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Practice Advisory
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Practice Advisory: Aggravated Felonies
Publication Date
04/10/2017
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.
Practice Advisory
Resources

Elevating Delayed DACA Renewal Request
Publication Date
09/07/2016
This advisory describes how practitioners with clients whose DACA renewal is outside of processing time or whose biometrics appointment notice is delayed can elevate their cases for resolution with USCIS.
Practice Advisory
Resources

Advisory on Deportable Crimes of Domestic Violence: Matter of H. Estrada
Publication Date
06/24/2016
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.
Practice Advisory
Resources

From Advance Parole to a Green Card for DACA Recipients
Publication Date
05/17/2016
This advisory explains how some DACA recipients may be eligible to adjust their status to permanent residents after travellng outside the United States on advance parole. We explain what is required for advance parole, what is required for adjustment of status, and how those two are related for certain DACA recipients who entered the United States without inspection. Although the advisory is focused on DACA, most of the analysis will also apply to TPS holders.
Practice Advisory
Resources

Responding to Inappropriate RFEs & NOIDs in SIJS Cases
Publication Date
10/12/2015
This practice advisory describes the recent increase in RFEs and NOIDs in Special Immigrant Juvenile Status cases, in which USCIS is requesting documents from the underlying state court proceedings. The advisory details arguments against disclosing state court documents and information to USCIS, and provides guidance on setting up your SIJS petitions for success from the outset.
Practice Advisory
Resources

Special Immigrant Juvenile Status: A Primer for One-Parent Cases
Publication Date
03/12/2015
Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) cases, involving a claim of abuse, abandonment or neglect against one parent while the child resides with the non-offending parent, are commonly referred to as one-parent cases. These cases, though permissible under the plain language of the statute as well as federal agency interpretation, have proved challenging particularly at the state court phase of the application process and at times before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the agency that adjudicates SIJS petitions. This advisory is intended to be a primer for practitioners to help them successfully advocate for SIJS where one-parent SIJS claims are involved.
Practice Advisory
Resources

Marriage Equality in Immigration Law: Immigration Benefits for Same-Sex Married Couples
Publication Date
08/30/2013
This practice advisory summarizes the immigration benefits for same-sex spouses after the U.S. Supreme Court decision in United States v. Windsor declared section 3 of DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) unconstitutional.  It covers family-based petitions (including VAWA) and nonimmigrant visas for same-sex spouses and children.
Practice Advisory
Resources

Moncrieffe and Olivas-Motta: Fourteen Crim/Imm Defenses in the Ninth Circuit
Publication Date
05/29/2013
In Moncrieffe v. Holder, the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed that the full categorical approach applies in immigration proceedings. A result is that where the criminal statute defines the offense more broadly than the immigration definition at issue, the conviction will not trigger the immigration penalty.
Practice Advisory
Resources

Post-Conviction Relief in California Should Be Unaffected by Chaidez v. United States
Publication Date
03/12/2013
In Chaidez v. United States, 568 U.S. _____, ____S.Ct.____, 2013 WL 610201, (February 20, 2013) the U.S. Supreme Court held that Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356 (2010) was a “new rule” that did not apply retroactively to convictions final before March 31, 2010. In Padilla, the Supreme Court held that the Sixth Amendment requires criminal defense counsel to advise a noncitizen about the immigration consequences of a guilty plea.
Practice Advisory
Resources

LPR Bars to § 212(h) – To Whom Do They Apply?
Publication Date
09/17/2012
Matter of Rodriguez, 25 I&N Dec. 784 (BIA 2012). Section 212(h) of the INA1 is an important waiver of crimes-based grounds ofinadmissibility.
Practice Advisory
Resources

Advisory: Ninth Circuit Panel Reverses Itself in Pagayon II
Publication Date
12/13/2011
Testimony before an IJ may not be used to characterize an offense, or to link two documents from the record of conviction.  A Ninth Circuit panel has withdrawn a very bad opinion on the modified categorical approach and substituted a substantially better one.
Practice Advisory
Resources

Conviction on Direct Appeal of Right Remains a “Conviction” for Immigration Purposes
Publication Date
08/01/2011
Planes v. Holder (9th Cir. July 5, 2011): Criminal defenders must assume that filing a timely direct appeal of right will not prevent a conviction from having immigration effect. This is a change in the law, created by Planes v. Holder, supra. Advocates will file a petition for rehearing and there is a good chance that this will be granted, and a reasonable chance, although no guarantee, that Planes may be reversed.
Practice Advisory
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Practice Advisory: Lujan & Nunez, July 14, 2011
Publication Date
07/18/2011
Warning: Immigrant Defendants with a First Minor Drug Offense: “Rehabilitative relief” will no longer eliminate a first conviction for simple possession for immigration purposes, unless the conviction occurred before 7/14/11
Practice Advisory
Resources

Update on INA § 212(h) Defense Strategies
Publication Date
03/17/2011
"Many Permanent Residents Are Not Subject to the § 212(h) Permanent Resident Bar; The Eleventh Circuit Reaffirms § 212(h) as a Direct Waiver of Deportability; Using § 212(h) When LPR Cancellation is Not an Option" by Kathy Brady