Criminal Defense of Immigrants

The defendant’s immigration status can be a positive or negative factor in plea negotiations.  If the current criminal offense, and the defendant’s prior criminal history, are not too serious, and the immigration consequences of a plea to the new offense as charged will wreak havoc on the lives of the relatively blameless defendant and his entirely blameless family, the immigration situation can constitute a positive equity that can motivate the prosecutor and court to allow an immigration-harmless plea in the current case.  See § 8.33, infra.

                On the other hand, particularly in this era if inflammatory immigration rhetoric, the defendant’s noncitizen immigration status can constitute a negative equity in some people’s minds, that must be neutralized if possible.  See § § 8.34-8.36, infra.