Criminal Defense of Immigrants

(B)  Domestic Violence Protection Order Violation.  There is one ground of deportation, however, that may be triggered by probation violation proceedings.  In 1996, Congress created a new, very broad ground of deportation for those, including juveniles, who suffer court findings of violation of a family-violence protective order.[138]  A person becomes deportable whom a civil or criminal court has found to have violated a domestic violence protective order, even without a criminal conviction.  Immigration authorities might allege a noncitizen was deportable under this ground of deportation if (a) the probation conditions of the original conviction included domestic violence protection order provisions, (b) the defendant was charged with violating probation by violating those conditions, and (c), the court found the defendant had so violated probation.  In defending an allegation of probation violation, counsel should carefully check to ensure that this domestic violence protection order violation ground of deportation is not triggered by the disposition or court finding.  See § § 22.33-22.40, infra.

[138] See INA § 237(a)(2)(E)(ii), 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(E)(ii).