What changed, and when
The rules that decide what a plea does are made in several places at once: the statute, the Attorney General and the Board, the Supreme Court, and the sentencing laws of each state. Here are the changes since 2019 that most often alter the answer at the plea table, newest first. Every item links to the page on this site that explains what to do about it.
Current as of October 2026. We re-check this page regularly and after any rule change.
We monitor the Federal Register, precedent decisions of the Board of Immigration Appeals and the Attorney General, published opinions from the Supreme Court and the federal courts of appeals, and the penal and procedure laws of New York, New Jersey and Florida. When something changes, we update the affected pages on this site, update the plea tool's rules at the same time, and move the "current as of" dates forward.
Nothing here is legal advice about your case. If one of these developments touches your plea, call (718) 484-7510.
The changes
Each one is drawn from a primary source, and each links to the page on this site that explains what it means for a plea.
One motion to reopen, counted across both tribunals
Matter of M-M-L-J-, 29 I&N Dec. 843 (BIA 2026). A motion to reopen is generally due within 90 days of a final order of removal, and a person gets one; the Board held that a motion filed with the immigration judge and one filed with the Board are the same single allowance. For a person whose conviction is vacated after a final order, the motion that carries the vacatur back into court has to be the good one.
The BIA appeal deadline is 30 days, not 10
A 10-day deadline for appeals to the Board of Immigration Appeals was published at 8 C.F.R. 1003.38(b)(1) and was vacated in Amica Center for Immigrant Rights v. EOIR before it took effect. Thirty calendar days governs an appeal from an immigration judge's decision, including a decision that rests on a conviction, and the deadline should be confirmed with a lawyer rather than read off the regulation as it appears online.
Mandatory detention now reaches a charge, not only a conviction
The Laken Riley Act, Pub. L. 119-1, adds a ground of mandatory detention under INA 236(c) for a person who is inadmissible under 212(a)(6)(A), (6)(C) or (7) and who is charged with, arrested for, convicted of, or admits committing theft, burglary, larceny, shoplifting, assault of a law enforcement officer, or a crime resulting in death or serious bodily injury. For a person without lawful status, the charge alone can mean detention without bond before any plea is entered.
Recklessness is not enough for the force clause
Borden v. United States, 593 U.S. 420 (2021). An offense that can be committed recklessly does not have the use of force "against the person of another" as an element under the identically worded clause of the Armed Career Criminal Act. How the Board and the Second, Third and Eleventh Circuits apply Borden to the crime-of-violence definition in 18 U.S.C. 16(a) is a question we treat as open, which is a reason to look hard at the mental state of any offered assault count.
An unclear record now counts against the person seeking relief
Pereida v. Wilkinson, 592 U.S. 224 (2021). A person applying for relief bears the burden of showing that a conviction is not disqualifying, and loses if the record of conviction is inconclusive. A plea whose record does not show which subsection of a divisible statute was pleaded to leaves that burden unmet, so what the plea colloquy and the judgment say matters as much as the count.
A resident's offense stops the cancellation clock without a trip abroad
Barton v. Barr, 590 U.S. 222 (2020). An offense that would make a permanent resident inadmissible under INA 212(a)(2) stops the seven-year clock for cancellation of removal under INA 240A(d)(1), even though a resident inside the country is not seeking admission. The clock stops on the date of commission, not the plea date, so a later plea cannot move it; what the plea can still change is whether the offense of conviction is a 212(a)(2) offense at all.
A sentence change counts only if the sentence was defective
Matter of Thomas & Thompson, 27 I&N Dec. 674 (A.G. 2019). A sentence modification is given effect for immigration purposes only if it was based on a procedural or substantive defect in the original sentencing. A reduction from one year to 364 days granted because a shorter sentence would help with immigration does not move the threshold, so the sentence has to be right the first time.
Two DUIs create a presumption against good moral character
Matter of Castillo-Perez, 27 I&N Dec. 664 (A.G. 2019). Two or more DUI convictions during the statutory period create a rebuttable presumption that the applicant lacks good moral character. A simple DUI is not a crime involving moral turpitude, but a second one changes the naturalization analysis and the analysis for every other form of relief that requires good moral character.
New York caps the class A misdemeanor at 364 days
N.Y. Penal Law 70.15, as amended in 2019. The maximum sentence for a class A misdemeanor is 364 days, and a sentence of one year for a class A misdemeanor imposed before the amendment is deemed a sentence of 364 days. The one-year thresholds in the aggravated felony definition are measured against the sentence ordered, suspended time included, so the amendment matters to every New York misdemeanor plea and to older New York records.
How we keep this current
Every legal fact on this site, including each item above, is checked against its primary source, with its citation and the date we checked it. The plea tool's rule table is built from those checked rules and nothing else. When a source changes, the affected page changes, the tool changes with it, and the "current as of" date under each heading moves. We re-check our sources regularly and after any rule change we become aware of, and where we have not confirmed a point against the primary source, we tell you so. If an item here is out of date, we would rather hear about it: info@usherlegal.com.
Where we watch
Here is where to check any of this yourself, or watch it directly.
Tell us about the charge before you take the plea. Not after.
You get a free conversation with an immigration attorney, in your language. We speak English, Russian, Spanish and Uzbek in-house, and we bring in a live interpreter for anything else. We will read the charge against the immigration statute, tell you what the offered plea does to your status and to every form of relief, and tell you what to ask your criminal lawyer to negotiate instead. If the plea has already been entered, we will tell you what can still be done.