Safe Havens



 
 

§ 7.9 (A)

 
Skip to § 7.

For more text, click "Next Page>"

(A)  General Argument Aiding is Not an Aggravated Felony.  An aider and abettor to a crime is punished as a principal, but Congress did not list “aiding and abetting” when it added “attempt” and “conspiracy” to the list of deportable firearms offenses.[49]  It did specifically provide that aiding and abetting behavior will trigger deportation under some other specific grounds of deportation and inadmissibility.[50]  It is possible to argue, particularly in the Ninth Circuit, that a conviction for aiding and abetting an aggravated felony offense is not an aggravated felony, using the “if it’s not listed, it’s not an aggravated felony” argument.  See § 7.7(B), supra.


[49] See United States v. Corona-Sanchez, 291 F.3d 1201, 1208 (9th Cir. June 6, 2002) (en banc) (California theft statute held to be divisible partly because it included aiding and abetting, which was not listed with attempt and conspiracy as aggravated felony collateral offenses); Huerta-Guevara v. Ashcroft, 321 F.2d 883, 887 (9th Cir. March 4, 2003).

[50] E.g., INA § 212(a)(2)(C)(i), 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(2)(C)(i) (reason to believe ground of inadmissibility applies not only to illicit traffickers in a controlled substance, but also to a person who “is or has been a knowing aider, abettor, assister, conspirator or colluder with others in the illicit trafficking . . . .”) (emphasis supplied).

 

TRANSLATE