Immigration Consequences of Criminal ConvictionsWhen a record meets the immigration code, strategy decides everything. For fifteen years, I have represented non-citizens whose immigration future turned on a single charge, plea, or conviction — and the criminal-defense and immigration attorneys who needed a co-counsel who reads both statutes fluently. Practice focus Criminal ImmigrationWhere criminal law and immigration law intersect Immigration cases handled 1,000+Across the full spectrum of U.S. immigration practice Years in practice 15Federal and state forums nationwide Who I RepresentThree audiences. One body of expertise. The intersection of criminal and immigration law is unforgiving — but the people standing at it usually fall into one of three groups. I represent all three. 01 Non-citizens with a record, afraid to file You have a green card application, asylum case, or naturalization petition you've been holding back — because somewhere in your past is an arrest, a plea, or a conviction, and you have heard that the wrong filing can trigger detention or removal. Before you submit anything to USCIS, you deserve a full, candid analysis of your exposure and the affirmative defenses available to you. Email to request encrypted consultation → 02 Immigration attorneys needing a co-counsel Your client's case is otherwise ready — but a criminal record changed the calculus, and the categorical-approach analysis or the waiver eligibility question is outside your usual practice. I co-counsel with immigration colleagues on charging-document analysis, 212(h) and 212(c) waivers, NTA review, and complex removal defense, and I do it without poaching the underlying matter. Open a co-counsel file → 03 Criminal defense lawyers negotiating a plea Your client is a non-citizen, the prosecutor's offer is on the table, and your Padilla obligation is staring back at you. You need an immigration attorney who can read the statute, the categorical approach, and the modified categorical approach in real time — and who can give you a plea-by-plea map of which dispositions are immigration-safe and which ones are deportable on their face. Request a plea consult → Areas of PracticeTargeted relief, built for clients with a criminal record. Each matter starts with a categorical-approach analysis of the underlying conviction or charge. Everything else — waiver, motion, plea, defense — follows from that. i 212(h) Waivers For lawful permanent residents and intending immigrants whose criminal grounds of inadmissibility can be waived on hardship or rehabilitation grounds. Includes complex aggravated felony eligibility analysis. ii 212(c) Waivers Pre-IIRIRA relief still available to long-term lawful permanent residents whose convictions predate April 1, 1997. St. Cyr analysis, eligibility briefing, and merits hearings. iii Removal Defense Master-calendar through individual hearings before EOIR. Cancellation of removal under §§240A(a) and 240A(b), §237(a)(1)(H) waivers, asylum and CAT relief where convictions are not a bar. iv Plea-Stage Consulting Real-time analysis for criminal defense counsel: which pleas trigger deportability or inadmissibility, which dispositions sanitize an aggravated-felony exposure, which counts to dismiss. v Post-Conviction Relief Coram nobis, vacaturs on constitutional grounds, and motion practice aimed at curing immigration-disqualifying convictions where the record permits. vi NTA & Charging Document Review Categorical and modified-categorical approach analysis of the charging instrument. Mathis, Descamps, and circuit-specific divisibility briefing. vii Affirmative Filings With Risk Exposure Adjustment, naturalization, and asylum petitions where a criminal record makes a routine filing dangerous. Strategy first, then submission. viii Bond & Custody Redetermination Mandatory detention challenges, Matter of Joseph hearings, and bond practice in jurisdictions where eligibility turns on the conviction analysis. A Confidentiality Tool Built for This PracticeAn encrypted consultation that erases itself. For someone with a record, the act of asking for help can feel like the first step toward exposure. So I built a separate channel for the first conversation: end-to-end encrypted, no email trail, no transcript stored on a third-party server, and a hard auto-destruct two hours after the session ends. Use it to describe your case in detail before any retainer, any filing, any decision. Nothing you write is preserved beyond the window — only the strategy you walk away with. Access by request. The encrypted chat is not open to walk-up traffic. To preserve confidentiality and confirm there is no conflict, send a brief email and I will issue a session link directly to you. AboutAn attorney who reads both statutes. Most lawyers practice on one side of the line. I have spent fifteen years working at the seam between them — because that is where my clients' cases are won or lost. My practice has covered more than a thousand immigration matters, the most complex of them involving a criminal record at the center of the case. I appear in removal proceedings nationwide, before USCIS service centers and field offices, and I consult with criminal defense counsel at the plea stage so that an otherwise routine disposition does not become a deportation order in slow motion. What makes this practice unusual is the second half of it: I am one of the very few immigration attorneys who has tried a federal criminal case to verdict. I served as lead counsel in United States v. Gasperini — a federal prosecution unrelated to immigration — which resulted in an unprecedented not-guilty jury verdict on every felony count of the indictment. That trial-side experience is what I bring to the plea-stage analysis and to removal hearings where the underlying conviction is the entire battlefield. I also maintain a separate practice in computer crime and federal criminal defense at computercrime.net, and a general firm presence at bertollini.org. Notable Trial ResultUnited States v. Gasperini Lead counsel in a federal felony prosecution (not an immigration matter). The jury returned a not-guilty verdict on every felony count of the indictment — an unprecedented result on the charges presented. Practice areas Criminal Immigration, Removal Defense, Federal Criminal Experience 15+ years, 1,000+ immigration matters Forums EOIR, BIA, Federal Circuit Courts Engagement model Direct representation & co-counsel Frequently AskedQuestions clients ask before the first call. I have an arrest in my past. Will filing with USCIS get me detained? Sometimes — and the wrong filing can absolutely cause detention. The right answer depends on the specific charge, the disposition, the statute of conviction, and the relief you would be applying for. That is exactly the analysis I provide before you submit anything. The encrypted-chat consultation exists so we can have that conversation in detail without creating a paper trail. What is the difference between a 212(h) and a 212(c) waiver? 212(h) is a waiver of certain criminal grounds of inadmissibility, available in connection with adjustment of status or admission to the United States, and turns on extreme hardship to qualifying relatives or rehabilitation. 212(c) is a pre-IIRIRA form of relief still available to certain lawful permanent residents whose convictions predate April 1, 1997, under INS v. St. Cyr. The two are not interchangeable, and eligibility analysis is fact-specific. I'm a criminal defense lawyer. How does plea-stage consulting work? Send me the charging document and the offer on the table. I return a plea-by-plea analysis — typically the same day for time-sensitive matters — describing which dispositions are immigration-safe, which trigger removability or inadmissibility, and which counts should be dismissed or restructured to preserve relief. I do not take over the underlying case. Can you co-counsel an immigration matter for another firm? Yes. I co-counsel with immigration attorneys whose underlying matter is sound but whose case has acquired a criminal-immigration component beyond their usual practice. The engagement is limited to the criminal-immigration issues; the originating firm keeps the client. How do I get access to the encrypted chat? Send a brief email to simone@bertollini.com requesting an encrypted consultation. I will run a quick conflict check, confirm a session window with you, and issue a one-time access link for the chat. The channel is not self-serve precisely because the first step matters: I want to know who I am about to speak with before the conversation begins. Consultations are paid; fees are confirmed before the session opens. Why does the consultation chat auto-destroy in two hours? Because the people I talk to in those first conversations often have a real and rational fear of leaving a record of having reached out. The auto-destruct gives them the freedom to describe their situation candidly, which is the only way the strategy I produce is useful. The chat is a confidentiality tool — not a retainer agreement. Do you take cases nationwide? Immigration courts apply federal law, so I appear in removal proceedings throughout the country. Affirmative filings before USCIS are likewise federal. State-level criminal post-conviction work is taken on a case-by-case basis depending on the jurisdiction. BeginBegin the conversation — and keep it private. Whether you are a non-citizen with a record, an immigration attorney with a complex file, or a criminal defense lawyer with a plea to negotiate, the right move is the same: get the analysis on paper before the next decision is made. All consultations are confidential. Contacting this office does not, by itself, create an attorney–client relationship.