Meeting Your Immigration Goals With Exceptional Legal Services

Pleas that may be inconsequential from a criminal perspective might adversely affect the immigration status of a lawyer's client. For example, a criminal attorney might fail to defend their immigrant client by pleading to a Withhold of Removal. This action would be counted as a win in criminal court but serves as a legal admission and a conviction for immigration purposes.

Section 101(a)(48) [8 USC 1101(a)(48)] of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), defines a conviction as follows:

• (i) A judge or jury has found the alien guilty, or the alien has entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere or has admitted sufficient facts to warrant a finding of guilt, and
• (ii) The judge has ordered some form of punishment, penalty, or restraint on the alien's liberty to be imposed.
• (B) Any reference to a term of imprisonment or a sentence with respect to an offense is deemed to include the period of incarceration or confinement ordered by a court of law regardless of any suspension of the imposition or execution of that imprisonment or sentence in whole or in part.

Criminal attorneys should pay close attention to the language in section (i), which states that mere admissions of facts are sufficient for finding guilt. This means that their clients may avoid a criminal conviction but will face harsh immigration consequences due to their on-record professions of certain acts. That is why it is best to consult with Attorney Ahmad Yakzan and the American Dream™ Shield before entering a plea.

Several classifications of crimes under the INA may lead to possible removal from the United States. A crime might meet many definitions under the INA, leading to different consequences. Here are some of the possible classifications under the Act:

• Crimes Involving Moral Turpitude (CIMT): The Board of Immigration Appeals defined CIMT as crimes that are “base, vile, or depraved, and contrary to the accepted rules of morality.” See Matter of Franklin, 20 I&N Dec. 867, 868 (BIA 1994). CIMTs include fraud crimes and kidnapping, which invoke grounds for deportability under immigration and bar certain types of relief. However, some of these crimes are waivable under the Act.
• Aggravated Felonies: As listed and defined in 8 U.S.C. §1101(a)(43), aggravated felonies range from murder to illicit trafficking and conspiracies. These crimes make an immigrant inadmissible under INA §212, permanently unable to apply for naturalization, or deportable under INA §237.

Immigration and federal courts use the categorical or noncategorical approaches to determine if a specific crime has immigration consequences. The former means that a crime does not have any adverse outcomes if it does not match a corresponding federal statute. Meanwhile, a modified categorical approach allows the court to reach beyond the record of conviction to ascertain if a crime has immigration consequences.

We can aid you, the criminal attorney, limit your liability and exposure to malpractice by assisting you in thoroughly analyzing the facts and the record of conviction. Attorney Yakzan has represented clients in immigration courts and has successfully argued these cases. His experience helps him give you sound advice on your cases.