By the The Bulldog Law Criminal Defense & Immigration Team  •  Reviewed by a licensed California attorney  

Five categories of crimes can get a non-citizen deported from the United States even a lawful permanent resident with a green card: (1) aggravated felonies, (2) crimes involving moral turpitude, (3) almost any controlled-substance offense, (4) firearms offenses, and (5) domestic violence, stalking, and child abuse a category where even violating a protective order, with no conviction at all, is enough. Immigration law runs on its own definitions: a state “misdemeanor” can be an immigration “aggravated felony,” an expunged conviction can still deport you, and the plea that looks smallest in criminal court can be the most dangerous one on the immigration side. This guide from The Bulldog Law a firm that practices criminal defense and immigration law under one roof explains each category, the traps hidden in “minor” cases, and how the right defense strategy protects both the case and the client's future in this country.

Can You Be Deported for a Crime Even With a Green Card?

Yes. Lawful permanent residents are deportable for the conviction categories below a green card is legal status, not immunity, and only U.S. citizenship ends deportation exposure. The grounds of deportability live in federal law (INA § 237; 8 U.S.C. § 1227), and they apply to everyone who is not a citizen: green card holders, visa holders, DACA recipients, TPS holders, and the undocumented alike though the practical consequences differ. Two framing rules govern everything that follows. First, immigration law has its own definition of “conviction” broader than California's that can capture some deferred-judgment outcomes where a plea was entered. Second, the analysis is categorical: immigration judges compare the elements of the statute of conviction to federal definitions, which means the exact code section and the exact sentence not the police report decide deportability. That is why the full picture is mapped on the firm's deportation consequences of criminal convictions practice page  and why the criminal defense and the immigration analysis must run together from day one.

1. Aggravated Felonies: The Most Dangerous Category

An “aggravated felony” is immigration law's worst label it brings mandatory detention, disqualifies almost every form of relief, and imposes a permanent bar on returning and it does not have to be aggravated, or even a felony, under California law. The federal list (8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)) includes murder, rape, and sexual abuse of a minor; drug trafficking which sweeps in possession-for-sale convictions; firearms trafficking; theft or burglary with a sentence of one year or more; any “crime of violence” with a sentence of one year or more; fraud or deceit offenses with losses over $10,000; and money laundering, obstruction, and perjury variants. The trap is the one-year sentence trigger: a state misdemeanor theft with a 365-day sentence historically qualified which is exactly why California capped misdemeanors at 364 days (PC § 18.5). For a non-citizen, the difference between 364 and 365 days is the difference between a hard case and a permanent exile and it is negotiated, not accidental.

2. Crimes Involving Moral Turpitude (CIMT)

A crime involving moral turpitude broadly, offenses of fraud, theft, or intent to harm makes a non-citizen deportable in two patterns: one CIMT committed within five years of admission (if a sentence of a year or more is possible), or two CIMTs at any time not arising from a single scheme. “Moral turpitude” has no statutory list; it is case-law shorthand for conduct that is inherently base or depraved which in practice means fraud offenses, theft with intent to permanently deprive, aggravated assaults, and many domestic-violence and sex offenses, while simple assault, DUI without more, and regulatory crimes usually fall outside it. CIMTs also trigger inadmissibility blocking green card applications, naturalization, and reentry after travel with a narrow “petty offense” exception for a single minor CIMT. Because turpitude turns on the elements of the exact statute, the safe-plea craft pleading to the adjacent non-CIMT offense is where a crimmigration-aware defense earns its fee.

3. Drug Crimes: The Least Forgiving Category

A conviction for violating any law relating to a controlled substance makes a non-citizen deportable with exactly one exception: a single offense of simple possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana for personal use. Everything else counts: simple possession under HS § 11350, possession for sale (which is also an aggravated felony as “drug trafficking”), transportation, cultivation, and in many circuits even paraphernalia. Two hard truths define this category. First, California's legalization of cannabis changes nothing federally marijuana remains a federally controlled substance, and convictions beyond the 30-gram personal-use exception still deport. Second, this is the category where the expungement myth kills cases: a conviction dismissed under state law still exists for immigration purposes (more below). For any non-citizen, a drug charge is an immigration emergency handled through the firm's drug crimes defense practice with the immigration consequences driving the strategy diversion structures, alternate pleas, and outcome timing all matter more than the fine print of the criminal sentence.

4. Firearms Offenses

Any conviction for purchasing, selling, possessing, or carrying a firearm or destructive device in violation of any law is its own independent ground of deportability no minimum sentence required. This ground catches the California weapons misdemeanors non-citizens assume are minor: carrying a concealed firearm, carrying a loaded firearm, felon- or prohibited-person-in-possession, and unregistered-weapon offenses. Some firearm convictions double as aggravated felonies (trafficking; crimes of violence with year-plus sentences), stacking consequences. The defense implications mirror the drug category: charge selection is everything, and a plea that swaps a firearm count for a non-firearm offense can be the difference between a criminal fine and removal proceedings the daily work of the firm's firearm offenses defense practice.

5. Domestic Violence, Stalking, Child Abuse and Protective Orders

Convictions for domestic violence, stalking, or child abuse, neglect, or abandonment are deportable and this category contains immigration law's most surprising rule: a judicial finding that you violated a protective order's protection provisions makes you deportable with no criminal conviction at all. A “crime of domestic violence” means a crime of violence against a person in a protected domestic relationship, so the usual California DV counts qualify, and many also count as CIMTs double exposure. The protective-order rule is the trap families walk into: after a criminal protective order or restraining order issues, a “harmless” reconciliation contact that produces a violation finding can trigger removal even if the DA never files or the violation is handled civilly. For non-citizen clients, the firm's domestic violence defense team treats the protective order its terms, its modification to peaceful contact, and strict compliance as an immigration matter from the first hearing.

The Traps: Why “Minor” Cases Deport People

Most immigration catastrophes come from small cases handled without immigration analysis four traps do most of the damage.

1. The 365-day trap a one-year sentence converts theft and violence offenses into aggravated felonies; California caps misdemeanors at 364 days (PC § 18.5) for exactly this reason, but stipulated sentences, probation-violation time, and out-of-state priors can still cross the line.
2. The “conviction” trap immigration law counts some outcomes California doesn't: a guilty plea plus any punishment or restraint can be a federal “conviction” even in deferred-judgment programs which is why the structure of diversion (plea first or no plea) is an immigration decision, not a formality.
3. The expungement trap a PC § 1203.4 dismissal cleans the record for California employers but the conviction still exists for immigration purposes. The federal fix is different: vacatur for legal error in California, chiefly PC § 1473.7, which unwinds convictions where the defendant didn't meaningfully understand the immigration consequences eliminates the conviction because it was invalid, not forgiven.
4. The “lesser plea” trap the plea that looks smaller in criminal court can be worse in immigration court: a drug “lesser” beats a theft plea for jail time and loses catastrophically for status. Counting only the criminal exposure is how people plead their way onto a removal docket.

How the Right Criminal Defense Protects Immigration Status

Since Padilla v. Kentucky (2010), defense lawyers are constitutionally required to advise non-citizen clients about immigration consequences and a crimmigration-aware defense goes further, engineering outcomes that keep clients out of the deportable categories entirely. The working toolkit: charge selection under the categorical approach pleading to statutes whose elements fall outside the federal definitions (the “safe plea”); sentence engineering keeping every count at 364 days or less and structuring probation to avoid the triggers; diversion architecture using pre-plea programs that never create a federal “conviction”; and, for the damage already done, post-conviction surgery § 1473.7 motions, sentence modifications, and the tools of the firm's post-conviction relief practice and appeals work, deployed with the immigration case in view. This is why a firm that practices both sides matters: every plea offer gets read twice once in criminal court, once in immigration court before anyone says yes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a green card holder be deported for a misdemeanor?

Yes. Deportability turns on the immigration categories, not the state label and misdemeanors sit inside several of them: any drug misdemeanor (outside the single 30-gram marijuana exception), firearms misdemeanors, domestic-violence misdemeanors, and moral-turpitude misdemeanors (one within five years of admission with a possible year-long sentence, or two at any time). A misdemeanor with a full one-year sentence can even become an aggravated felony for theft and violence offenses the reason California caps misdemeanors at 364 days. Green card holders should treat every criminal charge, however small, as an immigration matter.

What is an aggravated felony in immigration law?

It is a federal immigration category 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43) not a description. The list includes murder, rape, sexual abuse of a minor, drug trafficking (including possession for sale), firearms trafficking, theft or burglary with a sentence of a year or more, crimes of violence with a sentence of a year or more, and fraud with losses over $10,000. An offense need not be ‘aggravated' or a felony under state law to qualify. The consequences are the harshest in immigration law: mandatory detention, ineligibility for nearly all relief including cancellation and asylum, and a permanent bar on lawful return.

Can you be deported for a DUI?

A simple first-offense DUI alcohol only, no injury, no children in the car is generally not a deportable offense: it is not a crime involving moral turpitude and touches none of the five categories. But the variations change the answer fast: DUI involving drugs implicates the controlled-substance ground; DUI with a child passenger can be charged in ways that count as child endangerment; injury cases and multiple offenses raise moral-turpitude and crime-of-violence questions; and any DUI complicates discretionary applications like naturalization. Non-citizens should never plead a DUI-adjacent case without an immigration read the specific counts matter enormously.

Does an expungement stop deportation?

No. A California expungement under PC § 1203.4 dismisses the conviction for most state purposes, but federal immigration law still counts it expunged convictions deport people every week. What does work is vacatur for legal invalidity: California's PC § 1473.7 lets a court vacate a conviction the defendant entered without meaningfully understanding its immigration consequences, and a conviction vacated as legally defective is eliminated for immigration purposes. For non-citizens with old pleas, a § 1473.7 motion not an expungement is the remedy that actually moves the immigration needle.

Immigration consequences are decided in criminal court in the charge selected, the sentence negotiated, and the plea structure chosen long before any immigration judge sees the file. Handle the criminal case with the immigration case in view, and both are winnable. The Bulldog Law practices criminal defense and immigration law together, so every non-citizen client's plea gets read in both courtrooms first. Contact the firm online or call (888) 928-1609 for a free, confidential consultation.