Safe Havens

As indicated above, 20 of the 51 grounds of deportation require the existence of a criminal conviction meeting certain requirements before deportation will be triggered.  See § 4.2, supra.  If the disposition of the criminal case does not amount to a conviction under the immigration-law definition of conviction, then deportation is not triggered under any of these 20 grounds.  Each of the non-conviction dispositions identified in this chapter is therefore a safe haven with respect to the 20 conviction-based grounds of deportation.  It is important to be aware that obtaining a non-conviction disposition does not automatically protect the client against deportation on account of a conduct-based ground of deportation.  See § § 2.9-2.10, supra.  Successfully avoiding or eliminating a conviction — and thus avoiding deportation under a conviction-based ground — does not erase the underlying conduct, which can still provide the basis for a conduct-based ground of deportation.

            Nonetheless, obtaining a disposition in a criminal case (a non-conviction safe haven) is a very powerful way of avoiding deportation, since it is much harder for the government to establish a conduct-based ground of deportation.  See § 2.9, supra.