Post-Conviction Relief for Immigrants

A variety of post-conviction vehicles available under state law can be used to vacate a criminal conviction for immigration purposes:

(1)  A Motion to Withdraw Plea, both prior to and after judgment has been entered (see § 5.48, infra);

(2)  A Motion to Vacate a Conviction for Violation of a State Advisal Statute (see § 5.57, infra);

(3)  A Nonstatutory Motion to Vacate a Conviction on constitutional grounds (see § 5.61, infra);

(4)  Direct Appeal from a judgment of conviction (see §   5.65, infra);

(5)  Habeas Corpus and a variety of other Post-Conviction Relief Petitions (see § 5.72, infra);

(6)  A Petition for a Writ of Error Coram Nobis (see § 5.81, infra); and

(7)  A Petition for a Writ of Audita Querela (see § 5.85, infra).

It is beyond the scope of this work to describe the various post-conviction vehicles of 50 states in detail.  The following discussion will generally outline the varieties of state post-conviction vehicles, their procedures, the grounds on which they may be made, and their immigration effects.