Scholars Sidebar: AR & TX immigration consequences of criminal offense guides

Two articles recently posted on SSRN promise to help attorneys in Arkansas and Texas represent noncitizen clients facing criminal charges or in removal proceedings as a result of criminal history.

Elizabeth L. Young, an assistant professor at the University of Arkansas School of Law, published a useful guide geared toward Arkansas criminal defense attorneys with limited understanding of immigration law. Elizabeth L. Young, How Arkansas Convictions are Treated for Immigration Purposes, Arkansas Law Notes (2010), at 159. Young begins by explaining the INA’s definition of conviction then applies those statutory requirements to various common criminal dispositions available in Arkansas state courts. This promises to be handy resource for Arkansas practitioners.

In a similar vein, Mario K. Castillo, a permanent briefing attorney for Magistrate Judge Felix Recio of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Brownsville, provides a detailed list of Texas criminal offenses and an explanatory chart identifying whether these offenses are likely considered aggravated felonies, crimes involving moral turpitude, or offenses with Sentencing Guidelines repercussions. Mario K. Castillo, Immigration Consequences: A Primer for Texas Criminal Defense Attorneys in Light of Padilla v. Kentucky, Baylor L. Rev. (forthcoming 2011). Castillo’s annotated chart is sure to make the rounds of immigration practitioners whose clients have been convicted of a Texas offense.