Deportability

Statutes:

INA § 237 8 USCS § 1227

Any alien physically present and deemed admitted to the United States is subject to removal if he or she falls within one or more of the statutory classes of deportable aliens. INA §237(a), 8 USC §1227(a). An alien must have made an "entry" into the United States to be deportable, whereas an alien need only be seeking entry to be inadmissible. The statute designates numerous grounds for deportability, many of which are premised on criminal activity.

An alien who is convicted of a single crime involving moral turpitude committed within five years after admission is deportable if the possible sentence is one year or longer, regardless of the actual sentence imposed. INA §237(a)(2)(A)(I), 8 USC §1227(a)(2)(A)(I).

Additionally, an alien convicted of two crimes involving moral turpitude that are not a "single scheme" of criminal misconduct is deportable regardless of confinement and regardless of whether the convictions were in a single trial. INA §237(a)(2)(A)(ii), 8 USC 1227(a)(2)(A)(ii). "Single scheme" of criminal misconduct has been defined as acts which, although separate criminal offenses, were committed in furtherance of a single criminal episode, as when one crime constitutes a lesser offense of another or two crimes arise from and are the natural outcome of a single act of criminal misconduct. In re Adetiba, 20 I&N Dec. 506 (BIA 1992).