Crimes of Moral Turpitude

Commission of a CMT can also bring a noncitizen within additional non-CMT based grounds of inadmissibility.  For example, a noncitizen is inadmissible if the government has reason to believe s/he has committed visa fraud.[210]  This is a conduct-based ground of inadmissibility, and does not require a conviction.  If the noncitizen has been convicted of visa fraud, s/he would be considered inadmissible under this conduct-based ground since the conviction establishes as true the conduct triggering the ground of inadmissibility.  (Since the conduct-based grounds do not require a conviction, if a person is arrested for money laundering, but is not convicted, the government could still attempt to establish that the investigation reports, for example, give it “reason to believe” that the noncitizen has engaged in the forbidden conduct, and attempt to prove the conduct-based ground despite the absence of a conviction.) 

Two main non-CMT criminal grounds of inadmissibility that one should consider when dealing with a CMT are the controlled substance-related grounds of inadmissibility and the multiple-conviction ground.

[210] INA § 212(a)(6)(C)(i), 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(C)(i).  See also Appendix C[16], infra.