Safe Havens

(A)  Admissions of Facts Bringing Conviction Within Ground of Deportation.  It is important to make sure the defendant does not admit facts that would bring the conviction within a ground of deportation.  There are several contexts in which immigration courts are especially tempted to consider facts beyond those necessary to prove the elements of the convicting statute: (a) to determine the age of the victim to see whether the offense constitutes aggravated felony sexual abuse of a minor[127] or a child offense under the domestic violence deportation ground;[128] (b) to determine the existence of a domestic relationship with the victim that might bring a conviction within the domestic violence deportation ground; [129] and (c) to determine the amount of loss to the victim(s) of a fraud offense, to see whether it constitutes an aggravated felony fraud conviction.[130]  If the immigration court does decide it may go outside the record of conviction to consider these additional facts, then a conviction whose record does not trigger deportation may nonetheless trigger deportation when additional facts outside the record are added to the court’s consideration.  In these instances, certain offenses that would be safe havens without consideration of additional facts may no longer be safe, and it is necessary to obtain different convictions to avoid these grounds of deportation.  It is therefore especially important in these contexts to avoid admissions of a defendant during a plea colloquy.

[127] See § § 7.96, et seq., infra.

[128] See § 7.157, infra.

[129] See § 7.154, infra.

[130] See § 7.82, infra.