Criminal Defense of Immigrants

It is more difficult to counter prejudice against noncitizens who are present in the United States without lawful status.  The normal process of humanizing the client is very important here, since many clients are generally law-abiding family people who are very hardworking and have many positive qualities.  If the client has some possible manner of obtaining lawful status, that should be pointed out.  See § 24.2, infra.  For example, many clients are married to United States citizens, and can obtain Lawful Permanent Resident status if the criminal disposition can be arranged not to trigger inadmissibility.  See Chapter 18, infra.