III.  Juvenile Convictions and Immigration Status
(Aaron Clarke, Esq.)

A.  Effect of Criminal Conduct and Convictions in General

















8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(i).
Criminal convictions can result in immigration consequences which include the following:
  1. removal or deportation; 
  2. exclusion or inadmissibility; and 
  3. ineligibility to become a United States citizen.

There are three categories of crimes to consider with regard to immigration consequences: aggravated felonies, crimes involving moral turpitude, and crimes triggering independent grounds of deportation or inadmissibility.

First, aliens may be removed from the country if they have committed an “aggravated felony.” Aggravated felonies for immigration purposes are enumerated at 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43).  Aggravated felonies are significant in that they render an alien removable from this country and they preclude all forms of relief from deportation.  

Second, even without having committed an aggravated felony, a person could be subject to removal if she committed a crime involving moral turpitude. Aliens may be removed from the country if they “are convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude committed within five years … after the date of admission and [are] convicted of a crime for which a sentence of one year or longer may be imposed.”  


8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(ii)
Also, an alien who “at any time after admission is convicted of two or more crimes involving moral turpitude, not arising out of a single scheme of criminal misconduct, regardless of whether confined therefore, and regardless of whether the convictions were in a single trial, is deportable.”  

8 U.S.C. § 1182 (a)(2)(A)
Additionally, convictions of crimes involving moral turpitude can render an alien inadmissible. An alien is inadmissible if convicted of, or admits to committing, acts constituting the essential elements of a crime involving moral turpitude.  

8 U.S.C. § 1182 (a)(2)(A)(ii)(II)
An exception exists where “the maximum penalty possible for the crime of which the alien was convicted … did not exceed imprisonment for one year and … the alien was not sentenced to a term of imprisonment in excess of six months.”  

8 U.S.C. § 1182 (a)(2)(B)
If, however, the alien is convicted of two or more offenses, whether or not they involve moral turpitude, where the aggregate sentences are five years or more, the alien is inadmissible. The practical significance of inadmissibility is that the alien will not be permitted to return to the United States after departing, and cannot be legally “admitted” (i.e. adjusting status to that of a legal permanent resident).
This section will focus on the ways that a juvenile adjudication is different than a criminal conviction for immigration purposes and some of the ways that a juvenile adjudication can lead to immigration consequences.