Criminal Defense of Immigrants

(A)  In General.  IIAIRA definition of the one-CMT deportation ground governs removal proceedings initiated on and after April 1, 1997.  The statute defining the one-CMT ground of deportation now provides:

Any alien [in the United States] who –

(I)  is convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude committed within five years (or 10 years in the case of a noncitizen provided lawful permanent resident status under section 245(j)) after the date of admission, and

(II) is convicted of a crime for which a sentence of one year or longer may be imposed, is deportable.[226]

Thus, under the current, post-AEDPA law, a conviction is a deportable CMT if a potential one-year sentence can be imposed.  A sentence of “at least one year” means a sentence of 365 days or more, rather than requiring a  “natural or lunar” year of 365 days plus some hours,[227] or a 366-day year containing Leap Year Day.  Twelve months is the equivalent of one year.[228]

This means that any conviction, including a misdemeanor conviction, with a maximum sentence of one year in custody will trigger the one-CMT ground of deportation.  The maximum sentence for some misdemeanor convictions is six months or less; in those cases, a misdemeanor CMT conviction will not trigger this deportation ground.  Each state statute must be individually assessed.

The definition of “maximum sentence” is technical.  See § 10.76, supra.

[226] INA § 237(a)(2)(A)(i), 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(i), as amended by the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, Pub. L. No. 103-322, § 130003(d), 108 Stat. 1796, 2026, as redesignated and amended by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRAIRA) (enacted as Division C of Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act, 1997, Pub. L. No. 104-208, § 305(a)(2), 110 Stat. 3009, 3009-597); Matter of Fortiz, 21 I. & N. Dec. 1199 (BIA 1998).

[227] Matsuk v. INS, 247 F.3d 999 (9th Cir. 2001).

[228] Matter of B, 2 I. & N. Dec. 578 (BIA 1946).