Renewing a Green Card after an Arrest

The term "aggravated felony" is used and defined in the Immigration and Nationality Act, but it can be very misleading. In many cases, the INA’s definition of aggravated felony includes crimes that are not aggravated and are not felonies. People who have been convicted of misdemeanors, or of other crimes that were not charged as felonies in their state, have been found to have committed an aggravated felony and been deported.

In immigration law, an aggravated felony is defined much more broadly than in most state's criminal laws. The definition is found in Section 101(a)(43) of the INA, or Section 1101(a)(43) of the U.S. Code.

The INA definition names the following as aggravated felonies:

• Murder, rape, or sexual abuse of a minor;
• Illicit trafficking in a controlled substance;
• Illicit trafficking in firearms or destructive devices or in explosive materials;
• Money laundering or engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specific unlawful activity if the amount of the funds exceeded $10,000;
• Certain explosive materials or firearms offenses;
• A crime of violence (not including a purely political offense) for which the term of imprisonment at least one year;
• Theft (including receipt of stolen property) or burglary if the term of imprisonment was at least one year;
• Kidnapping or making a demand for or receipt of ransom;
• Child pornography;
• Racketeering, or gambling if a sentence of one year imprisonment or more could have been imposed;
• Owning, controlling, managing, or supervising a prostitution business; transportation for the purpose of prostitution if committed for commercial advantage; or peonage, slavery, involuntary servitude, or trafficking in persons;
• Gathering or transmitting national defense information, disclosure of classified information, sabotage, treason, or compromising the identity of undercover intelligence agents;
• Fraud or deceit in which the loss to the victim or victims exceeds $10,000; or tax evasion in which the revenue loss to the government exceeds $10,000;
• Alien smuggling, except a first offense for which the alien has affirmatively shown the purpose of assisting, abetting, or aiding only the alien's spouse, child, or parent (and no other person);
• Illegal U.S. entry by an alien who was previously deported on the basis of an aggravated felony conviction;
• Falsely making, forging, counterfeiting, mutilating, or altering a passport or instrument (document fraud) for which the term of imprisonment is at least 12 months; except in the case of a first offense for which the alien has affirmatively shown that the offense was committed for the purpose of assisting, abetting, or aiding the alien's spouse, child, or parent (and no other person);
• Failure to appear for service of sentence if the underlying offense is punishable by imprisonment for 5 years or more;
• Commercial bribery, counterfeiting, forgery, or trafficking in vehicles the identification numbers of which have been altered, if the term of imprisonment is at least one year;
• Obstruction of justice, perjury or subornation of perjury, or bribery of a witness, for which the term of imprisonment is at least one year;
• Failure to appear before a court pursuant to a court order to answer to or dispose of a charge of a felony for which a sentence of 2 years' imprisonment or more may be imposed; and
• An attempt or conspiracy to commit an aggravated felony.

An overview of aggravated felonies is also available from the American Immigration Council.