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Keywords

statuteappealdeportation

statutewilldeportation

Related Cases

Sharpe v. Riley

Facts

Clinton Sharpe, a Jamaican national, was convicted in 1991 of unlawful restraint and criminal contempt under Pennsylvania law. Deportation proceedings were initiated against him in 1995, and the Bureau of Immigration Appeals determined that his conviction constituted a crime of moral turpitude, making him ineligible for suspension of deportation due to the 'stop time' rule established by IIRIRA. The court agreed with the BIA's findings and concluded that Sharpe could not meet the seven-year good moral character requirement necessary for relief from deportation.

Clinton Sharpe is a native and national of Jamaica who came to the United States as a non-immigrant temporary agricultural worker in 1986. He remained in the country past his scheduled departure date of March 18, 1987, and married a United States citizen in 1989.

Issue

The main legal issues were whether unlawful restraint and criminal contempt are crimes involving moral turpitude and whether the retroactive application of the 'stop time' rule under IIRIRA is unconstitutional.

The issues before the court are (1) whether unlawful restraint and criminal contempt are crimes involving moral turpitude, (2) whether applying retroactively the 'stop time' rule contained in the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) in Sharpe's case is unconstitutional.

Rule

The court applied the principle that a crime involving moral turpitude is determined by the statute and record of conviction, and that the 'stop time' rule under IIRIRA applies retroactively to deportation proceedings that had already commenced.

Whether an alien's crime is one involving moral turpitude is determined by the statute and record of conviction rather than the alien's specific act.

Analysis

The court analyzed Sharpe's convictions and determined that unlawful restraint was indeed a crime involving moral turpitude, regardless of whether it was classified as a general or specific intent crime. The court also found that the retroactive application of the 'stop time' rule was constitutional, as Congress intended for it to apply to cases like Sharpe's that were already in process at the time of IIRIRA's enactment.

Given that unlawful restraint is a crime involving moral turpitude for purposes of the immigration statutes, Sharpe next contests his deportation through an attack on the constitutionality of retroactively applying IIRIRA's stop time rule to Sharpe and others whose deportation proceedings had already commenced by the time of the IIRIRA's enactment.

Conclusion

The court denied Sharpe's habeas petition, affirming that he was subject to deportation due to his conviction for a crime involving moral turpitude and the application of the 'stop time' rule.

For the reasons that follow, the petition will be denied.

Who won?

The government prevailed in the case, as the court upheld the BIA's decision that Sharpe was deportable due to his conviction for a crime involving moral turpitude.

The BIA affirmed the Immigration Judge's decision to deport Sharpe, but on different grounds.

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