Immigration Consequences of Criminal Convictions

If you are a non-U.S. citizen and have been convicted of a crime, you could face deportation, naturalization and other serious consequences. The attorneys at Uribe & Uribe APLC to help you acheive your immigration goals. The first step in the post conviction process is examining the circumstances of your conviction to determine what post conviction vehicle or motion best suits your needs. In layman's terms    your past conviction or convictions will be examined from every angle to ensure you have the best chance to acheive your post conviction goals. A criminal conviction on your record no matter how old the conviction can lead to serious immigration consequences such as deportation, exclusion from admission to the United States, or denial of naturalization. Far too often a criminal defense attorney representing a immigrant defendant client leads his or her client into immigration peril by advising the client to plead guilty without taking into account the adverse immigration consequences that will befall them. Clearly this type of representation falls below a standard of professional care that can lead to a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel against the attorney that misled the immigrant client. If you have a conviction on your record it may be necessary to vacate or modify the terms of the conviction so that you do not suffer harsh immigration consequences in Federal Immigration Court.

The Post-Conviction Process

Vacating a conviction is difficult. It is difficult because in order to vacate or erase a criminal conviction we must go back and change a judicial order that has been officially entered in the past. 

The first step in the post-conviction process is to obtain the original court file when the plea was first entered.  Then the other relevant documents must be obtained such as the Court Reporter Transcripts, TAHL Waiver Forms, Court Minute Orders, the Public Defender's file, and the District Attorney's File.  Although obtaining all of the relevant documents can be trying, the attorneys at Uribe & Uribe APLC has develop strategies in obtaining all of the required documentation for a complete and thoroughinvestigation. Once all of the relevant documentation is obtained, an analysis of the evidence is done along with an analysis of current case law to determine what legal arguments can be used to attack the validity of the plea. 

The Constitution Protects Everyone

The United States Supreme Court has held that a criminal defense attorney must protect the immigration rights and situation of an immigrant client. Padilla v. Kentucky (2010). The attorneys at Uribe & Uribe APLC understand the duty owed to immigrant defendants. If you are an immigrant to this country but have been accused of a crime do not take any chances with your immigration status. In order to protect your immigration status, to prevent you from being deported, removed, or excluded from this country you need aggressive representation that understands how to protect an immigrant’s immigration status in criminal court.  

The United States’ criminal justice system is intended to protect law abiding citizens but often time this can have unintended consequences that hurt the innocent loved ones of immigration defendants.

When a non-citizen is convicted of a crime exposing him or her to potential removal, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, will likely lodge a removal detainer against the immigrant. Usually, this detainer will remain in place until the sentence is complete, at which point the non-citizen will be released to ICE and taken to an immigration detention center.

Uribe & Uribe APLC is skilled in setting aside, vacating, or reducing criminal convictions so that our client's will not face deportation, removal or exclusion from the United States.

California Law Protects Immigrants in Criminal Courts

The reality is that immigrants face a much more severe consequence as a result of being pushed through our State's criminal justice system.  As a result the United States Supreme Court has found that noncitzen immigrants in criminal court are owed a duty by their attorneys to have their immigration interests protected and their concerns about deportation addressed. Uribe & Uribe APLC has helped families remain intact as a result of aggressive legal representation to erase, set aside, vacate, or reduce a criminal conviction that could have been devastating to the client's family.

Immigration Status and Criminal Convictions

Any non-citizen, regardless of immigration status, is subject to deportation or removal. It is therefore incumbent upon criminal defense lawyers to ask every client about his or her immigration status. Often times an immigrant client's biggest concern is protecting his or her immigration situation.  Lawyers cannot take for granted that just because a client speaks English that he or she is a U.S. citizen, nor should they assume that a client who speaks no English at all is a non-citizen.  At Uribe & Uribe APLC we work to protect an accused's criminal defense rights as well as their immigration rights. 

Immigrant Defendants Face a Special Consequence

What can be harmless misdemeanor or citations for a citizen can create a life changing calamity for an immigrant that cannot return to his or her home country.  Criminal convictions have serious and often tragic collateral consequences for non-citizens, namely deportation, removal from one's home and denial of naturalization. This is especially true today because the government is ramping up immigration enforcement and aggressively searching for non-citizen inmates who are subject to deportation.  The US Department of Homeland Security works to deport immigrants with criminal convictions on their record no matter how old the criminal conviction.

Avoid Immigration Consequences as a Result of Old Criminal Convictions

There are four general categories of crimes that expose a non-citizen to removal.

Crimes Involving Moral Turpitude

Making false representations
Arson
Blackmail
Burglary
Embezzlement
Extortion
False pretenses
Forgery

Controlled Substance or Drug Crimes

Transportation of Drugs
Possession of Drugs
Sales of Illicit Drugs

Firearm Offenses

Brandishing a firearm
Possession of a firearm by a felon
Carrying a concealed firearm

Aggravated Felonies

Manslaughter
Murder
Robbery
Burglary
Possession for sale of a controlled substance
Attempt Charges

The Immigration Legal Resource Center provides an informational resource chart for legal professionals to reference when considering applicable immigration consequences of a criminal conviction. 

Felonies and Misdemeanors

If you are accused of a serious felony or misdemeanor it is important to immediately protect your rights and hire aggressive legal representation to avoid adverse immigration consequences. If you are an immigrant the stakes are even raised higher since crimes in California can have harsh immigration consequences such as deportation, denial of naturalization and exclusion from admission to the United States. Essentially there are many different types of crimes that can cause a person to be deported. Whether a criminal conviction is a felony or misdemeanor typically does not matter to an immigration judge that is deciding whether to deport an immigrant convicted of a crime in California Superior Court. The most important factor that a judge considers is whether the crime is a deportable offense under the Immigration and Nationality Act also known as the INA. The INA describes and categorizes convictions as either, crimes of moral turpitude, theft crimes, drug crimes, and gun crimes (to just name a few) and if an immigrant non-citizen has a qualifying crime they could then suffer immigration consequences such as deportation, denial of naturalization, and or exclusion from admission to the United States. When facing a criminal accusation it is important to navigate both the criminal and immigration process so as to avoid both penal and civil immigration consequences.

Motion to Vacate a Conviction per Penal Code Section 1016.5

Often times a person finds that a conviction that he or she pled guilty to many years ago can come back to haunt them.  A non-citizen accused of a crime in our criminal court system must protect his or her immigration interests before entering a plea to a criminal conviction. A post-conviction motion to vacate a conviction can be used to vacate a conviction from a defendant's past that now causes harmful and unfair immigration consequences.  A motion used to vacate a criminal conviction is the California Penal Code Section 1016.5 Motion to Vacate Criminal Conviction as a result of faulty immigration advisements by the judge or prosecutor. An immigrant not properly and fully advised of immigration consequences at the time he or she enters his or her plea in criminal court is entitled to withdraw the plea. 

Immigrant Status and the Criminal Court Proceeding

Once an immigrant is arrested and accused of a crime the process begins and ends rapidly.  For instance if you are arrested and accused of a crime and have no legal status it is very likely that once you are in police or sheriff custody an immigration hold will be placed on you. If you are a legal resident or a work permit holder then it is very likely that you will lose your work permit and legal resident status if you are convicted of the crime you are accused of. 

Facing Deportation Because of Criminal Conviction

Unfortunately when a defendant is in front of a judge and facing consequences such as an extended time in jail, an immigrant defendant does not consider the cost of how a criminal conviction on his or her record will affect their immigration case. Many different types of charges that are either Felonies or Misdemeanors will cause an immigrant defendant to be deported. As a result of the complex nature of immigration law, California Penal Code Section 1016.5 was enacted to protect the immigration interests of immigrant defendants. For instance Penal Code Section 1016.5 allows for a defendant to fully investigate the consequences of a conviction so that he or she can fully understand how the plea offer they are accepting will affect their immigration status. 

Immigration Consequences and Criminal Convictions

It takes a special skill set to understand how to defend immigrant defendants in state criminal court. The attorneys at Uribe & Uribe APLC understand how to defend immigrants and non-citizens accused of crimes. The reality is that non-citizens face a tougher time in criminal courts than citizens. Non-citizens face increased scrutiny through the Secure Communities program initiated by the United States Department of Homeland Security. As a result of this increased scrutiny non-citizens face deportation while a citizen would simply be cited a released. 

Immigrants in Criminal Courts Face Unfair Consequences that Non Immigrants Do Not Face

The consequences an immigrant faces in criminal court are different and often more harsh than the consequences an American citizen faces. These harsh consequences are unfair since current immigration law makes the conviction that one pled to many years ago will cause him or she to be deported to a country they no longer call home. 

The attorneys at Uribe & Uribe APLC take pride in addressing immigration law concerns in a criminal prosecution as well as defending against deportation in Immigration Court. More specifically we take into account one's own specific immigration situation when representing an immigrant in criminal and immigration court.