Post-Conviction Relief for Immigrants

All noncitizen criminal clients must be informed that the old days, in which coming back to the U.S. after deportation was punished only with repeated deportation, are over.  Harsh new federal criminal penalties greet those who (a) are convicted of an aggravated felony, (b) are then deported, and (c) then re-enter the U.S. illegally.  Such a client now faces a maximum 20-year federal prison sentence for illegal re-entry, and a probable minimum term of two and a half or more years.[10]  With a felony conviction not amounting to an aggravated felony, or three or more specified misdemeanor convictions, the maximum is 10 years.[11]

[10] See INA § 276(b)(2), 8 U.S.C. § 1326(b)(2), penalizing illegal re-entry by a deported aggravated felon.

[11] INA § 276(b)(1), 8 U.S.C. § 1326(b)(1).