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Immigration Practice Resources

Search immigration practice advisories, sample filings, manuals, brief banks, and government guidance from trusted practitioner sources.

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National Immigration Project Practice advisory Feb 27, 2026

Crim-Imm Case Law Updates 2025

The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA or Board), the U.S. Courts of Appeals, and the Supreme Court have issued many decisions in the past year that implicate the rights of noncitizens. This resource is designed to help immigration practitioners familiar with the categorical approach stay current on significant case law developments over the past year at the intersection of immigration and criminal law. This resource begins with an overview of notable case law developments before the BIA, the U.S

Crimes and categorical approach BIA appeals BIA Direct PDF
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National Immigration Project Practice advisory Dec 16, 2024

Crim-Imm Case Law Updates 2024

This resource is designed to help immigration practitioners stay current on significant case law developments over the past year in the intersection of immigration and criminal law. It begins with an overview of notable case law developments before the BIA and the United States Courts of Appeals. This is followed by case summaries of all published Board of Immigration Appeals decisions addressing this area of law in 2024, along with a curated list of case summaries from the United States Courts

Crimes and categorical approach BIA appeals BIA Direct PDF
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National Immigration Project Practice advisory Jun 13, 2024

Practice Advisory: Representing Immigrant Clients Affected by the Racial Bias of the Criminal Legal System: Mitigating the Effect of Past Racial Bias When Seeking Discretionary Relief and Bond

This practice advisory, along with the accompanying report, Bias in the Criminal Legal System: A Report Aggregating Social Science Research and Reporting on Racial Bias in the Criminal Legal System, and template brief , provides a framework for you to make legal arguments and introduce evidence during your client’s immigration court proceedings if they are seeking discretionary relief or requesting bond. You can use this advisory and the accompanying report to argue that the immigration judge sh

Detention / bond Crimes and categorical approach BIA appeals Immigration court BIA Direct PDF
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American Immigration Council Practice advisory Nov 28, 2023

Common Tools of Statutory Construction for Criminal Removal Grounds

This practice advisory describes some of the common tools of statutory construction to assist practitioners in advocating for narrow definitions of generic criminal removal grounds before the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) and the U.S. courts of appeals. To determine whether a criminal conviction renders a noncitizen removable under federal immigration law, federal courts and the BIA generally employ the categorical approach. Under this approach, adjudicators consider whether the elements of

Removal defense Crimes and categorical approach BIA appeals BIA Direct PDF
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National Immigration Project Practice advisory Dec 21, 2022

Crim-Imm Case Law Updates

This resource is designed to help immigration practitioners stay up to date on case law developments over the past year in the area of immigration law and crimes. It initially lists notable case law developments before the BIA and the United States Courts of Appeals. This is followed by case summaries of all published Board of Immigration Appeals decisions that address this area of law in 2022 and a case summary list of United States Courts of Appeals published decisions. The latter list focuses

Crimes and categorical approach BIA appeals BIA Direct PDF
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Immigrant Legal Resource Center Practice advisory Jun 3, 2021

Immigration Consequences of Pretrial Diversion and Intervention Agreements

Immigration law has its own definition of what constitutes a criminal conviction. The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) and other courts have held that certain types of pretrial diversion and intervention agreements that result in dismissal under state law can still constitute a conviction for immigration purposes. Practitioners must pay close attention to the structure of such agreements, and the variety of available diversion programs, when evaluating a client’s criminal history and advising

Crimes and categorical approach BIA appeals BIA Direct PDF
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Immigrant Legal Resource Center Practice advisory Apr 15, 2020

Using and Defending California Penal Code § 1473.7 Vacaturs in Immigration Proceedings: Sample Memorandum of Law and Table of BIA Cases

In 2016, California passed California Penal Code § 1473.7, a critical post-conviction relief vehicle for people no longer in criminal custody to move to eliminate prior convictions that violated constitutional and statutory rights to due process and effective assistance of counsel. Under decades of legal precedent, prior offenses vacated on this basis are outside the federal immigration definition of "conviction." Nevertheless, some DHS attorneys incorrectly argue that § 1473.7 vacaturs are not

Detention / bond Crimes and categorical approach BIA appeals BIA Direct PDF
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Immigrant Legal Resource Center Practice advisory Aug 6, 2019

Practice Advisory: Ninth Circuit holds Calif Pen C 243(d) is a crime of violence in U.S. v. Perez

In a flawed but significant decision, the Ninth Circuit held that California Penal Code § 243(d), battery with injury, is a crime of violence. United States v. Perez (9th Cir. July 11, 2019). Because of Perez, criminal defenders must assume that § 243(d) is a crime of violence and seek other dispositions when necessary. Immigration advocates should appeal adverse decisions and preserve the argument on appeal. See this Advisory for a discussion of the decision, alternative pleas, and suggestions

Crimes and categorical approach BIA appeals BIA Court of appeals Direct PDF
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Immigrant Legal Resource Center Practice advisory Apr 5, 2019

What Qualifies as a Conviction for Immigration Purposes?

Immigration law has its own definition of what constitutes a criminal "conviction." Because most, although not all, immigration consequences require a conviction, if your client does not have a conviction the immigration case might be saved. This Advisory discusses which dispositions that come out of criminal court actually constitute a conviction for immigration purposes, and how to avoid a conviction. It has been updated to include the BIA's decision that a conviction on direct appeal of right

Crimes and categorical approach BIA appeals BIA Direct PDF
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Immigrant Legal Resource Center Practice advisory Oct 15, 2018

Matter of Velasquez-Rios and 364-Day Misdemeanors

The BIA has held that that it will not give retroactive effect to California Penal Code § 18.5(a) on convictions from before January 1, 2015. It will consider a California misdemeanor conviction from before January 1, 2015 to have a potential sentence of up to one year, while a misdemeanor conviction on or after that date will have a potential sentence of up to 364 days. Having a potential sentence of just 364 days can help some immigrants who are convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude.

Crimes and categorical approach BIA appeals BIA Direct PDF
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Immigrant Legal Resource Center Practice advisory Jun 24, 2016

Advisory on Deportable Crimes of Domestic Violence: Matter of H. Estrada

A noncitizen who is convicted of a “crime of domestic violence” is deportable. INA 237(a)(2)(E)(i), 8 USC 1227(a)(2)(E)(i). In Matter of H. Estrada the BIA reaffirmed that the categorical approach must be used to determine that the offense is a “crime of violence” under 18 USC § 16, but it held that the circumstance-specific approach can be used to determine whether the victim and defendant shared the required domestic relationship. Under that approach, the BIA found that ICE can use any reliabl

Crimes and categorical approach BIA appeals BIA Direct PDF
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