A criminal defense lawyer may be thinking that he or she is getting you a brilliant deal, but they may be utterly oblivious of the immigration consequences of pleading guilty or no contest to a criminal charge. Yes, the plea might keep you out of jail or prison, but this could then enter you into deportation proceedings. This is true even for green card holders. Before you make such a huge decision in a criminal case, you must consult with an experienced immigration lawyer to understand what is at stake.
As you likely already know, certain criminal convictions can make you ineligible for most if not all immigration applications. Now if you were convicted in the juvenile system, this will not harm your case. But even just being arrested and charged as an adult can hurt your chances, even if you were younger than 18 at the time. And a court could say that you have been convicted of a crime, even if it was never an official verdict from a judge or jury.
This would be the case if you entered in a plea of not guilty or no contest. If after you paid the fines, completed rehabilitation, or fulfilled the sentence, you might be able to "withdraw" your plea, but an immigration court would still count this plea as a conviction. If a judge hands down a sentence of some sort, even if it does not involve jail or prison time, this could count as a conviction. And it could be enough to get deported.
If, however, you had go through a pre-plea diversion program or got deferred prosecution, these are not viewed as convictions in an immigration court. Depending on the state, there are a number of sentencing options that do not involve your entering a plea. And if you do not enter an official plea, it is likely than an immigration court will not count it against you. Then in some states, an infraction or violation will not count as a conviction for immigration processes.
What if your conviction was expunged? While this means your conviction would for the most part be removed from the public record, an immigration court would still know about it. And if you are asked about any convictions, such as on an immigration application or by an immigration officer, you will have to bring up that conviction.
If a conviction was vacated, however, it may no longer count against you in immigration court. What this would mean is that a judge views your conviction as unconstitutional, and thus vacates your conviction. Usually, a criminal judge would decide that a conviction was unconstitutional if someone had ineffective assistance of counsel, that is, that their criminal defense lawyer was egregiously incompetent. Also, if a criminal defense attorney failed to explain to you the immigration consequences of your guilty plea, then you might be able to get your conviction vacated based on ineffective assistance of counsel. So if the reason for a vacated conviction is that it was not constitutional, then you may be able to request that an immigration judge cancel your deportation.
Have you already entered a plea bargain? Then you urgently need to talk to an immigration lawyer to find out if you have any options for combatting deportation. Perhaps you can prove that your conviction deserves to be vacated, because you were unaware of the immigration problems that would result from that plea. If you face criminal charges or have been convicted before, then you need to know how this can affect your eligibility for certain immigration processes, and what your legal options are. Contact a skilled immigration lawyer today!