Attorney Susham Modi and University of Houston Law Center colleague Professor Geoffrey Hoffman gave a presentation titled, "Immigration Consequences of Criminal Dispositions" at the August 4, 2014 Harris County Felony Judges Seminar. The presentation highlighted immigration consequences to different criminal matters. Topics covered included the meaning of "conviction," "aggravated felony," and "crime involving moral turpitude" in immigration law, an important Supreme Court case called Padilla v. Kentucky, which says that criminal defense attorneys must, in certain circumstances, advise their clients of the immigration consequences of a guilty plea, immigration grounds of inadmissibility and grounds of deportability, mandatory detention, and/or grounds of relief. The presentation emphasized the consequences of criminal "dispositions", instead of criminal "convictions" because the word "conviction" in immigration law has a much broader meaning that in criminal law.
