There is a decent argument that because some deportability and inadmissibility grounds specify jurisdictions, e.g., "state and federal and foreign" (controlled substance and aggravated felony grounds) or "state, federal, local and Indian" (domestic violence ground), that since "local" is included in at least one ground and not included in others, local ordinances would only give rise to deportability if the ground specifically says "local." See N. Tooby & J. Rollin, Criminal Defense of Immigrants 7.26 (2012). There is a good Ninth Circuit case (involving environmental rules, not immigration (Longview Fibre Co. v. Rasmussen, 980 F.2d 1307 (9th Cir. 1992)) that states that by listing things that are within the purview of the statute in one place, and other things within a separate statute, but not the first, Congress meant to exclude them in the former and include them in the latter. That Congress included state, federal, foreign, local and Indian convictions in the domestic violence ground, but only state, federal and foreign convictions in the controlled substance and aggravated felony grounds, means that Congress intended to exclude laws of local and Indian jurisdictions from the controlled substances and aggravated felony grounds of deportability.

The BIA has rejected this argument in the controlled substances and aggravated felony contexts. See Matter of Cuellar, 25 I. & N. Dec. 850 (BIA 2012). The Ninth Circuit, however, may disagree. Immigration counsel wishing to raise the issue in a petition for review should preserve it by raising it before the Immigration Judge. The respondent, however, would face mandatory detention until the Ninth Circuit agreed with this argument.

Thanks to Dan Kesselbrenner