Safe Havens

Of the 51 grounds of deportation, two are based not on a criminal conviction, nor on status or conduct per se, but rather on a court or administrative finding of a certain type:

            (1) a court finding that a noncitizen violated a certain portion of a domestic-violence protection order.  See § 2.12, infra.

            (2) an administrative tribunal’s civil finding that a noncitizen engaged in specified document fraud.  See § 2.13, infra.

            These two grounds of deportation are similar to the conviction-based grounds of deportation, in that the government probably need only produce a certified copy of the relevant court order or administrative finding in order to establish the existence of the ground of deportation.  Presumably the noncitizen could attempt to show that the court or administrative tribunal lacked jurisdiction to enter the order as a defense to removal on these grounds, just as s/he could contest the criminal court’s jurisdiction to issue a criminal conviction, see § 2.7(C), supra, but would presumably be barred from collaterally attacking the validity of such an order in removal proceedings just as would be the case regarding a conviction used as a basis for a conviction-based ground of deportation.  See § 2.7(B), supra.