Marie Mark

Immigrant Defense Project Again Calls on Biden to Extend Marijuana Pardon Protections to Immigrants

December 22, 2023 The Immigrant Defense Project has issued the following statement from Benita Jain, Supervising Attorney, in response to President Biden’s December 22, 2023 proclamation granting pardons to people convicted of simple possession of marijuana: President Biden’s announcement today to pardon federal and D.C.-based marijuana possession offenses is a disappointing partial step towards the marijuana justice that the communities … Read more »

DHS Enforcement Guidance: Practice Advisories for Immigration and Criminal Defense Attorneys (Updated June 2023)

June 2023 Update: On June 23, 2023 the Supreme Court decided in U.S. v. Texas that states cannot challenge the administration’s enforcement priorities that guide immigration arrests and deportation.  Texas and Louisiana had tried to block DHS’s 2021 enforcement guidance/prosecutorial discretion memo (“Mayorkas memo”).  Although the decision did not automatically reinstate this memo, it appears likely that this will happen. In light of … Read more »

Alert: Rikers Transfers and Non-U.S. Citizens

On October 13, 2021, Governor Hochul and Mayor De Blasio announced a plan to transfer the majority of women and Transgender, Gender Non-Conforming, NonBinary, and Intersex (TGNCNBI) people who are incarcerated by DOC at Rose M. Singer Center (RMSC) on Rikers Island to New York State DOCCS facilities (the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility and the Taconic Correctional Facility). The Immigrant … Read more »

Review of post-conviction options for select jurisdictions

The Post-Conviction Relief State Summary Chart provides an overview of relevant vehicles and deadlines in select jurisdictions. When an immigrant client faces adverse immigration consequences based on a prior criminal conviction, one strategy for immigration counsel is to investigate the possibility of post-conviction relief. This chart provides a starting point for that investigation. Last updated 10/21/2020.

CLE Training: Practice Tips for Representing Immigrant Clients with Criminal System Contacts in Affirmative Applications

Contact with the criminal legal system can create unique risks and complications for an immigrant client. The Immigrant Defense Project hotline provides individualized analysis of the effect of any contact with the criminal legal system on a person’s immigration status, and gives clear, accurate, individualized advice to legal service providers by serving as crim-imm experts. This training is intended to … Read more »

Detention Litigation

Background IDP engages in litigation efforts to challenge the unjust detention of immigrants. Our ongoing work primarily focuses on habeas corpus petitions before the federal courts and bond litigation before immigration courts. Specifically, IDP has supported legal challenges to mandatory detention based on previous criminal convictions or classification as an “arriving alien,” detention pending a final order of removal where … Read more »

Criminal Process and Procedure

Background IDP engages in strategic litigation before both federal and New York State courts to ensure full and fair proceedings for noncitizen defendants facing criminal charges. Since its inception, IDP has worked to establish all immigrants’ constitutional rights before the criminal courts, including the right to effective assistance of counsel and the right to appeal convictions. IDP continues to build … Read more »

“Particularly Serious Crimes”

Background The United States has long offered protected status to those fleeing persecution abroad in the form of Asylum and Withholding of Removal. Under its obligations under the U.N. Refugee Convention to which the U.S. is a party, only the most serious criminal convictions that present actual danger to the community in the United States can bar a person from … Read more »

Crimes Involving Moral Turpitude

Background IDP supports litigants in cases addressing whether certain offenses are categorically deemed “crimes involving moral turpitude” under immigration law, advocating for the strict application of the categorical approach. Practice Advisories Practice Advisory: Litigating CIMT Theft Removal Charges and Adjudicative Retroactivity in the Second Circuit After Obeya v. Sessions (April 18, 2018, by IDP) Addendum: Exploring Applications of the Anti-Retroactivity Holding of Obeya … Read more »

Records of Conviction and the Burden of Proof

Background IDP is engaged in litigation before the federal courts and BIA challenging government efforts to bar noncitizens from establishing eligibility for relief from removal or eligibility for lawful status solely because a “record of conviction” is merely ambiguous as to whether the conviction is for a disqualifying offense under immigration law. Under the government’s view, noncitizens could be barred … Read more »

Retroactivity

Background IDP participates in litigation efforts to limit retroactive application of new laws and policies that restrict the rights of immigrants. For example, IDP has worked to prevent retroactive application of certain provisions of the 1996 laws, such as the repeal of former 212(c) relief and restrictions on re-entry for lawful permanent residents. Practice Advisories Matter of Abdelghany: Implications for … Read more »

Finality of Convictions

Background IDP engages in strategic litigation before the immigration agencies and the federal courts in support of the conviction “finality rule,” which is the longstanding rule that a criminal conviction may not trigger certain immigration consequences unless all direct appeals of right have been exhausted or waived.  Practice Advisories Amicus Briefs

Drug Offenses

Background The harsh penalties for drug use and sale have torn families and communities apart without providing the safety those communities deserve. IDP is working to end the double punishment of people with drug convictions and reverse the harms of the drug war for immigrant communities. In 1996, Congress enacted legislation hugely expanding the numbers of immigrants subject to mandatory … Read more »

Using and Defending the Categorical Approach

Background IDP engages in litigation to defend the application of the “categorical approach” to safeguard fairness in immigration adjudications. Under the immigration laws, a noncitizen generally is not subject to negative immigration consequences, including removal, based on a criminal conviction unless that conviction fits categorically within one of the INA’s criminal removal grounds.  The categorical approach requires adjudicators to determine whether … Read more »

ICE Policing

October 2023 Update “Surge Operations” FOIA Litigation IDP et al. v. ICE et al., No. 1:20-cv-10625-RA (S.D.N.Y.)IDP et al. v. CBP et al., No. 1:22-cv-09920-RA (S.D.N.Y.)Requestors Immigrant Defense Project and Center for Constitutional Rights are represented by Andrew Wachtenheim, Ian Head, Ghita Schwarz, Mizue Aizeki, and Zee Scout.Court filings, administrative FOIA requests, relevant decisionsLegend:U.S. Department of Homeland Security = DHSU.S. … Read more »

Advising Clients about Pleas to N.Y.C. Admin Code 10-179

Advising Non-U.S. Citizen Clients about Pleas to N.Y.C. Admin Code 10-179 in Summons Court New York City Summons Court cases often conclude with New Yorkers pleading to a non-criminal violation and paying a fine. Upon first impression, cases concluding with a non-criminal violation appear inconsequential. However, even pleas to non-criminal violations taken in Summons Court can lead to devastating consequences … Read more »

Guide for Criminal Defense Counsel: Representing Clients Detained by ICE

The Immigrant Defense Project and Make the Road New York have created a guide for criminal defense attorneys who represent clients who are or may be detained by ICE. This guide, last updated in June 2019, provides information to help criminal defense attorneys: Identify strategies and arguments for ensuring fair access to the court for your client in ICE custody; … Read more »