Aggravated Felonies

            Various forms of post-conviction relief have differing immigration consequences.  The requirements for an order vacating a conviction, or other post-conviction relief, to be effective in eliminating the immigration consequences of the conviction are treated in more detail in Chapter 6, infra.  For example, state rehabilitative relief is generally ineffective to eliminate adverse immigration consequences of a conviction, whereas vacating a conviction on a ground of legal invalidity is generally effective to do so.  See § § 6.11, et seq., infra.  Some forms of post-conviction relief are effective to eliminate a conviction for certain conviction-based grounds of deportation, but not others.  For example, a judicial recommendation against deportation properly granted prior to November 29, 1990, will eliminate a conviction of an aggravated felony or crime of moral turpitude for deportation purposes, but not a controlled substances or firearms conviction.  See § 6.15, infra.  It is therefore important to check the precise immigration effects of the particular form of post-conviction relief as to the specific conviction-based ground of deportation with which the noncitizen is threatened.  More thorough discussion of these issues can be found in N. Tooby, Post-Conviction Relief for Immigrants, Chapters 4 and 5 (2004).

            Here, we will be identifying the safe-haven dispositions by which criminal convictions are effectively eliminated, for deportation purposes, by the various forms of post-conviction relief: