As a Chicago criminal defense attorney who enjoys serving many different ethnic communities, including my own, this ruling comes as a wake up call. I served as an Assistant State’s Attorney in Cook County for 5 years, and during that time I can count on one hand the number of times that a defense attorney spoke to me about the immigration consequences of his/her clients plea of guilty. While I had a vague understanding of immigration laws and deportation then, I am much more aware now how serious some of these consequences can be. A plea or finding of guilty in a criminal case can lead to immigration holds, detention hearings and in extreme cases, deportation.
Just yesterday, the United State’s Supreme Court held in an oral ruling that immigrant defendants must be advised of deportation risk by their attorneys.
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Washington (CNN) — “Defense attorneys have a fundamental obligation to tell their immigrant clients they face possible deportation when pleading guilty to certain crimes, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.
The 7-2 ruling was closely watched by the Justice Department and a number of immigrant rights groups.
“The severity of deportation — the equivalent of banishment or exile — only underscores how critical it is for counsel to inform her noncitizen client that he faces a risk of deportation,” said Justice John Paul Stevens, who wrote the opinion for the court… “
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The full article from CNN can be found here.
I was happy to read Justice Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts opinion that, in general, defense attorneys cannot be forced to have a “mastery of immigration law” in service to their clients. However, despite their belief that an attorney cannot be expected to be a master of immigration law, the final ruling of the Justices, in a 7-2 opinion, holds us as licensed members of the Bar to that standard and we must be prepared to advise our clients as to the consequences of their pleas of guilty.
While we most definitely cannot be held responsible for the behavior that lands our clients in custody for a criminal offense, we are now obligated to be learned in the laws and their immigration consequences. And, we are to be prepared to advise them of these consequences accordingly.
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Should you or someone you know find yourself in need of legal representation for a criminal offense and you are either a legal permanent resident or undocumented, please contact Attorney Tatiana D Czaplicki at 312.672.928 for a free consultation.
You can learn more about Tatiana here.