In fact, attorneys who have a lot of non-citizen clients may want to have a formal arrangement with an immigration expert, he advises. Even though this decision has eliminated a popular strategy for keeping clients out of deportation jeopardy, there are still some other options available to defense attorneys. If that's not possible, the attorney may want to plead down to a deportable offense that at least gives the client a chance of coming back to the U.S. after 10 years, he adds. Drug defendants should consider agreeing to participate in any state treatment program that doesn't involve an up-front guilty plea or other admission of guilt, says Vargas. Defense attorneys should also tell the prosecution about a client's situation, especially if the defendant is a first offender involved in a relatively minor offense, says Tooby.
Prosecutors are pretty savvy and can tell the good guys from the bad guys.
But if the prosecutor is unwilling to accept a plea for a non-deportable offense, or the crime involves shoplifting or simple possession where there may not be a lesser offense to plead to, the only way to avoid immigration problems may be go to trial, says Katherine Brady, a staff attorney for the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in San Francisco. Naturalization Problems Experts expect the decision to have a serious impact on non-citizens with past convictions who apply for naturalization or leave the country.