Crimes of Moral Turpitude

This section covers general considerations that arise in deciding whether a given conviction will trigger the immigration consequences of crimes of moral turpitude, and that may therefore be treated once here in detail, with reference back to this discussion in the specific areas in which they are relevant.  No crime or conviction will trigger any immigration consequences if the defendant is a United States citizen.  Therefore, alienage (i.e., the fact that the defendant is a citizen of a foreign country) is an invariable prerequisite to the imposition of adverse immigration consequences.  See § 2.2, infra.  Moreover, the two different grounds of deportation, and the single ground of inadmissibility, flowing from crimes of moral turpitude all require a conviction.[1]   See § § 2.3, 4.3, 5.2, 5.12, infra.  Finally, the conviction must be for a “crime” in order to trigger these adverse immigration consequences.  See § 2.13, infra.

[1]  The CMT ground of inadmissibility may also be triggered, in rare circumstances, by an admission of the commission of a CMT.  See § 4.4, infra.