Legal Question in Immigration Law in Georgia

How is aggravated felony determined.

It isn't very clear now because the statute was drafted poorly. To constitute an aggravated felony, the sentence must be for at least one year with regard to theft offense or a crime of violence and it must be to imprisonment. Whether probation is a sentence of imprisonment may turn on whether the person is sentenced to one year with the imposition suspended. In some jursidictions, probation is its own sentence & it could be argued, it is not imprisonment. This will either have to be clarifed by technical amendment to the law or by the Board of Immigration Appeals.

Aggravated felony under IIRAIRA

Aggravated felons are redefined under IIRAIRA as individuals who have been convicted of a crime that carries a possible penalty of a year or more imprisonment.

This is being interpreted by the INS to mean that even if you spend no time in jail if you could have been sentenced to one or more years upon conviction then you are an aggravated felon.

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