Criminal Defense of Immigrants
§ 11.3 (A)
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(A) Summary. Generally speaking, a court order vacating a conviction on a ground of legal invalidity that existed at the time the conviction originally came into existence is effective to eliminate the conviction for immigration purposes. See § 11.4, infra. The 1996 statutory definition of conviction, and the BIA decision in Matter of Pickering did not alter this result. The Full Faith and Credit doctrine precludes immigration courts from looking behind the face of a court order vacating a conviction. See § 11.5, infra. Even convictions vacated on grounds of legal invalidity based on the lack of, or inaccurate, immigration advice at plea are eliminated for immigration purposes. It is possible, however, for the immigration authorities to argue that a conviction vacated by a court which lacked jurisdiction to enter the vacatur continues to exist for immigration purposes. See § 11.8, infra. A great many grounds of legal invalidity may be used to vacate convictions for immigration purposes. See § 11.70, infra.