Tooby's California Post-Conviction Relief for Immigrants
§ 10.48 2. Immigration Benefits
For more text, click "Next Page>"
An executive pardon will eliminate the adverse immigration effects of a listed conviction in several respects:
(1) As a ground of deportation, see § 10.47, supra;
(2) As a basis for the “inadmissibility at time of entry” ground of deportation; [170]
(3) Possibly as a ground of inadmissibility; [171]
(4) It also eliminates the immigration effects of the sentences and confinement resulting from the pardoned conviction.[172]
[170] Matter of H, 6 I. & N. Dec. 90 (BIA 1954) (interpreting former statute).
[171] See § 10.46(B), supra.
[172] INA § 241(a)(2)(A)(iv), 8 U.S.C. § 1251(a)(2)(A)(iv) (moral turpitude, aggravated felony); Matter of H, 7 I. & N. Dec. 249 (BIA 1956) (pardon eliminates confinement for purposes of 180‑day good‑moral‑character requirements). See Annot., What Constitutes Full and Unconditional Executive Pardon Under § 241(b) of Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 . . ., 101 A.L.R. Fed. 668 (1991). By analogy, the Ninth Circuit has held that an unqualified state court restoration of rights bars a federal felon-with-gun conviction. United States v. Herron, 45 F.3d 340 (9th Cir. 1995).
