Are you charged with a crime
and not sure how it will affect your immigration status?  

Did you receive a notice to appear
in immigration court after your criminal case was over?

“Aggravated Felony” may be the most misleading term in the law. If you have any experience with criminal law, then you probably know that a felony is a relatively serious crime. You might think that an “aggravated felony” includes only the most serious. But that is not necessarily the case in immigration law. Although the term “aggravated felony” includes serious crimes such as murder, rape, and robbery, it also includes some crimes that most jurisdictions do not even classify as felonies, let alone serious felonies.

Here are some examples of misdemeanors in Pennsylvania that could be considered aggravated felonies by immigration authorities:

• Receiving stolen property (imprisonment at least one year);
• Obstruction of justice (imprisonment at least one year);
• Failure to surrender for a 90 day prison sentence for DUI (where maximum penalty is five years)

There is also much confusion over what it means to have a “conviction” for an aggravated felony. You may think that a conviction only happens when one pleads guilty or is found guilty after a trial. But that’s not all that it means in immigration law. For example, a conviction can include a pre-trial “diversionary program,” where the defendant pleads no contest and the judge places him on probation for a year and requires him to undergo drug treatment without ever finding him guilty!

Because of this confusion, people often end up with convictions for aggravated felonies without ever realizing it and then find themselves in removal proceedings. With limited grounds for relief, they are at risk of being ripped away from their families.

If you have a criminal case, it is important to get the advice of an experienced immigration lawyer right away before you make a decision that could jeopardize your immigration status. Even if your criminal case is over, and even if you are already in removal proceedings, it may not be too later. There are often good legal grounds to challenge whether your conviction is an aggravated felony, or even whether it is a conviction at all.

Call us now to discuss your case. The sooner we get involved, the better.