I have written previously about how the Board of Immigration Appeals, the courts of appeal, and the Supreme Court have been struggling over how to determine whether an individual’s crime is a crime or moral turpitude or an aggravated felony. I wrote  three years ago about the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ en banc adventure in creating a missing element rule in trying to determine if a particular crime was a crime of moral turpitude or an aggravated felony in…

When an alien applies for relief from removal, he has to prove eligibility for the relief according to INA § 240(c)(4)(A). For some forms of relief, principally voluntary departure and Cancellation of Removal for Certain Nonpermanent Residents, one of the requirements for relief is that the applicant not have had any convictions for crimes of moral turpitude. Whether a crime is a crime of moral turpitude is indubitably among the issues most addressed by courts of appeals. A big problem…

On April 23, 2013, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Moncrieffe v. Holder. In the case, a man, appropriately Mr. Moncrieffe, got convicted of a marijuana distribution crime in Georgia. Drug distribution felonies are categorized as aggravated felonies and render an alien deportable and ineligible for relief. In other words , such a crime results in near-certain deportation. Under federal law, distribution of a small amount of marijuana without remuneration is not deemed an aggravated felony. It was not…