Criminal Defense of Immigrants

It is necessary for us to solve the problem in criminal court because:

·         Certain dispositions dictate immigration disaster.

·         It is then often impossible to defend the client in immigration court.

·         The client is disabled from taking effective action.

·         The necessary time, money, and information are unavailable.

·         Post-conviction relief is prohibitively expensive.

·         It is difficult or impossible to obtain post-conviction relief.

·         Post-conviction relief may come too late.

These issues are covered in more detail below, or you can skip directly to the third reason why we need to protect the client’s immigration status in criminal court: it is part of our job and it is in our interest to do a good job.  See § 2.22, infra.