Criminal Defense of Immigrants

Certain forms of post-conviction relief in criminal court have the potential to eliminate a conviction for immigration purposes.  Other forms of post-conviction relief have been held ineffective to do so.  For example, state rehabilitative relief is generally ineffective to eliminate adverse immigration consequences of a conviction, see § 11.18, infra, whereas vacating a conviction on a ground of legal invalidity is generally effective to do so.  See § 11.3, infra.  See generally Chapter 12, infra.  Some forms of post-conviction relief are effective to eliminate a conviction for certain conviction-based grounds of deportation, but not others.  For example, a judicial recommendation against deportation properly granted prior to November, 29, 1990, will eliminate a conviction of an aggravated felony or crime of moral turpitude for deportation purposes, but not a controlled substances or firearms conviction.  See § 11.21, infra.  It is therefore important to check the precise immigration effects of the particular form of post-conviction relief as to the specific conviction-based ground of deportation with which the noncitizen is threatened.[197] 

[197] A discussion of these issues can be found in N. Tooby, Post-Conviction Relief for Immigrants, Chapters 4 and 5 (2004); see Norton Tooby, Recent Developments Concerning Effective Orders Vacating Convictions, 11 Bender’s Imm. Bull. 534 (June 1, 2006).