is convicted of a crime, and later-- sometimes years later--

they find that it has triggered immigration consequences,

that is they're about to be deported or removed

from the United States, they're not

allowed renter the United States,

they can't adjust their status, or they're not

allowed to naturalize and become a citizen.

But in many of these situations, there

are avenues of what we call post-conviction relief.

That is ways that we can go back retroactively and attack

or negate the conviction in order

to avoid those immigration consequences.

And in this video, I'm going to talk

about the five most common and typical ways

to get post conviction relief.

The first is to run a motion to overturn or vacate

the conviction based on ineffective assistance

of counsel.

Basically, saying that the defense attorney was

incompetent.

The second is resentencing for conviction

for an aggravated felony.

Now, usually aggravated felonies are

only deportable if there's a sentence of one year or more.

So sometimes we can go in and have

the person resentenced to 364 days in jail--

just under a year.

And that'll do the trick and avoid deportation.

The third is to reduce a felony to a misdemeanor.

The fourth is a motion to withdraw a guilty plea

or no contest plea.

And the fifth is a habeas corpus petition

in a situation where the person is still in custody.

If you're in one of these situations

where you have a conviction that's causing immigration

consequences, you want to be sure and get an attorney who

understands not only criminal law, but immigration law

as well.

Because the system is complicated,

but there are a lot of different ways

to attack the prior conviction to obtain

post conviction relief.

And ultimately, to keep you in the United States,

and keep you on a track where you have an opportunity to gain

citizenship.