Post-Conviction Relief for Immigrants

The issuance of a writ of error coram nobis eliminates a criminal conviction for deportation purposes.[181]  The BIA described two types of inherent powers possessed by criminal courts with respect to modifying judgments of conviction, and stated that one is that exercised through granting a writ of error coram nobis: “[W]hen a court acts within its jurisdiction and vacates an original judgment of conviction, its action must be respected” because there is “no authority holding that a conviction exists where there is no finding by a criminal court that a person is guilty of a crime.”[182]

Pendency of Post-Conviction Relief.  The pendency of this request for post-conviction relief does not destroy the finality of the conviction.[183]

[181] Matter of Sirhan, 13 I. & N. Dec. 592 (BIA 1970).

[182] Id. at 600; see also Sawkow v. INS, 314 F.2d 34, 37 (3d Cir. 1963); but see United States ex rel. Piperkoff v. Esperdy, 267 F.2d 72 (2d Cir. 1959).

[183] See § 5.40, supra.