Tooby's California Post-Conviction Relief for Immigrants

In determining the adverse immigration consequences of a client’s criminal history, there are three major categories of consequences to consider:

(1)  Do the convictions and sentences trigger one or more grounds of deportation?

(2)  Do they trigger one or more grounds of inadmissibility?

(3)  Is there some form of relief available to the client in immigration court or before the DHS to avoid the adverse immigration consequences of part or all of the criminal history?

It is important to review the checklists of grounds of deportation, grounds of inadmissibility, and forms of relief available in immigration court to determine which ones apply in the particular case.[4]  It is necessary to go through this analysis for each criminal conviction and sentence individually, and then for all of them collectively, using the chronology suggested above.

            When the specific adverse immigration consequences of each criminal case have been identified, and it has been determined whether immigration counsel can obtain some form of relief in immigration court or before the DHS, it will be possible to identify the balance remaining of adverse immigration consequences that cannot be resolved satisfactorily in immigration court.  Those are the problems that must be solved by means of post-conviction relief.

[4] See Criminal Defense of Immigrants, Appendix D for a checklist of grounds of deportation, and Appendix E for a checklist of grounds of inadmissibility.