Criminal Defense of Immigrants

(B)  Effect of Juvenile Proceedings.  Note that if the person under eighteen was tried in juvenile proceedings in the U.S. or abroad, s/he does not need to use this exception because there was never any “conviction” or “admission” of a crime for immigration purposes.[208]  There is an argument that immigration authorities should use the federal definition of who should be tried as a juvenile, rather than look to whether the person actually was tried as a juvenile in state court, as the measure of whether a conviction exists.[209]

[208]  Matter of Ramirez-Rivero, 18 I. & N. Dec. 135 (BIA 1981); Matter of CM, 5 I. & N. Dec. 327 (BIA 1953) (juvenile finding of commission of crime involving moral turpitude does not constitute a “conviction” or trigger inadmissibility).

[209] See § § 12.10-12.19, supra.