Criminal
Criminal Convictions and Immigration
Almost any criminal conviction can have a negative impact on an individual’s
immigration status. As a result, there are many advantages to hiring a
legal firm with both criminal and immigration experience, such as FitzGerald
and Company, LLC.
How can we try to prevent the negative effects of a criminal record on
an immigration petition?
- If you or a family member has a current criminal case pending, we
can work to negotiate a sentence structure or a resolution of a criminal
case so that it does not have a mandatory adverse effect on the individual’s
immigration status
- If you or your family member have had a past criminal case, we can
petition a court to reverse or change a past conviction so that the
individual in question is not in jeopardy of deportation.
There are two types of convictions that generally result in problems
with the Immigration & Naturalization Service; Crimes of Moral Turpitude
and Aggravated Felonies.
Moral Turpitude
The Immigration & Nationality Act and the Code of Federal Regulations
state that any alien who has been convicted of a crime involving moral
turpitude, or admits to having committed such a crime, or admits to having
committed acts, which constitute the essential elements of such a crime,
is inadmissible to the United States.
According to the Code of Federal Regulations (22 CFR §40.21(a)),
a determination that a crime involves moral turpitude must be based upon
the moral standards generally prevailing in the United States "Moral
turpitude" has been defined as anything done contrary to justice,
honesty, principle, or good morals, or an act of baseness, vileness, or
depravity in the private and social duties which a person owes to his
or her fellow citizens or to society in general, whether or not it is
punishable as a crime. (See In re Sloan, 12 I & N Dec 840
(1966, BIA); In re Awaijane, 14 I & N Dec 117 (1972, BIA)).
Aggravated Felonies
The term "aggravated felony" means any crime that is serious
in nature, including but not limited to the following:
- murder, rape, or sexual abuse of a minor;
- drug, explosives or firearms trafficking;
- money laundering;
- a crime of violence for which the term of imprisonment is at least
one year;
- a theft offense (including receipt of stolen property) or burglary
offense for which the term of imprisonment is at least one year; and
- any other offense listed in INA §101(a)(43).
Convictions
Convictions for the purposes of the Immigration & Naturalization Service
are different than for the purposes of a criminal court. A period
of probation or a dismissal upon a finding of sufficient facts can result
in exclusion, denial of naturalization, deportation or removal from the
United States. |
