California Post-Conviction Relief for Immigrants: How to Use Criminal Courts to

California Post-Conviction Relief for Immigrants: How to Use Criminal Courts to Erase the Immigration Consequences of Crimes guides advocates through how to use criminal courts to erase or mitigate the immigration consequences of convictions. This accessible resource provides beginner practitioners with a clear introduction to post-conviction relief and provides experienced advocates with techniques and strategies to improve their practice using new legal tools.

This manual includes everything that a practitioner needs to know about California post-conviction relief, including how to identify when an individual may benefit from post-conviction relief, how to obtain copies of court records, choosing a vacatur vehicle, negotiating with opposing counsel, demonstrating equities, successfully litigating your case, and defending your victory in immigration court. This guide highlights the new and evolving landscape of post-conviction relief in California, discussing recent legislative reforms and how to use them to erase and mitigate the immigration consequences of crimes.

The appendix contains practical tools for every provider including post-conviction relief screening questionnaires and model motions, orders, declarations, and much more. Though this manual focuses on post-conviction relief vehicles available in California, the strategies and suggestions are applicable to post-conviction relief practices across the country.

Highlights

The inaugural edition of California Post-Conviction Relief for Immigrants: How to Use Criminal Courts to Erase the Immigration Consequences of Crimes includes:

• An overview of why post-conviction relief is necessary for many immigrants;
• A how-to guide about gathering criminal and immigration records to conduct an informed post-conviction relief assessment;
• Step-by-step instructions about how to assess whether post-conviction relief is necessary in any particular case;
• A comprehensive guide of California post-conviction vehicles including many new and underutilized tools;
• A discussion of how to prove legal or procedural defects in the underlying conviction;
• A detailed overview about how to identify, and work with the prosecutor to obtain, an immigration neutral resolution; 
• Tools for humanizing your client before the adjudicator and presenting equities in a way that support and do not undermine your efforts to correct legal error;
• Securing a victory in criminal court; and
• Defending your post-conviction win in immigration courts.