Over the past fifteen years, the National Immigration Project has become respected as a leading source of technical assistance on deportation defense and efforts to minimize the immigration consequences of criminal convictions. We work to ensure that immigrants are not permanently separated from their families for minor infractions and to build greater awareness about the draconian enforcement practices often experienced by noncitizens.

Under the guidance of Director Dan Kesselbrenner, the Project helps federal defenders, community advocates, and private attorneys protect the rights of immigrant detainees and other noncitizens who are facing deportation. In 2004, we provided assistance over one thousand times to immigrants, attorneys, and other legal workers who needed help defending their clients and family members. Dan also helped guide the strategy of several court cases that set important precedents for immigrant rights at the state and national level.

Our Criminal & Immigration Law listserv (Crim-Imm) provides technical support for immigration attorneys and other legal workers. In addition to Executive Director Dan Kesselbrenner, many of the members of the listserv are leading experts on the intersection of criminal and immigration law. Access to this listserv is one of our member services. 

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Defending Immigrants Partnership

Since September 11, 2001, the National Immigration Project has been at the forefront of the national effort to help public defenders meet the needs of their immigrant clients. One of the most prominent vehicles for this work is the Defending Immigrants Partnership (DIP), a project funded by the Open Society Institute and the JEHT Foundation. DIP also received start-up support from the Ford Foundation. In 2004, under DIP, we provided assistance to hundreds of public defenders, private attorneys, and community-based legal workers throughout the U.S. With DIP support, Dan Kesselbrenner has also produced an Illinois and a federal quick reference chart on the immigration consequences of criminal convictions. These charts are listed in the resources below along with quick reference charts produced by other DIP partner organizations (see the resource list below).

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Board of Immigration Appeals Pro Bono Project

This is an officially recognized project of the BIA. It provides legal counsel for noncitizens who are unrepresented and facing a government appeal, who are minors, or who have applied for asylum. Other participants include the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC), the Capital Area Immigrants' Rights (CAIR) Coalition, and the American Immigration Law Foundation (AILF). The Project has received high marks from the Executive Office of Immigration Review, which notes that it, "has been successful in increasing the level and quality of “pro bono” representation for persons in immigration removal proceedings who appeal their cases to the BIA." The complete report can be downloaded from the BIA's Web site.

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Operation Tarmac

Shortly after the tragic events of September 11, 2001, the government began a sweep of noncitizen airport workers, in an effort to track down potential "security threats". Although this sweep, carried out under the auspices of Operation Tarmac, was successful in detaining a number of undocumented workers, none of the persons apprehended were acquitted of charges even remotely related to terrorism. The government is still carrying out sweeps under Operation Tarmac. These sweeps continue to pick up undocumented workers, but they contain no sanctions for the employers hiring these workers--the framework for Operation Tarmac also continues to assert an unfounded connection between a person's legal status (a civil matter) and possible involvement in criminal or violent, terrorist activity. For a detailed overview of the Immigration Project's role in defending the noncitizens apprehended through Operation Tarmac, see the report below.

Selected Issues in Operation Tarmac Cases
Dan Kesselbrenner, National Immigration Project

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Resources

You can find more deportation defense and criminal convictions pointers on the Criminal Defense Pointers section of our member resources.

Deportation Defense & Detention Issues

Written Comments to US Sentencing Commission on Proposed Sentencing Amendments Related to Immigration (3/29/07)

Practice Advisory: The Burden of Proof to Overcome the Aggravated Felony Bar to Cancellation of Removal (3/22/07)

Selected Strategies In Removal Cases - Second Circuit (6/24/03)

General Notes on Representing Detained Persons, Especially Persons Detained for Non-Criminal Convictions. This document contains basic information for use by those representing non-citizens detained by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (now the Department of Homeland Security), specifically non-immigration attorneys, or those new to immigration law, who are representing individuals who are not removable due to criminal convictions. If your client has criminal convictions that cause him or her to be removable, a more detailed analysis of the relevant law can be found elsewhere.

Sample bond brief (general)

Sample bond brief (for persons without a criminal history)

For detainees where no hearing notice has been filed with the court:

• Sample motion
• Sample brief

Immigration Consequences of Criminal Convictions

New Mexico Supreme Court Decision on State v. Paredez (8/04)
In this decision, the New Mexico Supreme Court unanimously held that a criminal defendant's attorney has "an affirmative duty to determine [the client's] immigration status and provide him with specific advice regarding the impact a guilty plea would have on his immigration status."

Practice Pointer: Shivaraman v. Ashcroft - concerning deportation grounds for crimes involving moral turpitude
Katherine Brady and Angie Junck, Immigrant Legal Resource Center, Defending Immigrants Partnership

Plea and Sentence Alert (February 2004)
Lory Rosenberg, National Legal Aid and Defender Association, Defending Immigrants Partnership. Supreme Court to hear Leocal v. Attorney General, No. 03-583 and consider whether a DUI conviction with serious injury is an aggravated felony crime of violence.

Immigration Consequences of Select Federal Convictions Chart
Dan Kesselbrenner and Sandy Lin, National Immigration Project, Defending Immigrants Partnership

California Quick Reference Chart
Katherine Brady, Immigrant Legal Resource Center, Defending Immigrants Partnership

Illinois Quick Reference Chart
Dan Kesselbrenner, National Immigration Project, Defending Immigrants Partnership

Massachusetts Quick Reference Chart
Dan Kesselbrenner, National Immigration Project, and Wendy Wayne, for Defending Immigrants Partnership

New Jersey Quick Reference Chart
Joanne Gottesman, Rutgers School of Law - Camden, Defending Immigrants Partnership

New York Quick Reference Chart
Manny Vargas, New York State Defenders Association, Defending Immigrants Partnership

Virginia Quick Reference Chart
Mary Holper, Boston College Immigration and Asylum Project

Reference Guide to the Basic Immigration Consequences of Select Virginia Offences
Mary Holper, Boston College Immigration and Asylum Project

• Virginia Reference Guide Cover Page
• Table of Contents
• Chapter 1 - Crimes Against the Person
• Chapter 2 - Crimes Involving Firearms
• Chapter 3 - Crimes Against Property
• Chapter 4 - Crimes Involving Fraud
• Chapter 5 - Crimes Involving Controlled Substances
• Chapter 6 - Driving Offenses
• Chapter 7 - Crimes Involving Morals and Decency
• Chapter 8 - Crimes Against the Administration of Justice

Removal Defense Checklist for Criminal Charge Cases
Manny Vargas, New York State Defenders Association, Defending Immigrants Partnership

Petition to Require Judges to Advise Defendants of Immigration Consequences of Their Pleas

• Document 1: Petition filed with Arizona Supreme Court
• Document 2: Committee Report on the Advisement Rule

Grounds of Deportability and Inadmissibility Related to Crimes
Katherine Brady, Immigrant Legal Resource Center and Dan Kesselbrenner, National Immigration Project

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