The Immigration Act of 1990[16] added the following offenses to the aggravated felony list:

 

(d)    Money laundering as described in 18 U.S.C § 1956;

(e)        Any crime of violence (other than purely political ones) as defined under 18 U.S.C. § 16 for which the term of imprisonment imposed (even if it is suspended) is at least five years;

(f)         Any attempt or conspiracy to commit these acts; and

(g)        Foreign convictions of listed offenses for which the term of imprisonment was completed within the past 15 years.

 

These offenses are, generally speaking, fairly serious, because of the sentence imposed requirement of five years that excludes probationary sentences and shorter prison terms, although minor money laundering convictions can still trigger these very serious immigration consequences.

 

The Immigration and Nationality Technical Corrections Act of 1994[17] amended the definition to add the following offenses to the aggravated felony list:

 

(h)        Trafficking in certain firearms, destructive devices or explosive materials;

(i)          Theft and burglary offenses for which the term of imprisonment is at least five years (regardless of whether any of the sentence was suspended);

(j)          Certain ransom offenses;

(k)        Certain offenses related to child pornography or running a prostitution business;

(l)          Certain offenses relating to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO);

(m)      Income tax evasion in which revenue loss to the government is in excess of $200,000; and

(n)        Certain offenses related to peonage, slavery, involuntary servitude, espionage, sabotage or national security.

 

The Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996[18] added the following crimes to the aggravated felony list:

 

(o)    Offenses described in Title 18 U.S.C. § 1084 (if it is a second or subsequent offense) or Title 18 U.S.C. § 1955, relating to gambling offenses;

(p)    Sex offenses under 18 U.S.C. § § 2421, 2422, 2423, when related to transportation for the purposes of prostitution for commercial advantage;

(q)    Alien smuggling under INA § 274(a)(1) for which the term of imprisonment imposed (regardless whether the sentence is suspended) is at least five years;

(r)     Falsely making, forging, counterfeiting, mutilating, or altering a passport or instrument in violation of 18 U.S.C. § § 1543, 1546(a), relating to document fraud for which the term of imprisonment imposed (regardless of any time suspended) is at least 18 months;

(s)    An offense relating to a failure to appear by a defendant for service of sentence if the underlying offense is punishable by imprisonment for a term of five years or more;

(t)     An offense described in INA § § 275(a) (entry at improper time or place) or 276 (illegal re-entry after removal) committed by an alien who was previously deported on the basis of a conviction for an offense described in AEDPA § 440(e);

(u)    An offense relating to commercial bribery, counterfeiting, forgery, or trafficking in vehicles of which the identification numbers have been altered. A sentence of five years of imprisonment or more may be imposed for this offense;

(v)    An offense relating to obstruction of justice, perjury or subornation of perjury, or bribery of a witness, for which a sentence of five or more years imprisonment may be imposed;

(w)   An offense relating to failure to appear before a court pursuant to a court order to answer to or dispose of a charge of a felony for which a sentence of two or more years imprisonment may be imposed; and

(x)    Any attempt or conspiracy to commit any of the above.

 

The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRAIRA), effective September 30, 1996,[19] added the following offenses to the aggravated felony list:

 

(y)    Rape and sexual abuse of a minor (A);

(z)    The amount of funds laundered was lowered to an amount in excess of $10,000 under (D), the loss to the government from tax evasion was lowered to an amount in excess of $10,000 (M)(ii); and the loss to the victim(s) from an offense involving fraud or deceit was also lowered to $10,000 (M)(i);

(aa)  The term of imprisonment required to make a crime of violence (F), theft offense (G), RICO offense (J), document fraud offense (P), forgery offense (R), or obstruction of justice offense (S), into an aggravated felony was lowered from five years to one year, and

(bb)  Violation of anonymity of undercover intelligence agents under 50 U.S.C. § 421.

 

By this time, the concept had been expanded from aggravated felonies, to normal felonies, to minor felonies, and even extended to minor misdemeanors.  Since the definition of sentence imposed includes suspended sentences, as well as sentences that are not suspended,[20] and since the length of the sentence imposed required to convert a host of common offenses, such as crimes of violence or theft, into aggravated felonies was reduced from five years to one year, many tens of thousands of minor offenses including minor misdemeanors with suspended sentences are now considered to fall within the aggravated felony category.

 

            Because of the increasingly harsh immigration and criminal consequences attached to an aggravated felony conviction for a noncitizen, the wholesale expansion of the term to include minor misdemeanors is the source of terrible injustice not only for the defendants, but for their innocent families, friends, employers, and communities as well.

[16] Immigration Act of 1990, Pub. L. 101-649, 104 Stat. 4978 (Nov. 29, 1990).

[17] Immigration and Nationality Technical Corrections Act of 1994, Pub. L. No. 103-416, 108 Stat. 4305 (Oct. 25, 1994).

[18] Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, § 441(e), Pub. L. No. 104-132, 110 Stat. 1214 (Apr. 24, 1996).

[19] Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRAIRA), § 322, Pub. L. No. 104-208, 110 Stat. 3009 (Sept. 30, 1996).

[20] INA § 101(a)(48)(B), 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(48)(B).

Other

AGGRAVATED FELONY"LEGISLATIVE ALERT"THIRD DRUG DRIVING PROPOSED AS AGGRAVATED FELONY
There is a bill now pending in Congress, S.1925, "To Reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act of 1994", which primarily deals with that topic, but also seeks to create authority for Indian tribal courts to prosecute non-Indians for domestic violence, and then sneaks in the following: "Section 1008. REMOVAL OF DRUNK DRIVERS (a) In General: Section 101(a)(43)(F) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(43)(F) is amended by striking "for which the term of imprisonment" and inserting "including a third drunk driving conviction, regardless of the States in which the convictions occurred or whether the offenses are classified as misdemeanors or felonies under State or Federal law, for which the term of imprisonment is" and then another provision making that effective immediately on the date of the amendment. Thus anyone who got a third misdemeanor DWI, with one year imprisonment suspended, would have an aggravated felony, notwithstanding Leocal. This bill was reported out of the Senate Judiciary committee on February 7, 2012. Thanks to Tova Indritz.

RESEARCH - OLDER VERSIONS OF INA
The "office of the law revision counsel" posts previous versions of the INA, as written, back to 1/2/1991. http://uscode.house.gov/search/prevcode.shtml