Safe Havens

(H)  Foreign Pardons.  The fact that a foreign jurisdiction granted a pardon may not be considered in determining whether a conviction is for an offense that involves moral turpitude, since the pardon is not part of the record of conviction.[343]

In Roccaforte v. Mulcahey,[344] the District Court held deportable a noncitizen who had been convicted in 1945 of (1) breaking and entering in the nighttime with intent to commit burglary and larceny, and (2) possession of burglary tools with intent to commit larceny.  He had been ordered deported for the former offense, and had received a pardon for the latter offense.  Nothing forbids basing a deportation order on two such distinct crimes merely because one of them may have been part of the same criminal scheme as other crimes for which a pardon has been granted.

[343] Mullen-Cofee v. INS, 976 F.2d 1375 (11th Cir. 1992`), opinion amended on denial of rehearing, 986 F.2d 1364 (11th Cir. 1992); Marino v. INS, 537 F.2d 686 (2d Cir. 1976); Mercer v. Lence, 96 F.2d 122 (10th Cir.), cert. den., 305 U.S. 611, 59 S.Ct. 69 (1938); Palermo v. Smith, 17 F.2d 534 (2d Cir. 1927); Consola v. Karnuth, 108 F.2d 178 (2d Cir. 1939); Weedin v. Hempel, 28 F.2d 603 (9th Cir. 1928); Vidal y Planas v. Landon, 104 F.Supp. 384 S. D.Cal. 1952); Zgodda v. Holland, 184 F.Supp. 847 (E.D. Pa. 1960)(foreign pardon or expungement by German authorities of a German’s simple larceny and concealing stolen goods convictions did not eliminate them as a basis for deportation); Matter of M, 9 I. & N. Dec. 132 (BIA 1960) (amnesty or pardon, Italy); Matter of B, 7 I. & N. Dec. 166 (BIA 1956) (amnesty); Matter of FYG, 4 I. & N. Dec. 717 (BIA 1952); Matter of G, 5 I. & N. Dec. 129 (BIA 1953); see Dillingham v. INS, 267 F.3d 996 (9th Cir. 2001)(foreign expungement effective by analogy to FFOA, distinguishing foreign pardons).  Cf. Matter of K, 9 I. & N. Dec. 336 (BIA 1961) (pardon issued by U.S. High Commissioner for Germany recognized).

[344] Roccaforte v. Mulcahey, 169 F.Supp. 360 (D. Mass. 1958), aff’d, 262 F.2d 957 (1st Cir. 1959).