Successfully Obtained Post Conviction Relief and U.S. Citizenship for Client with Aggravated Felony Convictions

In an August 2019 decision, USCIS approved our client’s naturalization petition. 

Our client had multiple felony convictions: felony possession for sale of a controlled substance (HS 11378); felony credit card theft (Penal Code 484e); felony burglary (Penal Code 459); and felony forgery (Penal Code 475(a).)

Due to client’s convictions, client was not only deportable, inadmissible, but also ineligible for naturalization. Under the Trump’s administration current policy, client faced great risk of being placed in deportation proceeding at Immigration Court. 

Our attorneys immediately conducted thorough review of client’s court records and previous defense counsel’s files. We determined that client’s criminal proceedings contained substantial and procedural defects that violated client’s constitutional rights. 

Our office contacted the District Attorney Office and filed a Motion to Vacate along with supporting evidence to establish that client’s constitutional rights were violated. The District Attorney did not object to our motion and the court granted our motion. All of client’s convictions were vacated and all charges were dismissed. 

Subsequently, our attorneys accompanied client to the naturalization interview. We provided USCIS with a legal memo explaining how the vacated convictions have no immigration consequences. Generally, if a conviction is vacated for reasons unrelated to the merits of the underlying criminal proceedings, such as for equitable, rehabilitation, or immigration hardship reasons, a vacated conviction remains a conviction for immigration purposes. But because our client’s convictions were vacated due to substantial procedural defects in the underlying criminal proceeding, it eliminates all immigration consequences. 

USCIS agreed with our position and approved our client’s petition for naturalization less than 60 days after the interview.

• Successfully Reversed Previous Denial of N-400 Naturalization Application (February 2022)
• Successfully Obtained Post Conviction Relief and U.S. Citizenship for Client with Aggravated Felony Convictions (August 2019)
• Successfully Reversed Previous Denial of N-400 Naturalization Application through Post Conviction Relief(August 2022)