Immigration counsel may be consulted by criminal defense counsel concerning the adverse immigration consequences of a particular disposition in a criminal case.  This consultation should be ongoing, and should involve the give and take of problem solving, rather than simply giving an opinion on the immigration consequences of a particular criminal outcome.  For example, if a criminal charge will trigger deportation if the client is convicted, immigration counsel should go further than simply describing the problem the conviction will create: s/he must attempt to work with criminal counsel to discover a solution, a safe haven disposition that will avoid deportation.

 

            If the client has prior criminal convictions, immigration counsel must diagnose the adverse immigration consequences of each prior, and help identify what changes in each damaging criminal conviction or sentence are necessary to neutralize the threat it poses.  In addition, immigration counsel can assist post-conviction counsel in learning what type of an order vacating or altering the conviction or sentence will be respected in immigration court.

Other

FINDING IMMIGRATION COUNSEL
The Immigration Advocates Network (IAN) is excited to announce the launch of ImmigrationLawHelp.org (www.immigrationlawhelp.org), a new website to help low-income immigrants find free or low-cost legal help. The website provides information about more than 900 nonprofit immigration legal services providers in all 50 states. Using data from IAN's recently launched National Immigration Legal Services Directory http://www.immigrationadvocates.org/nonprofit/legaldirectory), ImmigrationLawHelp.org was designed to address the lack of reliable information available to low-income immigrants by providing an easy-to-use online directory of legal services providers. In addition to the ability to search for nonprofit legal services by state, county, and detention facility, the website allows users to find organizations by languages spoken, types of legal and other services provided, and specific areas of legal assistance. It is available in English and Spanish.