California Crimes That Lead to Deportation
If you are a legal immigrant, getting convicted of certain criminal offenses in California may cause you to be removed (deported) from the United States. In the sections below, we will discuss the categories of criminal convictions that trigger deportation.
"Legal aliens" are foreigners who have been officially allowed into the country for a specified period of time. There are many different types of legal aliens, including:
- Legal Permanent Residents (also called "LPRs," or Green Card holders)
- Visa-holders (such as student visas or work visas)1
- Asylees2 or Refugees3
If you are a legal alien who has been convicted of a deportable offense in California, the Department of Homeland Security may prosecute you in immigration court. At that point, the judge may decide to punish you by taking back your Green Card and disqualifying you for American citizenship. In some cases, the judge even has the authority to remove you from the United States (deportation).
Only some criminal convictions can get a legal alien deported from the United States. For example, parking tickets and minor misdemeanors will usually not threaten your resident status. But a judge may deport you from the U.S. if your conviction involved any of the following offenses:
- Aggravated felonies,
- California drug crimes,
- Firearm crimes,
- Domestic Violence crimes, or
- Crimes of Moral Turpitude
Scroll down for further discussion of these crimes.
Just because you have been accused of a deportable offense does not mean you must be deported. If you are a legal alien who has been charged or convicted of a deportable offense in California, there may still be hope that you may not have to lose your resident status or leave the country. Call our California criminal immigration attorneys at (888) 327-4652 to schedule a free consultation.
If you are an undocumented/illegal alien, this page may not apply to you. Instead please visit our webpage on Inadmissible Crimes in California (for Undocumented/illegal Aliens). If you’ve been convicted of a crime already, visit our page on Ways to Modify or Vacate Past Criminal Convictions in California. And always feel free to phone our California immigration criminal defense attorneys at (888) 327-4652 for a free consultation.
Aggravated Felonies Triggering Deportation
Legal aliens who get convicted of an aggravated felony in California may get deported from the U.S.4 Aggravated felonies include dozens of different violent and non-violent crimes such as:
- murder and attempted murder in California
- rape and sexual abuse in California
- sexual abuse of a minor in California
- some theft crimes in California
- some fraud crimes in California5
In order for your conviction to be considered an aggravated felony, the jail "sentence" typically has to be 365 days or longer. Unfortunately, this means that some misdemeanors may fall under the aggravated felony category as well. For example, a conviction for misdemeanor grand theft in California would qualify as an aggravated felony as long as the sentence was for a year or more (and it does not matter whether the sentence is suspended or not).6
Furthermore, for most aggravated felonies, the prosecution usually has to prove that you "intended" to commit the crime. Therefore, a DUI in California is usually not an aggravated felony because the crime of DUI in this state requires no specific intent.
If you are a non-citizen who has been charged with an aggravated felony in California, our immigration criminal defense lawyers would fight to dismiss your case or plea it down to a non-deportable crime. And if you have already been convicted of an aggravated felony, we would explore every avenue possible to change or vacate the conviction.
Drug Crimes Trigger Deportation
Legal aliens may be deported from the U.S. for being convicted of any drug or narcotics crime in California, such as offenses for simple possession of a controlled substance, possession of narcotics with intent to sell, cultivation, selling, trafficking, paraphernalia and conspiracy.7
What’s really unfair is that a conviction is not always necessary to deport someone—legal aliens who merely admit to being drug addicts or drug dealers may be deported as well, whether or not they were ever convicted of a crime.
There is one exception to this drug offense rule: A legal alien will not face deportation if:
- the drug crime was for marijuana possession for personal use in California, and
- the amount of marijuana was no more than thirty (30) grams.
But aside from this exception for marijuana possession for personal use, any drug crime can get an otherwise legal immigrant deported.
If you are a non-citizen who has been arrested for a drug crime, our California criminal immigration attorneys will try to negotiate down your charge to a non-deportable crime. And if you’ve already been convicted of a drug crime, we will research your case to see if there is any way we might be able to clear and remove the conviction and thus keep you out of immigration court.
Firearm Crimes are deportable offenses
Legal aliens who get convicted of firearm offenses in California may be deported from the U.S.8 Firearm offenses include such crimes as purchasing, selling, exchanging, possessing, or carrying a firearm (or destructive device), or grand theft of a firearm. "Firearms" refer to any kind of gun, from pistols to rifles.
If you are a non-citizen who has been charged with a firearm crime in California, a dismissal or reduction of your charges may be possible in your case. For instance, pleading to possession of a weapon other than a firearm would not trigger the immigration consequence of deportation.
And if you have a conviction for a California firearm offense already, we may still be able to file a motion to vacate your plea. Remember, having been convicted of a deportable crime is just the first step to deportation. We may be able to step in and reverse the process.
Domestic Violence Crimes are deportable offenses
Domestic violence refers to physically violent encounters between family members, in-laws, co-parents, romantic partners, or roommates. Legal aliens in California may be deported from the U.S. if they get convicted of any domestic violence-related crimes such as:
- battery domestic violence in California
- stalking in California
- child abuse in California
- child neglect or abandonment in California
- violating a protection or restraining order in California9
A conviction for domestic violence is called a "triple whammy" because it is also considered a crime of moral turpitude (discussed below), and it may be considered an aggravated felony (discuss above) depending on the circumstances. However, our California immigration criminal defense lawyers may be able to dismiss or negotiate down your charge or even modify or vacate your conviction so that you are no longer face deportation.
Crimes Involving Moral Turpitude are deportable offenses
Crimes involving moral turpitude refer to crimes that are especially reprehensible and serious. Legal aliens in California who get convicted of just one CIMT may face deportation only if:
- the crime carries a possible jail sentence of at least one year, AND
- the crime was allegedly committed within five years of the alien being admitted into the U.S.10
However, if a legal alien gets convicted of committing two or more crimes of moral turpitude that arose out of different events, the immigration judge may order deportation regardless of when the crimes allegedly occurred.
The following offenses are a few examples of crimes involving moral turpitude in California:
- murder and attempted murder
- voluntary or reckless manslaughter in California
- kidnapping in California
- rape and sexual abuse in California
- prostitution in California
- perjury in California
- burglary in California (if you intended to commit another CIMT prior to the burglary)
- false statements to obtain passport or drivers license in California
By contrast, the list would not include such California crimes as involuntary manslaughter, libel, indecent exposure, or a first offense DUI in California (with no aggravating factors).
"Moral Turpitude" is a very vague, confusing area of the law. Our California immigration criminal attorneys know which crimes involve moral turpitude and which do not. So we can try to negotiate your case down to a charge that is not a CIMT. For example, we might seek to negotiate a burglary charge (which is a CIMT) down to a California trespassing charge (which is not). If you already have a conviction involving moral turpitude, we may even be able to change or vacate your conviction so that you won’t be dragged to immigration court.
For a more in depth discussion of the topic, visit our Crimes involving Moral Turpitude in California page.
Additional Removable Crimes
Legal aliens may also face deportation following convictions of either:
- high speed flight from an immigration checkpoint11
- failing to register as a sex offender in California12
- various other crimes concerning espionage, sabotage, treason, and sedition13
Immigrants should never go to court alone . . . .
If you are a legal alien who has been charged or convicted of a deportable crime in California, we may be able to keep you out of immigration court and save your resident status. Phone our California immigration & criminal defense lawyers at (888) 327-4652 for a free consultation.
Return to Criminal Defense of Immigrants in California main page.
To learn about deportable crimes in Nevada, go to our page on deportable crimes in Nevada.
1To learn more about visas, visit the Bureau of Consular Affairs.
2To learn more about applying for asylee status, visit the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website.
3To learn more about applying for refugee status, visit the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website.
5For a complete list of crimes considered to be "aggravated felonies," go to 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43).
6For example, due to overcrowding many defendants sentenced to the Los Angeles County Jail only serve a small fraction of their sentence. Someone sentenced to a year in jail may serve less than a month of actual time. But it is the amount of the jail sentence that counts for immigration purposes, not the actual number of days served.
8For the legal definition of "firearm," go to 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(3).
10However, if you are in the U.S. on an S-Visa, the time limit is raised from five years to ten years. S-Visas, commonly called the "snitch visa" is given to aliens who assist law enforcement in the investigation of criminal and terrorists activities.
