Deportation & Crime
Virtually everyone knows that a legal alien in the United States can be deported, or removed from the United States, upon conviction of certain crimes. However, most people don’t know exactly what those crimes are, and there’s a good reason for that: the statutes authorizing removal for criminal activity do not detail the specific crimes that trigger deportation. Rather, they include broad classes of crime such as “crimes of moral turpitude” or “aggravated felonies”. This is further complicated by the fact that criminal law varies from state to state, and the same crime may be classified as a felony in one state and a misdemeanor in another.
The United States Supreme Court has, during the past few years, been called upon to make a significant number of decisions regarding the deportation process and which crimes do and do not warrant deportation. In most of those cases, the decisions are so specific as to answer few questions about the crimes for which one may or may not face deportation.
Recently, the Supreme Court ruled that a conviction for “aiding and abetting” could serve as grounds for deportation where the underlying crime was an aggravated felony.
The criminal convictions for which deportation has been upheld ranges from check deception to statutory rape to a wide range of drug crimes. The Supreme Court in 2004 ruled that a drunk driving accident did not constitute a “crime of violence” for deportation purposes, but left the door open for other constructions.
Many legal aliens make the mistake of entering into plea agreements in criminal cases without fully understanding—or in some cases, even considering—the immigration problems the conviction may bring about. Any non-citizen facing criminal charges should consult not only a criminal lawyer, but also an immigration attorney immediately. It is important to understand that the negotiations entered into and sentences imposed by the state in a criminal case are a separate proceeding entirely from the deportation proceedings that may be triggered by a criminal conviction.
If you’d like to arrange a consultation with an immigration attorney, fill out our immigration case evaluation form, or call us at (877) 444-1074. If you’ve been charged with a crime, an immigration attorney can tell you whether or not that crime falls within the categories of crime that serve as grounds for deportation—or whether it falls into that gray area where you may be at risk for deportation. If you’ve already been convicted of a crime, an immigration lawyer can help you assess your options for fighting deportation.