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This advisory discusses the provisions of SB 54 (De Leon) and the California Values Act, relevant to criminal defense counsel who represent noncitizen clients. In addition to discussing specific provisions of the California Values Act, this advisory discusses how to incorporate this new law into your defense practice.

In the past four years, California voters and the California Legislature have created many new mechanisms for people to reclassify, vacate, and resentence offenses to eliminate the ongoing impact of criminal convictions. This advisory discusses how these new laws can benefit immigrants and can erase or mitigate certain criminal grounds of removability.

This is a summary of the California Criminal and Immigration Laws Passed over the last several years to mitigate the impact of deportations, immigration enforcement, and immigration detention.

As of January 1, 2018, California has changed its “Deferred Entry of Judgment” program to a true “pretrial diversion” program. See Penal Code § 1000, amended by AB 208. Qualifying defendants charged with minor drug offenses can participate in pretrial diversion without incurring a drug conviction for immigration purposes. This Advisory will discuss how pretrial diversion works, and how to assist immigrants who went through the old Deferred Entry of Judgment.

This guide provides fundamental Know Your Rights information to immigrants in California’s criminal justice system.  It provides a review of what immigrants should know once in criminal custody, as well as what to expect if they are transferred to immigration custody.

This introductory guide to representing clients in bond hearings is divided into two sections. The first covers basic bond topics that advocates are likely to encounter when representing any client in a bond hearing. Section two includes a review of more advanced bond topics, including how to challenge mandatory and prolonged detention.

This practice advisory goes through all of the ways that an arrest or conviction for California driving under the influence (DUI) can affect an immigrant, and reviews possible changes to the law. It also will discuss reckless driving as an alternative to DUI.

Criminal sentence can have a big impact on immigration status and eligibility for relief. In this Advisory, we discuss how immigration law treats different sentencing dispositions in general, and then apply that to California sentencing law. We talk about how advocates can use California law, including the newly amended Penal Code § 18.5, to help their clients.

Prepared by Angie Junck and Raha Jorjani, this primer is designed to educate District Attorneys interested in learning more about the immigration impact of criminal convictions.

The Judicial Council of California produces forms for pro se petitioners.  The CR-180 and CR-181 forms cover various forms of “clean slate” remedies, including reducing felonies to misdemeanors (17(b)), set asides and dismissals (1203.4), and vacaturs after successful completion of probation (1203.43).  The forms also contain a notation to 18.5 which makes clear that felonies reduced to misdemeanors carry a maximum of 364-day sentence.

Heidi Altman and Angie Junck authored this article for the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys.Originally published in Lex Quod Ordo, the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys Quarterly Newsletter, Winter/Spring 2014, Volume IV, Issue IV. http://www.apainc.org/

In May, the US Commission on Civil Rights convened a hearing on collateral consequences. The Commission solicited testimony from thought leaders about the lingering consequences that convictions can cause. Rose Cahn submitted testimony regarding the intersection of crimes and immigration law and laid out clear policy recommendations for jurisdictions interested in mitigating or eliminating the immigration consequences of criminal convictions.

This document provides guidelines to prosecutor offices on considering the immigration consequences of criminal cases.

This one-page infographic summarizes the various California post-conviction relief vehicles, their requirements, and their immigration benefits.

Cal. P.C. § 261.5(c) is not an aggravated felony, but the law may change for the worse on § 261.5(d)Esquivel Quintana v. AG Sessions (May 30, 2017)

Immigrants who are alleged to be involved with gangs are top immigration enforcement priorities for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This is true even if they have no criminal convictions and DHS is targeting them based on allegations alone. If such individuals choose to apply for immigration benefits, they may be exposing themselves to serious risk. This practice advisory discusses what gangs and gang databases are, how allegations of gang membership arise in immigration cases, the over-inclusive process law enforcement employs to allege gang membership, and strategies to identify whether your client may be labeled a gang member or associate. The purpose of this advisory is to help immigration advocates better understand how law enforcement in the United States documents and alleges gang membership or association, such that advocates are able to identify red flags in cases, and are better prepared to work with clients to assess possible risks in filing for relief.

Students at the UC Irvine Immigrant Rights Clinic prepared a Penal Code 1473.7 motion to vacate for one of their clients and offered it as a resource for others filing similar motions. This motion is a reference tool only, and should not be used as a template or a model, nor should it be reproduced without substantial alterations. If you are filing a 1473.7 motion, you must perform your own legal research and draft your own materials, as the law in this area is rapidly changing and case-specific motions have significantly higher success rates in criminal courts.

This intake form, available in both English and Spanish, is designed to assist legal service providers and nonprofit organizations interested in screening clients for immigrant post-conviction relief services.

The immigration statute designates certain types of crimes as “aggravated felonies.” See INA § 101(a)(43), 8 USC § 1101(a)(43). These are the most dangerous type of convictions for a noncitizen. Despite the name, this definition reaches offenses that are neither felonies nor aggravated. It can include selling $10 worth of marijuana, a misdemeanor shoplifting offense with a one-year suspended sentence, or failure to appear at a criminal hearing. The person must be convicted of the offense, not merely commit it, for aggravated felony penalties to apply.

A new law will go into effect January 1, 2017 that will provide people who are no longer in custody with a new way to vacate legally invalid convictions. This advisory discusses how the law can help immigrants erase old convictions thus opening up new pathways to immigration relief.

AB 813 Provides a New Vehicle to Vacate a California ConvictionSB 1242 Makes the 364-Day Misdemeanor Law RetroactiveSB 2792 (TRUTH Act) Protects the Rights of Immigrants in California Jails

This report provides a thorough analysis of California’s Proposition 64, or The Adult Use of Marijuana Act, and its potential impact on immigrants with marijuana offenses. The report covers the intersection of immigration and criminal law, the current impact of marijuana offenses on a variety of immigration outcomes, and the ways in which Proposition 64 could help mitigate the immigration consequences of some marijuana-related drug offenses. This report was generously funded by Drug Policy Action.

A noncitizen who is convicted of a “crime of domestic violence” is deportable. INA 237(a)(2)(E)(i), 8 USC 1227(a)(2)(E)(i). In Matter of H. Estrada the BIA reaffirmed that the categorical approach must be used to determine that the offense is a “crime of violence” under 18 USC § 16, but it held that the circumstance-specific approach can be used to determine whether the victim and defendant shared the required domestic relationship. Under that approach, the BIA found that ICE can use any reliable evidence, including evidence from outside the record of conviction, to try to meet its burden of proving the relationship.

In November 2014, California voters passed Proposition 47, a historic record changing opportunity. The below resources are aimed at educating community members, advocates, and lawyers on the immigration benefits of Proposition 47.

The Immigrant Legal Resource Center, with our partners the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights in the San Francisco Bay Area and Californians for Safety and Justice, are pleased to provide a manual on how to help immigrants get post-conviction relief in California.    Here is a link to the manual, and a separate link to the Practice Aids in the Appendices.

In Young v. Holder, 697 F.3d 976 (9th Cir. 2012) (en banc) the Ninth Circuit held that if a statute is divisible, an applicant for relief must provide evidence from the reviewable record of conviction that proves that the conviction does not bar eligibility, under the modified categorical approach. An inconclusive record of conviction is not sufficient.

Effective January 1, 2016, a new California drug law will help defendants avoid catastrophic immigration consequences for minor offenses.

AB 1343 is a new law that safeguards due process for immigrants inthe criminal justice system by ensuring that immigrants are provided access to fair, honest, and competent legal advice.  Check out this infographic to learn more!

The BIA stated that Cal PC § 273a(b) is not a deportable crime of child abuse, in Matter of Mendoza-Osorio.