Safe Havens

Various forms of post-conviction relief have differing immigration consequences.  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.  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.  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.  A 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: