IDP Resources - Criminal Justice Advocates
The following resources are intended to assist criminal defense attorneys and criminal justice advocates in determining the impact that a criminal disposition may have on an immigrant defendant’s immigration status.
Immigration Consequences of Convictions Checklist This one-page checklist summarizes the criminal offenses that might have immigration consequences for immigrant defendants. A must-have for every criminal defense attorney.
Quick Reference Chart for New York State Offenses This chart lists common NY criminal offenses, and whether they might trigger an immigration ground of removability (and thereby subject an immigrant to deportation).
Quick Reference Chart for New Jersey State Offenses This chart lists common NJ criminal offenses, and whether they might trigger an immigration ground of removability (and thereby subject an immigrant to deportation).
Quick Reference Chart for Connecticut State Offenses This chart lists common CT criminal offenses, and whether they might trigger an immigration ground of removability (and thereby subject an immigrant to deportation).
Quick Reference Chart for Vermont State Offenses This chart lists common VT criminal offenses, and whether they might trigger an immigration ground of removability (and thereby subject an immigrant to deportation).
Aggravated Felony Practice Aid This chart describes the types of offenses that may be deemed “aggravated felonies” under immigration law and includes a table of case law determinations.
Practical Tips to Avoid Aggravated Felonies This advisory, produced by Bronx Defenders, suggests strategies during a criminal proceeding to minimize the risk that a criminal conviction will be deemed an aggravated felony under immigration law.
“Particularly Serious Crime” Bars on Asylum and Withholding of Removal This chart assists practitioners in determining whether an offense may be deemed a particularly serious crime, and thereby bar certain persecution-based relief from removal. It also includes a table of case law determinations.
Protocol for the Development of a Public Defender Immigration Service Plan (2009) (1 MB PDF) is a protocol that can be used by public defender offices for development of a plan to serve the special needs of their immigrant clients. This documentincludes the following appendices:
- Contact list of criminal-immigration experts by defender office
- Sample immigration consultation referral form
- Sample pre-plea advisal and advocacy documents
- Sample post-plea advisal and advocacy letters
- Sample criminal-immigration practice updates
- Sample follow-up immigration interview sheet
- Sample new attorney training outline
- Sample language access policy
- IDP Immigration Consequences Checklist
- NYSDA Defender Case Management System screen sheet
- Criminal-immigration resource list of publications, website, and professional organizations
- Pro se resources for immigrants facing removal
Crim-Imm Practice Tips IDP issues these practice tips several times a year to update criminal defense attorneys on legal developments affecting immigrants facing criminal charges.
How to Work With an Immigration Lawyer to Protect Your Noncitizen Client. This handout suggests steps a criminal defense attorney should take when consulting with immigration experts about the consequences for an immigrant client and lists resource materials and immigration experts.
Immigration Experts at Public Defender Organizations IDP has trained criminal defense attorneys at many New York and New Jersey defender organizations to be “in-house experts” on the immigration consequences of criminal dispositions. These experts now serve as resources for all defenders within their organizations.
Defending Immigrants Partnership This collaboration among IDP, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, the National Immigration Project, and the National Legal Aid & Defenders Association works to ensure that immigrants in criminal proceedings nationwide are properly advised of immigration consequences of choices that they must make when accused of a crime. The website posts best practices, significant decisions, training resources, model pleadings, agency activities, and analyses of state and federal offenses.
Deportation 101: Detention, Deportation, and the Criminal Justice System (2005). We have used this curriculum to train hundreds of advocates, service providers, and immigrant community leaders. Check back soon for an updated curriculum!
Alternatives to Deportation? How to Work with Immigrants in the Criminal Justice System (2006). We have used this curriculum to train criminal justice reform advocates working in the areas of alternatives to incarceration, sentencing reform, and reentry.
New York State Defenders Association (NYSDA) also publishes resource material for criminal defense attorneys on a wide range of issues other than immigration. Many of these materials may be downloaded from the NYSDA website.
Tooby's Guide to Criminal Immigration Law: How Criminal and Immigration Counsel Can Work Together in Criminal Cases (2008). This 230 page volume, being offered for downloading free of charge by the Law Offices of Norton Tooby, includes strategies for avoiding deportation at each stage of a criminal case: investigation, consultation, plea, sentence, post-conviction relief.
To order the manual “Representing Noncitizen Criminal Defendants in New York State, 3rd Edition,” download this PDF Form.
