Attorney Morgan Granoff works with detained immigration clients as well as non-detained. Ms. Granoff does not take serious cases that involve extreme crimes of moral turpitude (CIMT), such as felonies that encompass an accusation of murder either attempted or alleged, nor sexual assault, nor crimes related to children. She does however on a case-by case basis take cases related to conspiracy, or possession of drugs violations. CIMT cases carry serious immigration consequences but may sometimes be manageable if you are able to fight that the case is not a CIMT and win that argument, depending on the specifics of the case or the immigrant’s involvement with the charge.
Certain crimes in the U.S. make immigrants inadmissible, even if they are married to a United States Citizen spouse, or happened even 30 years ago. Criminal charges like these, in the context of asylum seekers, make it exceedingly difficult to obtain asylum and generally only allow for relief through withholding of removal in court, if the individual qualifies. The Department of Homeland Security will obviously argue against a judge even granting withholding of removal as well.
If a crime involves moral turpitude, known as a CIMT, it is inherently wrong or immoral, not just illegal. Examples that courts consistently treat as CIMTs include sexual assault (including against a child), child abuse or molestation, and murder or voluntary manslaughter. These crimes are considered morally reprehensible by societal standards.
This matters in immigration because anyone convicted of a CIMT may be barred from entering the U.S., deportable if already in the U.S., or ineligible for asylum, green cards, or certain visas. This criminal charge will follow the immigrant on their asylum journey, or their journey with USCIS, and will frankly never go away. Immigration lawyers often avoid taking cases involving CIMTs because these cases are legally complex, immigration relief is harder or almost impossible, and there may be criminal proceedings required first.
When attorneys refer to “a standard” for CIMTs, a legal test asks whether the crime is inherently immoral or vile and whether it involves intentional wrongdoing against another person. Sexual assault, child abuse, and murder clearly meet this test, so they always fall under CIMT, setting the benchmark for what counts as a crime of moral turpitude.
Since the CIMT standard is based on crimes like sexual assault, child abuse, and murder, and because courts consistently classify these as “inherently immoral,” immigration attorneys most generally avoid these cases because CIMT cases trigger severe immigration consequences such as deportation and are exceedingly difficult to win besides being extremely legally complicated.
Contrast this with the U.S. criminal court system where individuals accused of crimes are provided a public defender if they do not have funds to fight their case, and the burden of proof rests on the State or federal government to prove the case “beyond and to the exclusion of every reasonable doubt.” Immigration cases, are the opposite. Public defenders for immigration cases are extremely rare. California has seen only a handful of such cases, and this is not common elsewhere in the U.S. Immigration attorneys are privately hired by clients to represent them either for profit or pro-bono. In these cases, where the client has a CIMT on their record, the burden of proof falls on the client to demonstrate that they are admissible or, if inadmissible, that they qualify for some form of relief–such as asylum, withholding of removal under the Convention Against Torture, or cancellation of removal, in order to remain in the U.S. And if a client has a crime involving moral turpitude (CIMT) on their record, their case becomes exceptionally difficult to win at the asylum or cancellation of removal level.
The law office of Legal American Dream does take detained clients but depending on a case-by-case basis, and does not take serious CIMT cases.
Any questions or comments, or if you’d like to hire our law firm to represent detained clients in the U.S.A., please reach out to the lead attorney Morgan@legalamericandream.com, or by phone.
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