Safe Havens

Many of the most common grounds of deportation require a criminal conviction.  See § § 2.7-2.8, infra.  The focus of this book is on these conviction-based grounds of deportation.  A number of grounds of deportation, however, are triggered not necessarily by a conviction, but by the immigrant’s conduct or behavior.  See § § 2.9-2.10, infra.  While this volume offers a complete checklist of all grounds of deportation (both conviction- and conduct-based grounds) in Appendix A, infra, and some discussion of safe havens for each ground of deportation individually, see Chapter 7, infra, the focus of the book is on arranging a disposition of a criminal case that will not trigger a given specific ground of deportation (a partial safe haven as to that ground) or any ground of deportation (a complete or total safe haven).  Because all that can be done in criminal court is to avoid a conviction, or to tailor a conviction so it does not fall within a ground of deportation, a non-deportable disposition in criminal court cannot guarantee that the client has not committed some act at some time that triggers a conduct-based ground of deportation.