Criminal Defense of Immigrants

(C)  Direct Appeal of Judgment.  In most circuits, convictions in criminal cases are not considered sufficiently final to permit the initiation of deportation proceedings if an appeal is pending or they are still subject to appeal.[181]  This is not true in the First, Fifth or Seventh Circuits.[182]

[181] Matter of Polanco, 20 I. & N. Dec. 894 (BIA 1994).

[182] See Moosa v. INS, 171 F.3d 994 (5th Cir. 1999); Renteria-Gonzales v. INS, 322 F.3d 804 (5th Cir. 2002); Montenegro v. Ashcroft, 355 F.3d 1035, 1037 (7th Cir. 2004) (possibly dictum), see Griffiths v. INS, 243 F.3d 45 (1st Cir. 2001) (ignoring finality requirement but remanding because there was no evidence that petitioner had a restraint on liberty).