Office Location is Irving, Texas and Albuquerque, New Mexico
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Office Location is Irving, Texas and Albuquerque, New Mexico
Quick Summary: Stolen Green Card and Citizenship Help
An ordinary errand turned into the most frightening moment of a young mother’s life in a church parking lot south of Dallas. Jenna Perkins, originally from the United Kingdom and seven months pregnant at the time, had posted on Facebook that she wanted to sell her cell phone. A woman messaged her, chatted warmly about the pregnancy and her toddler, and arranged to meet at a Baptist church in south Oak Cliff to hand over fifty dollars for the device. Perkins later told reporters that she kept reassuring herself a church lot had to be a safe place. It was not.
When she pulled in, a man rushed the car, slammed her head against the steering wheel, and pressed a gun to her temple while shouting for her wallet. Her two-year-old son watched from the back seat. “I saw my whole life flash before my eyes,” she told CBS, describing the unborn baby and the child beside her. The attackers grabbed her wallet and sped off. Perkins and her children escaped without serious physical injury, but the theft set in motion a second, quieter crisis that almost no one outside immigration law tends to think about.
Inside that wallet was her green card. For a lawful permanent resident, that card is far more than a piece of identification. It is the document that proves the legal right to live and work in the United States, and it is the document a resident must present to board a flight back into the country after any trip abroad.
Lose it, and an otherwise routine journey can become impossible.
Perkins had been planning to fly home to Britain in a matter of months to introduce her family to the new baby. Without her green card, that reunion could not happen. She canceled the trip. A celebration that should have crowned a difficult pregnancy instead became one more thing the robbery had taken from her, on top of the fear, the bruises, and the sense that she had somehow failed to protect her son.
That part of her story never made the evening news, yet for thousands of immigrants every year it is the most consequential part of all.
A green card cannot simply be replaced at the counter the way a driver’s license can. The process runs through USCIS, follows its own timeline, and carries real risk for anyone who needs to travel before it is finished. For a frightened new mother already coping with the aftermath of a violent crime, the paperwork alone can feel like a second wall closing in.
What she needed was not just a competent filing clerk, but an advocate who would treat her situation as urgent and personal.
That is exactly what John W. Lawit, LLC brings to cases like hers. Based in Irving, Texas, and serving the wider Dallas–Fort Worth area, Lawit has practiced immigration law exclusively for more than four decades.
He began handling these cases in 1980, taught the subject as an adjunct law professor at the University of New Mexico and Texas Tech, and was even appointed to serve as a United States immigration judge. Over the years he and his staff have guided tens of thousands of clients through the system, including many who had been told by other lawyers that their cases were impossible.
When it comes to the federal filings, consular procedures, and hard travel deadlines that surround a stolen green card, there are few attorneys in the country better equipped to see the path forward.
But experience alone is not what frightened people remember most. They remember being treated like a human being instead of a case number. Lawit’s career is also a long record of service: he has volunteered with the Human Rights Initiative of North Texas, Healing the Children, and Catholic and Jewish family services, and his firm describes its mission in terms of bringing not only legal experience but genuine compassion and insight to the difficult circumstances its clients face.
Immigration emergencies tend to arrive at the worst possible times, layered on top of a job loss, an illness, a new baby, or, as in this case, the trauma of a violent crime. A great deal of the early work is simply sitting with someone who is convinced their situation is hopeless and explaining, in plain language and with real patience, that there is a recognized process, a realistic timeline, and a way home.
Replacing a stolen permanent resident card can take time, and for someone who needs to travel, the delay can become urgent. A lawful permanent resident may need proof of status, a properly filed replacement application, and in some cases special travel documentation before leaving or returning to the United States. Without the right steps, even someone with legal status can face serious travel problems.
For Perkins, this made the robbery more than a stolen-wallet incident. Lawit helped guide the immigration side of the crisis by addressing the replacement green card process and the travel concerns tied to it. His role was not only to handle paperwork, but to help a frightened mother understand her options, protect her status, and move closer to getting home safely.
A stolen green card can create more than an identification problem. For a lawful permanent resident, it is proof of the right to live and work in the United States, and it may be needed for travel, employment, and immigration matters. When Jenna Perkins lost hers during the robbery, the incident showed how quickly one missing document can disrupt a secure life in the U.S.
Residents who lose a card may need to file Form I-90, Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card. USCIS also explains when and how to replace a Green Card, including when it has been lost, stolen, damaged, or expired.
Common reasons to replace a green card include:
For many permanent residents, the experience can also raise a bigger question: whether it is time to pursue U.S. citizenship. Naturalization can offer greater stability because a citizen is no longer dependent on a green card renewal cycle or vulnerable to the same travel and documentation issues caused by a stolen card.
The citizenship process has specific requirements, including continuous residence, physical presence, good moral character, English and civics testing, and the oath of allegiance. USCIS outlines these steps in its 10 Steps to Naturalization. For someone like Perkins, replacing the card addressed the immediate crisis, while citizenship offered a more secure long-term path forward.
What happened to Jenna Perkins in 2019 was dramatic, but the vulnerability it exposed is ordinary. Green cards are lost or stolen constantly, through pickpocketing, burglary, lost luggage, and plain misplacement, and most holders have no idea how exposed they are until the card is already gone. The reassuring truth is that none of it has to be faced alone.
The same professional is also the one who can map out a longer-term plan, so that a person who has every right to be in this country is never again left at the mercy of a missing card. The attack in that church parking lot was random and cruel, but with steady, caring legal guidance, the story did not have to end there, and yours does not either.
If you or someone you love is a permanent resident facing a lost or stolen green card, an urgent need to travel, or the decision to pursue citizenship, you do not have to navigate it alone. With more than forty years of experience and a genuine commitment to the people he serves, John W. Lawit and his team are ready to help you protect your status and your future.
Schedule your consultation by reaching out today or by calling (214) 609-2242.
