aggravated felony

What does it mean that the respondent have been convicted of an aggravated felony? “Aggravated felony” is a describes a category of offenses carrying particularly harsh immigration consequences for noncitizens convicted of such crimes. For example, noncitizens who have been convicted of an “aggravated felony” are prohibited from receiving most forms of relief that would otherwise made them eligible for relief of deportation, including asylum, and from being readmitted to the United States at any time in the future.

An Aggravated Felony for immigration purposes is defined in INA 101(a)(43)

(43) The term “aggravated felony” means—

(A) murder, rape, or sexual abuse of a minor;

(B) illicit trafficking in a controlled substance, including a drug trafficking crime;

(D) an offense relating to money laundering if the amount of the funds exceeded $10,000;

(E) an offense relating to explosive materials and firearms;

(F) a crime of violence for which the term of imprisonment at least one year;

(G) a theft offense (including receipt of stolen property) or burglary offense for which the term of imprisonment at least one year;

(H) an offense relating to the demand for or receipt of ransom;

(I) an offense relating to child pornography;

(J) an offense relating to racketeer influenced corrupt organizations for which a sentence of one year imprisonment or more may be imposed;

(K) an offense that relates to the owning, controlling, managing, or supervising of a prostitution business;

(L) an offense relating to gathering or transmitting national defense information

(M) an offense that—

(i) involves fraud or deceit in which the loss to the victim or victims exceeds $10,000; or

(ii) relating to tax evasion in which the revenue loss to the Government exceeds $10,000;

(N) an offense described in paragraph (1)(A) or (2) of section 1324 (a) of this title (relating to alien smuggling), except in the case of a first offense for which the alien has affirmatively shown that the alien committed the offense for the purpose of assisting, abetting, or aiding only the alien’s spouse, child, or parent (and no other individual) to violate a provision of this chapter

(O) an offense described in section 1325 (a) or 1326 of this title committed by an alien who was previously deported on the basis of a conviction for an offense described in another subparagraph of this paragraph;

(P) an offense

(i) which either is falsely making, forging, counterfeiting, mutilating, or altering a passport or instrument in violation of section 1543 of title 18 or is described in section 1546(a) of such title (relating to document fraud) and

(ii) for which the term of imprisonment is at least 12 months, except in the case of a first offense for which the alien has affirmatively shown that the alien committed the offense for the purpose of assisting, abetting, or aiding only the alien’s spouse, child, or parent (and no other individual) to violate a provision of this chapter;

(Q) an offense relating to a failure to appear by a defendant for service of sentence if the underlying offense is punishable by imprisonment for a term of 5 years or more;

(R) an offense relating to commercial bribery, counterfeiting, forgery, or trafficking in vehicles the identification numbers of which have been altered for which the term of imprisonment is at least one year;

(S) an offense relating to obstruction of justice, perjury or subornation of perjury, or bribery of a witness, for which the term of imprisonment is at least one year;

(T) an offense relating to a failure to appear before a court pursuant to a court order to answer to or dispose of a charge of a felony for which a sentence of 2 years’ imprisonment or more may be imposed; and

(U) an attempt or conspiracy to commit an offense described in this paragraph.

The term applies to an offense described in this paragraph whether in violation of Federal or State law and applies to such an offense in violation of the law of a foreign country for which the term of imprisonment was completed within the previous 15 years.

Any immigrant convicted of an “aggravated felony” is ineligible for the following forms of relief:

Ineligibility for Asylum
Ineligibility for Cancellation of Removal
Ineligibility for Certain Waivers of Inadmissibility
Ineligibility for Voluntary Departure
Permanent Inadmissibility Following Departure from the United States
Enhanced Penalties for Illegally Reentering the United States, including imprisonment

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aggravated felony

Any immigrant convicted of an “aggravated felony” is ineligible for the following forms of relief:

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