Statute-Level Classification. The elements, the relationship, and the plea record are tested against INA § 237(a)(2)(E) before the plea.

Charge-Name Review. The offense is judged as a misdemeanor battery.

Reviews After Conviction. The ground is identified once the plea is entered.

Plea Terms Built Around the Grounds. The statute, the factual basis, and the sentence are set against the domestic violence, moral turpitude, and aggravated felony grounds together.

Plea Set for Criminal Goals. Probation and a program look like a good result.

No Role in the Terms. The immigration attorney is not part of the plea.

Orders and Hearings Covered. An injunction hearing and a protection order are reviewed before a finding is made.

Criminal Case Only. The injunction case is handled separately, if at all.

Waits for the Notice to Appear. The ground is first examined when removal proceedings begin.

Crime of domestic violence

A crime of violence against a person, committed by a current or former spouse, a co-parent, a cohabiting partner, a person similarly situated to a spouse under domestic violence law, or another person protected under domestic or family violence law. A conviction is required.

Stalking

A conviction for a crime of stalking. INA § 237(a)(2)(E)(i).

Child abuse, neglect, or abandonment

A conviction for a crime of child abuse, child neglect, or child abandonment. INA § 237(a)(2)(E)(i). See Child Abuse Convictions.

Violation of a protection order

A court determines the person violated the part of an order that protects against credible threats of violence, repeated harassment, or bodily injury. No criminal conviction is required. INA § 237(a)(2)(E)(ii).

Simple battery or assault

Tested against the physical force element. Whether it is a crime of violence depends on the statute's elements.

Battery or assault with a deadly weapon or serious injury

Likely a crime of violence. A sentence of one year or more adds the aggravated felony analysis.

Domestic battery or battery on a spouse or partner

A crime of domestic violence when the offense is a crime of violence and the record shows the listed relationship.

Stalking or harassment

Stalking is its own ground. Harassment is tested against the stalking and crime of violence definitions.

Child abuse, neglect, or abandonment

Its own ground of deportability. The statute's elements decide the classification. See Child Abuse Convictions.

Violation of an injunction or no-contact order

A deportable offense when a court finds a violation of the protective portion of the order. A criminal conviction is not required.

Pretrial intervention or a batterer's program

A conviction when it requires a guilty plea or an admission and the court orders a penalty or restraint. See What Counts as a Conviction.

Test the force element

Compare the elements of the statute in the charge or offer to the crime of violence definition. A statute without a physical force element can fall outside the ground.

A different or narrower statute

A plea to another offense can change the classification, and the analysis is done on the statute named in the offer.

The factual basis

The facts the plea relies on are reviewed for accuracy and limited to what the statute requires.

A sentence below the threshold

A sentence ordered at 364 days or less avoids the one-year line for crime of violence aggravated felonies.

Injunction hearings

The immigration analysis is done before a hearing at which a violation finding could be made.

Myth 1: A domestic violence misdemeanor cannot affect my green card.

Reality: A misdemeanor that is a crime of violence against a person in a listed relationship is a deportable offense.

Myth 2: Without a conviction, a protection order cannot hurt me.

Reality: A court finding that a person violated the protective portion of a protection order is a deportable ground. A conviction is not required.

Myth 3: The offense has to be called domestic violence to count.

Reality: The label does not decide it. The elements of the statute and the record decide it.

Myth 4: Only physical injury counts.

Reality: The force element can be the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force. The statute's elements decide it.

Myth 5: A batterer's program is not a conviction.

Reality: A program that requires a guilty plea or an admission and orders a penalty or restraint is a conviction for immigration purposes.

Myth 6: Only a spouse counts as a domestic relationship.

Reality: The definition also covers co-parents, cohabiting partners, and others protected under domestic or family violence law.

Myth 7: Stalking is a minor offense for immigration purposes.

Reality: A conviction for a crime of stalking is its own ground of deportability.

Myth 8: A suspended sentence does not matter.

Reality: The sentence counts as ordered by the court, including a suspended sentence.