMV records. Since you have not registered to vote (and cannot vote since you are not a US Citizen), it is likely that your name was selected from DMV records. Therefore, as long as a person has driver’s license, his name will be listed on DMV records and his name could come up for jury selection.

In order to be eligible to serve as a juror, a person must be at least 18 years of age or older, and a US citizen. Non-citizens (including green card holders, non-immigrants, and TNTs) would therefore not be eligible to serve as a juror.

Typically, the jury summons has a number of questions about a person’s eligibility to serve as a juror. One of the questions is, "Are you a US citizen?" Obviously, you would have to answer that question as "No." Once the Jury Commissioner’s office sees that response, they typically would not pursue the matter further.

Some of the questionnaires also ask that if the person is not a US citizen, that the person provide his "alien number." If the person is a non-immigrant or is in illegal status, that person may not have an alien number. So, you should probably write "not applicable" or "none".