Safe Havens

(B)  Crimes of Moral Turpitude.[75]

Fraud against the government involves moral turpitude, as long as intent is an element of the offense.  Where no intent to defraud, or other evil intent, is required to convict, the offense is not a crime of moral turpitude. 

Board of Immigration Appeals:

Matter of Serna, 20 I. & N. Dec. 579 (BIA 1992) (mere possession of fraudulent immigration documents, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1546, is not a crime involving moral turpitude, since the statute does not specifically include fraud as an essential element even though it does require knowledge the document has been altered).

Matter of Delagadillo, 15 I. & N. Dec. 395 (BIA 1975) (Mexican conviction under Article 367 of the Code of Social Defense of the State of Chihuahua, fraud in obtaining property, held not to be a crime involving moral turpitude, since it could encompass retrieving your own property by fraud.  The record of conviction showed the defendant fabricated a property transfer in an unsuccessful attempt to reduce his wife’s potential settlement in a divorce action, which the court held would generally have been only civilly actionable in the United States, and therefore did not constitute a crime involving moral turpitude.).

Matter of B, 2 I. & N. Dec. 542 (BIA 1946) (conviction of smuggling goods subject to customs duty in violation of Canada Customs Act § 203(3) is deemed comparable to a violation of substantially similar provisions of § 593(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. § 1593(b)) — which has been held not to involve moral turpitude; since the statute does not denounce the act as a perpetration of fraud upon either the property or revenue of the Crown, nor must the act be accompanied by a corrupt or vicious motive, the offense does not involve moral turpitude).

Matter of De S, 1 I. & N. Dec. 553 (BIA 1943) (admission by a noncitizen that she attempted to smuggle merchandise into the United States with intent to defraud the revenue of the United States in violation of 19 U.S.C. § 1593, does not constitute the admission of a crime involving moral turpitude since the statute does not define an attempt as a crime).

Matter of G, 1 I. & N. Dec. 73 (BIA, AG 1941) (assuming that applicable Romanian law makes it a criminal offense to obtain a passport by fraud, such offense does not involve moral turpitude when not accompanied by false swearing amounting to perjury).

Matter of B, 1 I. & N. Dec. 47 (BIA, AG 1941) (although attempted fraud in violation of § 263 of the Criminal Code of the German Reich, as amended, involves moral turpitude, and although evidence to show the circumstances under which the crime was committed may not be considered when the noncitizen has been convicted, exclusion under § 3 of the Immigration Act of 1917 will not be predicated on such conviction when the record reflects that the noncitizen was convicted primarily because of political considerations, viz, that he was Jewish).

Matter of C, 1 I. & N. Dec. 14 (BIA, AG 1940) (false statements under Alien Registration Act of 1940 held not to involve moral turpitude, since there is no indication that fraud was involved).

First Circuit:

Montero-Ubri v. INS, 229 F.3d 319 (1st Cir. 2000) (Massachusetts offense of possession of a false driver’s license, in violation of Mass.Gen.Laws, c. 90 § 24B, does not constitute a crime involving moral turpitude).

Ninth Circuit:

Beltran-Tirado v. INS, 213 F.3d 1179 (9th Cir. 2000) (signing false attestation on employment verification form under 18 U.S.C. § 1546(b)(3) by using false social security number held not an offense of moral turpitude, since Congress added a new 42 U.S.C. § 408(d), which provided that noncitizens who had been granted permanent resident status under the amnesty or registry statutes were exempted from prosecution for certain past use of false Social Security numbers, including this one).

Beltran-Tirado v. INS, 213 F.3d 1179 (9th Cir. 2000) (using false Social Security number under what is now 42 U.S.C. § 408(a)(7)(B) (1988) is not a crime of “moral turpitude,” since Congress added a new 42 U.S.C. § 408(d), which provided that noncitizens who had been granted permanent resident status under the amnesty or registry statutes were exempted from prosecution for certain past use of false Social Security numbers, including this one).

[75] See N. Tooby, J. Rollin & J. Foster, Crimes of Moral Turpitude § 9.37 (2005).