(B)  Full and Unconditional Pardon.  To be effective, the pardon must be full and unconditional.[231]  A conditional pardon is not effective, whether the conditions are precedent or subsequent.[232]  Under previous law it was uncertain whether some conditional pardons might be sufficient.[233]  Of course, if the condition has been fulfilled, the pardon probably would be regarded as absolute, even under present law.[234]  The President’s constitutional power to grant conditional pardons is discussed in Schick v. Reed.[235]  Moreover, the 1952 Act’s retroactivity reached a criminal violator whose conditional pardon sheltered him from deportability under prior law.[236]  The fact that a pardon states that it is granted “to prevent deportation” does not make it conditional, since these words are merely descriptive and do not limit the validity of the pardon.[237]

 

A full and unconditional pardon is completely binding for deportation purposes, and cannot be vitiated or ignored on a charge that it was fraudulently obtained, in the absence of action by the authorities who granted the pardon to revoke the pardon.[238]

[231] Taylor v. United States, 231 F.2d 856 (5th Cir. 1956) (full and unconditional 1953 gubernatorial pardon for 1924 second-degree murder conviction prevented 1953 deportation proceedings); see Taran v. United States, 266 F.2d 561 (8th Cir. 1959) (court rejected government’s attempt to discredit a pardon of a conviction of first-degree grand larceny granted by the Minnesota State Board of Pardons on the basis that the noncitizen had obtained the pardon by misrepresentation, concealment, and fraud, holding that assuming a full and unconditional pardon may be attacked, this may be done only between the state and the pardon-holder, and it is not possible for a third party to collaterally attack or indirectly impeach it); Matter of Tajer, 15 I. & N. Dec. 125 (BIA 1974) (BIA remanded Iranian nonimmigrant student’s case to allow unconditional pardon for the crime of theft to be received into evidence); Matter of L, 6 I. & N. Dec. 355 (BIA 1954) (BIA held that a pardon of a second-degree murder conviction was full and unconditional despite saying that the noncitizen was being pardoned “to prevent deportation,” since quoted words did not create a condition that if violated, would cause the pardon to become null and void and merely described what had motivated the exercise of executive clemency); Matter of T, 6 I. & N. Dec. 214 (BIA 1954) (BIA affirmed termination of deportation proceedings where Japanese citizen had received a free and full pardon from the acting Governor of Hawaii, a territory, for the crimes of sexual intercourse with a female under the age of 16 and the wife of another and of lascivious conduct, paying a 17-year-old female $7 for sexual intercourse); Matter of H, 6 I. & N. Dec. 90 (BIA 1954) (pardon prevented deportation on grounds noncitizen was inadmissible at entry for CMT conviction).

[232] Matter of Nolan, 19 I. & N. Dec. 539 (BIA 1988) (automatic pardon for first offenders under Louisiana law was conditional on serving sentence, and did not qualify as unconditional pardon; it also was not a full pardon because it did not restore offender to former state of innocence); Matter of C, 5 I. & N. Dec. 630 (BIA 1954) (Italian’s Ohio pardon for a blackmail conviction was not unconditional, since it was explicitly granted “conditioned upon good behavior and conduct and provided that he demeans himself as a law-abiding person and is not convicted of any other crime, otherwise this pardon to become null and void.”  A conditional pardon is one to which a condition is annexed, the performance of which is necessary to the pardon’s validity.).

[233] Matter of B, 3 I. & N. Dec. 551 (BIA 1949).

[234] See Matter of G, 3 I. & N. Dec. 808 (BIA 1949).

[235] Schick v. Reed, 419 U.S. 256 (1974).

[236] Lehmann v. Carson, 353 U.S. 685 (1957).

[237] Matter of L, 6 I. & N. Dec. 355, 366 (BIA 1954).

[238] Taran v. United States, 266 F.2d 561 (8th Cir. 1959).

CRIMINAL DEFENSE OF IMMIGRANTS - P. 668, AFTER END OF FIRST PARTIAL PARAGRAPH INSERT:
A pardon, however, will not nullify a deportation ground based on a controlled substances conviction, firearms conviction, domestic violence conviction or protective order violation, or any other conviction not listed in the statute. FN1: Matter of Suh, 23 I. & N. Dec. 626 (BIA 2003) (presidential or gubernatorial pardon waives only the grounds of removal specifically set forth in INA 237(a)(2)(A)(v), 8 U.S.C. 1227(a)(2)(A)(v) (2000); no implicit waivers may be read into statute; pardon of conviction of crime of domestic violence under INA 237(a)(2)(E)(i), ineffective, as not specifically included in INA 237(a)(2)(A)(v)). See N. Tooby, Criminal Defense of Immigrants, Appendix E (2003), for a complete list of conviction-based grounds of deportation.

Ninth Circuit

POST CON RELIEF - PARDON - INADMISSIBILITY - PARDON DOES NOT CURE INADMISSIBILITY
Aguilera-Montero v. Mukasey, 548 F.3d 1248, 1252 (9th Cir. Dec. 1, 2008) (denial of adjustment of status is affirmed where petitioner is inadmissible and no statutory basis exists to waive inadmissibility, since neither a state pardon nor an equal protection claim could overcome the fact that Congress has expressly declined to provide a waiver for an inadmissible alien convicted of a crime relating to a controlled substance: "We have not extensively addressed the dichotomy between inadmissible and deportable aliens in the context of a state pardon. However, the Eleventh Circuit explicitly explored this issue at length in Balogun v. United States Attorney General, 425 F.3d 1356, 1358 (11th Cir. 2005), where the petitioner asserted that his "full and unconditional" state pardon entitled him to waiver of inadmissibility pursuant to 8 U.S.C. 1227(a)(2)(A)(v). ... We agree with the Eleventh Circuit that the basic tenets of statutory construction preclude us from inferring a waiver under the provisions of 8 U.S.C. 1182(a).").

Eleventh Circuit

POST CON RELIEF " PARDON " FULL PARDON REQUIRED
Castillo v. U.S. Atty Gen., ___ F.3d ___, ___, 2014 WL 2915918 (11th Cir. Jun. 27, 2014) (aggravated felony conviction continues to trigger deportation, under INA 237(a)(2)(A)(iii), 8 U.S.C. 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii), even though the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles had earlier pardoned noncitizen for the conviction that rendered him removable: Under the plain meaning of 1227(a)(2)(A)(vi), a pardon is only full when it restores the totality of rights abrogated by the underlying conviction. Here, Castillo's pardon did not reinstate his Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, a privilege he lost under Georgia law as a result of his conviction. Thus, Castillo did not receive a full pardon, and 1227(a)(2)(A)(vi) does not apply.).

Other

CAL POST CON " GOVERNORS PARDON POST CON RELIEF " PARDON " CALIFORNIA
Governor Jerry Brown granted a full and unconditional governors pardon of 1984 convictions of crimes of moral turpitude in Apr., 2012. Thanks to Mathew Millen.

POST CON RELIEF - PARDON - NEW YORK
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 23, 2008 GOVERNOR PATERSON ANNOUNCES PARDON OF RICKY "SLICK RICK" WALTERS On May 23, 2008, Governor David A. Paterson granted Ricky Walters a full and unconditional pardon of his 1991 attempted murder and weapon convictions, in order to allow Walters to seek relief from deportation from the federal immigration courts. "Mr. Walters has fully served the sentence imposed upon him for his convictions, had an exemplary disciplinary record while in prison and on parole, and has been living without incident in the community for more than 10 years," said Governor Paterson. "In that time, he has volunteered at youth outreach programs to counsel youth against violence, and has become a symbol of rehabilitation for many young people. Given these demonstrated rehabilitative efforts, I urge federal immigration officials to once again grant Mr. Walters relief from deportation, so that he is not separated from his many family members who are United States citizens, including his two teenage children."

POST CON RELIEF - FEDERAL - PRESIDENTIAL PARDON
http://www.justice.gov/pardon/