Musings on Immigration

Most people think that you can only have a “conviction” on your record if you plea guilty to a crime or are found guilty at trial. And even then, you might hear that if you “pay everything” or have no problems on probation that your record will be clean. Right? WRONG! You do not have to plead guilty to a crime, or even be charged with one, to have a conviction under the immigration laws. What immigration considers a "conviction" Under ​INA 101(a​)(​48)(A)​, immigration defines conviction as: “a formal judgment of guilt of the alien entered by a court or, if adjudication of guilt has been withheld , where - (i) a judge or jury has found the alien guilty or the alien has entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere or has admitted sufficient facts to warrant a finding of guilt , and (ii) the judge has ordered some form of punishment, penalty, or restraint on the alien's liberty to be imposed. Wait – a conviction even “if adjudication of guilty has been withh...

Today Federal District Court Judge Thrash will hear both OUR request for a Preliminary Injunction to temporarily stop HB 87 from going into effect (or at least parts of it), AND the State of Georgia's Motion to Dismiss parts of the cas, and some of the Defendants. I plan on live blogging the oral arguments and decision of the Judge, if permitted. If not, I will post immediately after the hearing. The reasons for granting the preliminary injunction are simple, but the standard is quite high, so there are no guarantees that it will be granted. The arguments by the government for their Motion to Dismiss are without any legal merit, but they were obligated to make the attempt. Ultimately the fate hundreds of thousands of people rests in the hands of Judge Thrash, a Clinton appointee who has been known to rule from the bench, and is someone who is bold enough to stand up to the Georgia State Legislature and say "no, you cannot violate the Constitution!" More to follow.