crimmigration.com

The intersection of criminal law and immigration law

Summer break

I’ll be taking a break from updating crImmigration.com over the Fourth of July holiday and the following week. Updates will resume the week of July 13. Find this information useful? Then let others know about crImmigration.com, as well as César’s Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn pages. And to make sure you don’t miss an update, subscribe to the blog by entering your email address in the subscription box that appears on every page. [...]

Understanding the modified categorical approach

Few areas of crimmigration law are as confounding to novices and seasoned practitioners as the method by which courts determine whether a particular crime exposes a migrant to removal. Known as the categorical approach, cases expounding on this analytical method’s centrality have become a mainstay of Supreme Court decisions in recent years. Earlier this month, the Court reiterated its emphasis on the categorical approach in Mellouli v. Lynch (for analyses of that decision, see here, here, here, here, here, here). As if to illustrate how maddening categorical approach analyses can be, the very [...]

Silva-Trevino is dead

Without fanfare and with only the stroke of a pen, Attorney General Eric Holder made an enormous contribution to the rule of law last Friday when he vacated Matter of Silva-Trevino, 24 I&N Dec. 687 (A.G. 2008), a much criticized decision by Attorney General Michael Mukasey about the proper means of analyzing the crimes involving moral turpitude basis of inadmissibility. Matter of Silva-Trevino, A013-014-303 (A.G. April 10, 2015) (read the informal order as originally distributed here; read the formal decision here). Building off multiple Supreme Court decisions and even longer federal [...]

CT Supreme Court: Padilla isn’t retroactive

In a much anticipated case, the Connecticut Supreme Court held this week that Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356 (2010), does not apply retroactively to state convictions. Thiersaint v. Commissioner of Correction, No. SC 19134, slip op. (Conn. April 14, 2015). In Padilla, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel requires criminal defense attorneys to advise noncitizen clients about the immigration consequences of conviction. This week’s Connecticut decision makes it less likely that migrants who were denied such advice prior to March 31, [...]

Race, immigration, & imprisonment in the United States

The United States’ sordid history with race-based policing is too well known to need recounting. Often forgotten, though, is that race-based policing continues to receive the Supreme Court’s blessing when it comes to immigration law. In a pair of decisions from the mid-1970s, the Court allowed immigration officials to explicitly consider whether someone looks Mexican in gauging their legality (see here). Today, almost everyone confined due to a suspected or confirmed immigration law violation is a person of color—overwhelmingly Latino. In a lecture I have about two weeks ago, I explained [...]

BIA Broadens Mental State Analysis for Crimes Involving Moral Turpitude

By Alex Sheppard In January, the Board of Immigration Appeals found the offense of “deadly conduct” in violation of section 22.05(a) of the Texas Penal Code to be categorically a crime involving moral turpitude. Matter of Hernandez, 26 I&N Dec. 464 (BIA 2015). Under § 22.05(a), the BIA in Matter of Hernandez found a mens rea requirement of recklessness coupled with an actus reus of no actual physical harm to categorically constitute a CIMT. Id. at 467. Hernandez is a native and citizen of Mexico who entered the United States at an unknown date and place. On June 11, 2002, he was [...]

Worrying immigration court statistics about detention & representation in FY 2014

Last week, the Justice Department released statistics about the workload of the nation’s immigration court system in fiscal year 2014. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review, FY 2014 Statistical Yearbook (March 2015). There’s a wealth of interesting data to mine in this report, released annually, but I’m going to highlight a few strands of particular relevance to crimmigrationistas: the role of detention and representation in immigration court proceedings. Reflecting its role in immigration law enforcement generally, detention played a significant role in the [...]