Immigration Consequences of Criminal Activity: A Guide to Representing Foreign-Born Defendants
| Release Date: 02/26/2024 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Format | Size | ISBN/SKU |
| Print* | 1036 pages | 978-1-57370-540-0 |
| eBook | 1036 pages | 978-1-57370-541-1 |
Immigration Consequences of Criminal Activity: A Guide to Representing Foreign-Born Defendants by Mary E. Kramer is your one-volume resource for understanding how the courts and immigration agencies will treat noncitizens convicted or even suspected of crime. It provides a thoughtful analysis of all the ways criminal activity will impact applications for visas, permanent residence, naturalization, asylum, and other immigration benefits, as well as defenses to attempts to remove a noncitizen and the waivers and other relief available in removal proceedings.
The 10th edition has been updated with coverage of the latest law and policy from the courts and agencies impacting all areas of criminal immigration law. It explores crimes of moral turpitude, aggravated felonies, controlled-substance offenses, firearms offenses, and all other grounds for deporting or denying admission, benefits, waivers, or other relief to noncitizens. The book is also a practical resource. For criminal defense attorneys, it focuses on how to fashion a plea with immigration consequences in mind, and for immigration attorneys, there is instruction on how to prepare applications for clients with criminal records. The book also includes discussion of how noncitizens who have been victimized by criminal activity in the United States can be granted immigration benefits.
Regardless of whether your practice is focused on removal defense, family-based immigration, asylum, business, or any other area of immigration law, Immigration Consequences of Criminal Activity is your go-to resource when your client has been charged with a crime.
Print book purchasers: please find an updated version of the Preface in your AILA Shop digital library.
*Interested in a bulk purchase? Contact us to receive a bulk discount when purchasing 5 or more copies.
Mary Elizabeth Kramer is a leading authority on criminal immigration issues. In private practice for over 30 years, her office is in Miami, but her cases take her to courts, offices, and jails across the United States. Her practice is limited to immigration law, with a concentration on cases involving individuals charged with crime or already convicted and facing removal consequences. She provides immigration law perspective to individuals (and their defense attorneys) who are facing difficult plea choices or cooperating with law enforcement. She also handles asylum cases and family visa work, including consular processing and waivers. On any given day, you may find Ms. Kramer sitting at a USCIS office with an adjustment or naturalization applicant, at the immigration court, asylum office, federal court, or in a jail or detention center. In her research and writing, Mary brings to the table practical daily experience on real cases, large and small. Writing and public speaking are her passion, but at the end of the day, she is a lawyer—just like the attorneys who comprise her reading audience—and she understands what advocates need to know and how to explain and apply the law in understandable terms.
Mary Kramer is a past president of the AILA South Florida Chapter and past chair of AILA National U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Liaison Committee. She presently serves on AILA’s Department of State Liaison Committee, which provides invaluable insight into all areas of the law and challenges her beyond the criminal/immigration comfort zone.
In her local community, Mary is chair of the AILA South Florida Enforcement and Removal Committee, advocating for the Bar regarding policies and standards in detention centers and deportation offices. Mary Kramer is a former president of the board of directors of Catholic Legal Services, Inc. (CLS), the largest legal services provider to low-income individuals in the southwest region of the United States. In 2023, Archbishop Wenski of Miami acknowledged her with an award as a founding member with the longest service on the CLS board.
Now awhile ago, but with lasting importance, Mary is proud of her 13 years of work on the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles AILA Liaison Committee, where she researched and advocated for the rights of non-U.S. citizens to qualify for driver licenses in the wake of the REAL ID Act.
In 2015, the AILA national community honored Mary Kramer with the prestigious Edith Lowenstein Award for advancement in the practice of immigration law— perhaps the highest award given in the immigration law community.
In 2002, Mary was a founding attorney of the AILA South Florida Legal Assistance Project, a pro bono project serving the Miami immigration court. In November of that year, she and her mentor/friend, Alsie Lomangino (may she rest in peace), received the U.S. Attorney General’s Meritorious Public Service Award based on their work with this project.
Ms. Kramer is a former chair of the Florida Bar’s Grievance Committee and currently serves on the Florida Bar’s Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee. She appreciates this service, as non-lawyers do so much harm to good people’s cases.
Ms. Kramer graduated cum laude from the College of Saint Benedict, in St. Joseph, MN, and earned her JD from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. While in law school, she spent an amazing summer as an intern with the Harlingen, TX Immigration Court. The experience inspired her after graduation to work as a judicial law clerk with the Miami Immigration Court. She is a member of the Wisconsin and Florida State Bars, admitted before the Southern District of Florida, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court of the United States.
On a personal note, Mary returns frequently to her home state of Wisconsin—or in the other direction—Colombia. To get away from the stress of law, she and spouse Jose enjoy spending time with Jose William and Elizabeth, their now-adult children. Rest and recuperation come from parties with good friends, travel with cousins Dave and Hayley, a good barbecue, bonfire, or any activity involving a lake or ocean.