Post-Conviction Relief for Immigrants

The Ninth Circuit has also held that a foreign expungement was effective to eliminate the immigration effects of a first-offense controlled substances conviction under the same circumstances in which an expungement under a state rehabilitative statute, such as California Penal Code § 1203.4(a), would be effective.[38]

[38] Dillingham v. INS, 267 F.3d 996, 1004-06 (9th Cir. 2001) (due process incorporates equal protection requirements; the United States must have a rational basis on which to distinguish between similarly situated classes of noncitizens in imposing immigration consequences of a criminal conviction).