Immigration Consequences of Sex Offenses for Non-Citizens in Michigan

For a person who is not a U.S. citizen, a sex-offense conviction can carry immigration consequences that are separate from the criminal sentence. Federal law lists "murder, rape, or sexual abuse of a minor" as an aggravated felony, and a non-citizen convicted of an aggravated felony at any time after admission is deportable.^[1][2]

Read this page as a map of the federal statutes, not as advice about any case. Immigration consequences depend on the exact statute of conviction, the person's immigration status and history, and federal case law that this guide does not cover. The page says what the statutes say a conviction can mean. Anyone who is not a U.S. citizen and is under investigation or charged should consult an immigration attorney before making any decision in the criminal case.

Everything below comes from federal statutes and two U.S. Supreme Court decisions. Michigan law does not control these questions.

Which federal provisions matter most?

Federal provision	What the text says
8 USC 1101(a)(43)(A)	"Aggravated felony" includes murder, rape, or sexual abuse of a minor[1]
8 USC 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii)	A non-citizen convicted of an aggravated felony at any time after admission is deportable[2]
8 USC 1227(a)(2)(A)(i)	A non-citizen convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude committed within five years after admission, for which a sentence of one year or longer may be imposed, is deportable[6]
8 USC 1227(a)(2)(E)(i)	A non-citizen convicted at any time after admission of a crime of child abuse, child neglect or child abandonment is deportable[7]
8 USC 1227(a)(2)(A)(v)	A non-citizen convicted under 18 USC 2250 (failure to register as a sex offender) is deportable[4]
8 USC 1182(a)(2)(A)(i)(I)	A non-citizen convicted of, or who admits having committed, a crime involving moral turpitude is inadmissible, with limited exceptions[8]

"Deportable" and "inadmissible" are different things. The deportation grounds in 8 USC 1227 are written in terms of convictions after admission.^[2][6] The inadmissibility ground in 8 USC 1182 reaches a person convicted of, or who admits having committed, a crime involving moral turpitude.^[8]

What is an "aggravated felony"?

It is a federal immigration category, not a Michigan one. The definition's first entry is "murder, rape, or sexual abuse of a minor."^[1] The term applies to an offense whether in violation of federal or state law, and it includes an attempt or conspiracy to commit a listed offense.^[9]

The label does not track Michigan's own labels. Michigan calls its offenses "criminal sexual conduct" in four degrees and does not use the word "rape" in the statute.^[10] Whether a given Michigan conviction is "rape" or "sexual abuse of a minor" in the federal sense is decided under federal law. This guide did not research how federal courts or immigration authorities have classified any Michigan CSC provision, so it does not say which ones qualify.

What the statutes attach to an aggravated felony

• Deportability. A conviction of an aggravated felony at any time after admission makes a non-citizen deportable.^[2]
• Loss of a key form of relief. Cancellation of removal for lawful permanent residents is available only to a person who "has not been convicted of any aggravated felony."^[11]
• Good moral character. Under the immigration statute, no person can be found to be of good moral character who at any time has been convicted of an aggravated felony.^[12]

How do courts decide whether a state offense is "sexual abuse of a minor"?

The U.S. Supreme Court addressed the phrase in Esquivel-Quintana v Sessions (2017). Under what is called the categorical approach, a court asks whether the state statute defining the crime of conviction fits within the generic federal definition, and the conviction is an aggravated felony only if the least of the acts criminalized by the state statute falls within that definition. The Court presumes the conviction rested on those least acts, regardless of the actual facts of the case.^[13]

Applying that approach, the Court held that "in the context of statutory rape offenses that criminalize sexual intercourse based solely on the ages of the participants, the generic federal definition of 'sexual abuse of a minor' requires the age of the victim to be less than 16."^[13]

Two cautions follow. First, the holding is limited to offenses based solely on the ages of the participants.^[13] Second, the comparison is between the state statute of conviction and the generic federal definition, not the facts of the case.^[13] Michigan's age-based offenses are described in statutory rape laws and the age of consent in Michigan.

What other deportation grounds can a sex offense raise?

Crimes involving moral turpitude

A non-citizen is deportable if convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude committed within five years after the date of admission (10 years for certain permanent residents) for which a sentence of one year or longer may be imposed. A non-citizen is also deportable if convicted at any time after admission of two or more crimes involving moral turpitude not arising out of a single scheme of criminal misconduct.^[6]

The test looks at the sentence that "may be imposed," not the sentence actually given.^[6] Fourth-degree CSC, though labeled a misdemeanor in Michigan, is punishable by imprisonment for not more than 2 years.^[14] The statute does not define "crime involving moral turpitude," and this guide does not state which Michigan offenses are treated as one.

Crimes against children

A separate ground makes deportable any non-citizen who at any time after admission is convicted of a crime of domestic violence, a crime of stalking, or "a crime of child abuse, child neglect, or child abandonment."^[7]

Federal failure to register

A non-citizen convicted under 18 USC 2250 is deportable.^[4] That federal crime covers a person required to register under the federal registration law who knowingly fails to register or update a registration, where the person either is a sex offender by reason of a federal, District of Columbia, tribal or territorial conviction or travels in interstate or foreign commerce (or enters, leaves or resides in Indian country). It is punishable by up to 10 years.^[15] State-law registration violations are covered in failure to register penalties.

What counts as a "conviction" for immigration purposes?

Federal law supplies its own definition. A "conviction" is a formal judgment of guilt entered by a court or, "if adjudication of guilt has been withheld," a case where a judge or jury has found the person guilty, or the person has entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere or admitted sufficient facts to warrant a finding of guilt, and the judge has ordered some form of punishment, penalty, or restraint on the person's liberty.^[3]

This matters for Michigan dispositions that state law does not treat as convictions. Under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act, for example, an individual pleads guilty and the court assigns trainee status without entering a judgment of conviction; state law says the assignment is not a conviction for a crime.^[16][17] The federal definition is written to reach cases in which adjudication of guilt has been withheld.^[3] This guide did not research how immigration authorities treat any particular Michigan deferral, so the point to take away is narrow: a result that is "not a conviction" in Michigan should not be assumed to be "not a conviction" for immigration purposes. See HYTA and sex offenses.

The same caution applies to a conviction that is later set aside. Michigan's rules on setting aside sex-offense convictions are in setting aside a sex-offense conviction; the effect of a set-aside on immigration status was not researched for this guide.

Can a conviction keep someone from entering or returning to the United States?

It can. A non-citizen "convicted of, or who admits having committed, or who admits committing acts which constitute the essential elements of" a crime involving moral turpitude is inadmissible.^[8] The statute has an exception for a person who committed only one crime where the crime was committed under age 18 more than 5 years earlier, or where the maximum possible penalty did not exceed one year and the sentence did not exceed 6 months.^[8]

The reference to admitting acts means that inadmissibility under this provision is not limited to cases that end in a conviction.^[8] International travel after a conviction raises separate issues for citizens and non-citizens alike; see passports and international travel.

What about U.S. citizens who want to sponsor family members?

A conviction can affect citizens too. The provision that lets a U.S. citizen petition for a relative "shall not apply to a citizen of the United States who has been convicted of a specified offense against a minor, unless the Secretary of Homeland Security, in the Secretary's sole and unreviewable discretion, determines that the citizen poses no risk" to the person the petition is for.^[18]

What is the defense lawyer's duty?

In Padilla v Kentucky (2010) the U.S. Supreme Court held that defense counsel "must inform a client whether his plea carries a risk of deportation."^[5] Whether the defendant was entitled to relief depended on whether he had been prejudiced, a matter the Court did not address.^[5]

Padilla concerns the criminal defense lawyer's obligation. The provisions described above look to the state statute of conviction and, for the moral-turpitude ground, to the sentence that may be imposed.^[13][6] Questions to raise with counsel are collected in questions to ask a lawyer about a CSC case, and the plea process is explained in plea bargains in CSC cases and plea or trial: how the decision is made.

What people get wrong

• "It was a misdemeanor in Michigan, so immigration does not care." Federal categories do not follow state labels; the aggravated felony definition applies to offenses in violation of state law, and the moral-turpitude ground looks at the sentence that may be imposed.^[9][6]
• "No conviction on my record means no immigration problem." Federal law has its own definition of conviction, and the inadmissibility ground also reaches admissions.^[3][8]
• "Permanent residents cannot be deported." The deportation grounds apply to convictions after admission, and an aggravated felony closes cancellation of removal for permanent residents.^[2][11]
• "Only the conviction matters, not the registry." A conviction for the federal failure-to-register offense is its own deportation ground.^[4]

This page does not cover asylum, visas for crime victims, naturalization procedure, detention or removal proceedings. No primary source on those subjects was read for this guide. Federal sex-offense prosecutions are introduced in the federal sex crimes overview.