Resources for Criminal Defenders

DHS Enforcement Guidance: Practice Advisories for Immigration and Criminal Defense Attorneys (Updated June 2023)

June 2023 Update: On June 23, 2023 the Supreme Court decided in U.S. v. Texas that states cannot challenge the administration’s enforcement priorities that guide immigration arrests and deportation.  Texas and Louisiana had tried to block DHS’s 2021 enforcement guidance/prosecutorial discretion memo (“Mayorkas memo”).  Although the decision did not automatically reinstate this memo, it appears likely that this will happen. In light of … Read more »

Alert: Rikers Transfers and Non-U.S. Citizens

On October 13, 2021, Governor Hochul and Mayor De Blasio announced a plan to transfer the majority of women and Transgender, Gender Non-Conforming, NonBinary, and Intersex (TGNCNBI) people who are incarcerated by DOC at Rose M. Singer Center (RMSC) on Rikers Island to New York State DOCCS facilities (the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility and the Taconic Correctional Facility). The Immigrant … Read more »

Understanding and Fulfilling Your Duty to Immigrant Clients

Practice Advisory: Duty of Criminal Defense Counsel: Representing an Immigrant Defendant after Padilla v. Kentucky (April 9, 2010, appendices updated January 2012) In the landmark Padilla v. Kentucky decision (U.S. March 31, 2010), the United States Supreme Court held that, in light of the severity of deportation and the reality that immigration consequences of criminal convictions are inextricably linked to the criminal proceedings, the … Read more »

Resources for New York Defenders

Quick Reference Chart for Immigration Consequences of New York Criminal Offenses This digital, subscription-based chart provides access to newly updated information about the possible immigration consequences of specific, commonly charged New York offenses (now available with updates current as of July 2016). Practice Advisory: 2014 NYC Detainer Law On October 22, 2014 the New York City Council passed groundbreaking legislation … Read more »

Practice Advisory: 2014 NYC Detainer Law

On October 22, 2014 the New York City Council passed groundbreaking legislation dramatically expanding existing city laws that limit the circumstances under which the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and Department of Correction (DOC) will honor an U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer or otherwise cooperate with federal mass deportation programs. Most of the legislation took effect on December 14, … Read more »