Resources for Immigration Lawyers

Training Materials for Criminal Defense Counsel Regarding the Scope of the Padilla Duty

IDP has collected legal training materials for criminal defense attorneys regarding the scope of constitutional duty to investigate, advise about, and negotiate to avoid immigration consequences for noncitizen clients, including advice regarding deportability, inadmissibility, eligibility for relief from removal, and eligibility for other forms of immigration relief and benefits. Criminal defense and immigration lawyers may access these materials here.

Denaturalization Training Materials for Criminal Defense Counsel

IDP has accumulated training materials for criminal defense counsel regarding their constitutional duty to investigate, advise about, and negotiate to avoid denaturalization consequences for naturalized defendant clients charged with conduct predating their naturalization. Criminal defense and immigration lawyers may access these materials here.

DHS Enforcement Guidance: Practice Advisories for Immigration and Criminal Defense Attorneys (Updated June 2023)

June 2023 Update: On June 23, 2023 the Supreme Court decided in U.S. v. Texas that states cannot challenge the administration’s enforcement priorities that guide immigration arrests and deportation.  Texas and Louisiana had tried to block DHS’s 2021 enforcement guidance/prosecutorial discretion memo (“Mayorkas memo”).  Although the decision did not automatically reinstate this memo, it appears likely that this will happen. In light of … Read more »

New York State Data on Misdemeanor Arrests and Prosecutions

In response to a request for information filed by the Immigrant Defense Project (“IDP”), the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services has released data regarding arrests and prosecutions under ten misdemeanor provisions of the New York Penal Law (“NYPL”). The data set documents information regarding disposition, conviction, and sentence imposed for arrests under NYPL 120.00 (assault in the … Read more »

New York State Data on Child Endangerment Arrests and Prosecutions

In response to a request for information filed by the Immigrant Defense Project (“IDP”), the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services has released data regarding arrests and prosecutions under Section 260.10(1) of the New York Penal Law (“NYPL”), endangering the welfare of a child, a level-A misdemeanor. The data sets document arrests, dispositions, and sentences imposed; race of … Read more »

Charts: State-Specific Immigration Consequences of Criminal Offenses

These charts list common criminal offenses, and whether they might trigger an immigration ground of removability (and thereby subject an immigrant to deportation): New York (Updated January 1, 2023) Alabama (Updated March 2017) Arizona (Updated June 2016) California (Updated March 2019) Connecticut (Updated May 2017) Massachusetts (Updated May 2018) North Carolina (Updated 2017) Pennsylvania (Updated March 2019) Vermont

Chart: Sample Aggravated Felony Case Law Determinations

This chart is separated by capital letter category which relates to the relevant subsection of the statutory definition of “aggravated felony.” Within each letter category, the cases are grouped by jurisdiction beginning with the Supreme Court and the Board of Immigration Appeals and continuing through the Circuit Courts of Appeals and the Federal District Courts (and by reverse chronological order … Read more »