Criminal Defense of Immigrants

The domestic violence conviction-based ground of deportation provides as follows:

[A noncitizen who] at any time after admission is convicted of a crime of domestic violence, a crime of stalking, or a crime of child abuse, child neglect, or child abandonment is deportable.  For purposes of this clause, the term “crime of domestic violence” means any crime of violence (as defined in section 16 of Title 18) against a person committed by a current or former spouse of the person, by an individual with whom the person shares a child in common, by an individual who is cohabiting with or has cohabited with the person as a spouse, by an individual similarly situated to a spouse of the person under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction where the offense occurs, or by any other individual against a person who is protected from that individual’s acts under the domestic or family violence laws of the United States or any State, Indian tribal government, or unit of local government.[145]

The elements of this ground include:

(1)  a conviction

(2)  after admission

(3)  occurring on or after September 30, 1996,

(4)  of a listed offense, i.e.,

(a) a crime of violence which is a crime against the person as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 16, committed against a protected person, or

                (b) stalking, or

                (c) child abuse, neglect, or abandonment.

                If the government cannot prove by clear and convincing evidence that each of these elements exists, the noncitizen is not deportable under this ground.  See § 17.9, supra.  For a detailed discussion of this ground, see § § 22.9-22.32, infra.

[145] INA § 237(a)(2)(E)(i), 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(E)(i).