A Domestic Violence Conviction and Deportation in Colorado: What Still Can Be Done
A Colorado domestic violence conviction already on your record, including one from a deferred judgment you finished, can still support removal. Talk to us before your next immigration step.
Immigration Alert: A Colorado domestic violence conviction already on your record, including a deferred judgment you finished and had dismissed, can still be the basis for removal. Talk to a lawyer before you file for citizenship, before you travel, and before you answer a Notice to Appear. Call (888) 746-5245.
By Aaron Elinoff, Managing Partner, Novo Legal Group. Last reviewed: November 2026.
A domestic violence conviction on a Colorado record does not close when the case does. If you pleaded guilty, took a deferred judgment, or had a judge find that you violated certain protection-order terms, that record can resurface years later, at a citizenship interview or a green card renewal. It can surface at an airport, too.
The Short Answer: Domestic Violence Conviction and Deportation in Colorado
For someone who was admitted to the U.S., including a green-card holder or a visa holder, a Colorado domestic violence conviction can support removal on its own federal ground, and sometimes on others too, depending on the statute you pleaded to and what the record of conviction shows. If a person entered without being admitted, the domestic violence ground does not apply as a charge, but the same conviction can still affect detention, bond, and which forms of relief stay open, and it can be charged if it also falls under a criminal inadmissibility ground.
A deferred judgment that was completed and dismissed generally still counts as a conviction under federal immigration law, because the guilty plea, together with the conditions the court imposed, already met the federal definition. Relief, and a handful of Colorado post-conviction routes, may still be open, and whether any of them fit your record takes a lawyer reading the actual documents.
We do not tell a client their old domestic violence case is safe without reading the charging document and the plea agreement first. The sentencing order gets the same read.
Talk to counsel before your next immigration step, such as a citizenship interview or a green card renewal, and before any trip out of the country.
Immigration Implications of a Colorado Domestic Violence Conviction
A plea deal that closed out the criminal case years ago can still be read against federal immigration law today.
The Federal Domestic Violence Ground: Reading Your Record
Federal law treats domestic violence as its own deportation ground under INA § 237(a)(2)(E)(i), which applies to a conviction at any time after a person was admitted to the U.S., separate from the moral-turpitude and aggravated-felony categories covered below. The same ground reaches a stalking conviction too.
Our domestic violence charges in Colorado guide walks through the categorical approach immigration courts use on the violence half of that test, comparing the elements of the Colorado statute of conviction against the federal definition of a crime of violence in 18 U.S.C. § 16(a). This categorical approach ignores the specific facts of what happened that night and looks only at what the statute itself required the state to prove. When a statute lists alternative ways to commit the offense, the court can check a limited set of record documents to see which one the conviction rested on.
The part that matters once a case is already decided is the record. An immigration judge reading an old Colorado case works from the judgment, the plea records, the docket entries, and similar court records that prove a conviction under INA § 240(c)(3)(B). For the relationship half of the test, immigration courts can look past the statute's own language and into that same record to decide whether the person involved was a spouse, a partner, or a co-parent.
That is why two people convicted under the identical Colorado statute can land on different sides of this ground. We start every deportation review by pulling the full record.
A Protection-Order Violation Finding Already on the Record
A domestic violence conviction is not the only record that can support removal under this part of the law. So can a court finding that a person violated certain protection-order terms. It does not require a criminal conviction.
For a non-citizen who has been admitted to the U.S., a court finding of a violation of the part of a protection order, criminal or civil, that protects against credible threats of violence, repeated harassment, or bodily injury can independently support removal under INA § 237(a)(2)(E)(ii), even without a conviction on the underlying charge.
We check for a protection-order finding on the record with the same weight we give a conviction. This ground does not ask for one.
When the Same Conviction Is Also a Crime Involving Moral Turpitude
The same conviction can sometimes also be a crime involving moral turpitude, which has its own rules under INA § 237(a)(2)(A)(i) and (ii): a single conviction counts if the offense was committed within five years of admission and the statute allowed a sentence of a year or more, and two convictions count at any time after admission if they did not arise from a single scheme. For a Colorado misdemeanor committed before March 1, 2022, the older 18-month maximum can meet that one-year test.
Our crimes involving moral turpitude guide covers that analysis in full. A conviction does not have to clear that separate bar to support removal under the domestic violence ground on its own. We check both grounds every time. A conviction that misses one can still land on the other.
When It Becomes an Aggravated Felony
A conviction becomes an aggravated felony under INA § 101(a)(43)(F) when it is a crime of violence and a court imposed a term of imprisonment of at least one year, whether or not any of that time was ever served. Suspended time counts under INA § 101(a)(48)(B). A one-year sentence with every day suspended still clears that line. Our aggravated felony consequences guide covers the rest of that category.
Reading an old Colorado sentence against that line depends on when the underlying offense happened. For offenses on or after March 1, 2022, a class 1 misdemeanor under C.R.S. § 18-1.3-501 tops out at 364 days, so a sentence on a single such count cannot reach the one-year aggravated-felony line. An offense committed before that date carried an 18-month class 1 misdemeanor maximum, and an extraordinary-risk enhancement could add six more months to certain misdemeanors committed before March 1, 2022, including third-degree assault.
We read the actual sentencing order, including every suspended day, before we tell a client where their case sits on this line.
“My Deferred Judgment Was Dismissed.” Why It Can Still Count
A deferred judgment requires a guilty plea up front, under C.R.S. § 18-1.3-102, before the court imposes conditions like supervision, treatment, or community service. That combination, a guilty plea plus a court-imposed condition, meets the federal definition of a conviction in INA § 101(a)(48)(A). When every condition is finished, Colorado withdraws the plea. It then dismisses the case with prejudice.
Federal immigration law still counts the conviction. Dismissal does not undo it, and neither does sealing.
Colorado's sealing law treats a dismissed deferred judgment differently from most other domestic violence convictions. A completed deferred judgment is sealed under C.R.S. § 24-72-705, the dismissal-sealing statute, with no blanket domestic-violence exclusion written into it. By contrast, a domestic violence conviction that was not dismissed runs into the exclusion in C.R.S. § 24-72-706. A misdemeanor conviction can still be sealed if the district attorney consents or a court finds, by clear and convincing evidence, a significant and substantial need. That exception does not reach a felony.
Either statute only changes what a background check shows.
Neither one changes the conviction federal immigration law already counted.
We do not call a completed, dismissed, and sealed deferred judgment immigration-safe on a domestic violence charge.
Your conviction already happened. What happens next is still yours to fight for. Schedule a consultation: call (888) 746-5245.
Three situations commonly bring an old conviction back in front of immigration authorities, and we check a client's record against each of them.
Applying for Citizenship
A naturalization application asks about a person's full criminal history, and USCIS reviews that history against the statutory good moral character standard before approving an N-400. Spousal or child abuse can rise to the level of a crime involving moral turpitude for moral-character purposes under USCIS's own policy guidance, and a USCIS officer who spots a deportable conviction can issue a Notice to Appear under 8 C.F.R. § 239.1. A citizenship interview is not a formality to skip past with an old domestic violence case on the record. Have a lawyer review the application against the conviction before you file.
Renewing a Green Card, Traveling, and Returning at the Border
A green card renewal does not reopen the criminal case, but the application includes a fresh background check, which puts the record in front of an officer with authority to issue a Notice to Appear. Travel raises a different question on the way back in.
A returning permanent resident can be treated as seeking admission again under INA § 101(a)(13)(C)(v) if the person has committed an offense listed in INA § 212(a)(2). Standing alone, a domestic violence conviction is not on that list; it matters here only if the same conviction is also a crime involving moral turpitude or another offense covered by that section. Whether that is true of a specific conviction is the same record-by-record question that runs through every section above. Our green card and criminal charges guide covers how this works for lawful permanent residents in more depth.
A New Arrest or ICE Contact
Colorado law bars local officers from holding someone on an ICE detainer request alone, under C.R.S. § 24-76.6-102. ICE can still make its own arrest. That arrest can happen after a release. It does not depend on anything the local jail does. An old domestic violence conviction on file raises the stakes of any new contact with police, even an unrelated one. Our guide on what to do if ICE detains a family member covers the steps to take if that happens.
Removal Proceedings: What Happens After a Notice to Appear
The Notice to Appear and Immigration Court
A Notice to Appear is the document that starts a removal case. It lists the grounds the government says make a person removable, built from the conviction or finding described above, and it sets the first hearing, called a master calendar hearing.
For someone who has been lawfully admitted to the United States, the government carries the burden of proving removability by clear and convincing evidence under INA § 240(c)(3)(A), using the court records described earlier on this page.
Colorado cases are heard at Denver Immigration Court, 1961 Stout Street, Suite 3101, Denver, Colorado, or at Aurora Immigration Court, inside the ICE detention facility at 3130 North Oakland Street in Aurora, depending on where the case is filed or where a person is held.
Our deportation defense attorneys read the Notice to Appear line by line before the first hearing, because the grounds charged on that document decide which defenses are even on the table.
Detention and Bond
Whether ICE detention is mandatory depends on how the conviction fits federal law and on the person's immigration history, not on the domestic violence label by itself. The federal mandatory-detention statute, INA § 236(c)(1), lists specific grounds, and the domestic violence deportation ground is not one of them. Mandatory detention can still apply when the same conviction also fits a listed ground, such as an aggravated felony, two or more moral-turpitude convictions, a single moral-turpitude conviction with a sentence of a year or more, or a criminal inadmissibility ground.
The Laken Riley Act, signed January 29, 2025, added one more mandatory-detention category for people inadmissible for entering without being admitted, for fraud or misrepresentation, or for lacking valid entry documents, who are charged with, arrested for, convicted of, or admit to offenses including burglary, theft, larceny, shoplifting, assault of a law enforcement officer, or any crime resulting in death or serious bodily injury. A domestic violence case falls into that category only if the facts fit one of those listed offenses, which is not automatic.
Outside mandatory detention, a bond decision under INA § 236(a) weighs danger to the community and flight risk, the same framework the Board of Immigration Appeals applied in a 2026 decision denying bond to a person with a drunk-driving conviction, other impaired-driving arrests, and a recent domestic-assault arrest. Our Morales-Cuxun bond blog and immigration bond page cover that framework in more depth.
A separate Board decision, Matter of Yajure Hurtado, 29 I&N Dec. 216 (BIA 2025), held that immigration judges lack authority to grant bond to people present in the country without having been admitted.
Federal courts have been reviewing that decision, and whether it controls a bond request in Colorado at any given time is unsettled.
No bond outcome is ever predictable from a case summary.
We prepare every bond argument around the person's actual record.
Your Attorney Beside You at Every Hearing
Once a removal case starts, a person with a past conviction can have hearings in two places: immigration court, and criminal court if a post-conviction motion or a probation matter is still open. Your attorney is with you at every hearing, in both courtrooms.
Immigration court adds a failure mode the criminal case does not have.
A person who received proper written notice and does not attend a scheduled hearing can be ordered removed in absentia if the government shows, by clear, unequivocal, and convincing evidence, that notice was given and that the person is removable, under INA § 240(b)(5)(A).
We track every hearing date the moment a case is assigned, specifically to prevent that outcome.
Colorado law, C.R.S. § 13-1-403, bars civil arrests at a courthouse and on the way to or from a court proceeding. Whether a state law can limit federal immigration agents is a contested question, so this statute is no guarantee against an ICE arrest. We are not going to promise a hearing you will not have to attend, because a promise like that costs a client more than the fear it was meant to calm, the moment it turns out to be wrong.
Have your conviction reviewed before your next immigration step. Call (888) 746-5245.
Cancellation of removal for a permanent resident requires five years as a lawful permanent resident, seven years of continuous residence after admission in any status, and no aggravated felony conviction, under INA § 240A(a). The seven-year clock stops on the date a person commits an offense covered by INA § 212(a)(2), such as a crime involving moral turpitude, that makes the person inadmissible or removable, or when a Notice to Appear is served, whichever comes first. A domestic violence conviction does not stop that clock by itself. Our Cornejo-Aguilar cancellation blog covers how the Board weighs a record like this once the five- and seven-year thresholds are met.
Cancellation for People Without a Green Card
Cancellation of removal for someone without a green card is different and narrower. A conviction under INA § 237(a)(2), the same section that covers the domestic violence ground, bars that form of relief under INA § 240A(b)(1)(C). That means a domestic violence conviction usually closes this particular door, subject to the survivor waiver below. Our cancellation of removal guide covers the rest of that eligibility test.
Waivers and Re-Adjustment
A waiver under INA § 212(h) has work to do only when the inadmissibility problem is a crime involving moral turpitude or a related ground, not the domestic violence ground by itself.
Lawful permanent residents face extra limits on this waiver depending on how and when they obtained their status.
Adjustment of status can sometimes serve as a separate path forward.
Each of these depends on facts specific to a person's immigration history.
Asylum, Withholding, and Protection Under the Convention Against Torture
Asylum and withholding of removal both carry a particularly serious crime bar, and any aggravated felony automatically counts as one for asylum. For withholding, an aggravated felony with an aggregate sentence of five years or more is treated the same way. A shorter sentence gets a case-by-case look. Protection under the Convention Against Torture survives those bars through deferral of removal, which has no criminal bar but gives fewer protections than withholding.
Survivors Who Were Themselves Convicted
Not everyone reading this page is the person the conviction was about. Some dual-arrest cases end with the person who was hurt also convicted.
Federal law has a waiver for that situation.
INA § 237(a)(7) allows a domestic violence or stalking conviction, and the protection-order ground above, to be waived for someone who was battered or subjected to extreme cruelty and was not the primary perpetrator of violence in the relationship.
The waiver is discretionary.
It does not reach the moral-turpitude or aggravated-felony grounds, and it can also lift the cancellation bar for people without a green card described above.
We do not evaluate that waiver on this page. Our VAWA and Colorado family law page covers survivor-based status, and a conversation with our family-law team, after a standard conflict check, is the right next step if this is your situation, and our U-visa page covers status for crime victims more broadly.
DACA Recipients
DACA treats a domestic violence conviction as an enumerated significant misdemeanor that ends eligibility regardless of the sentence imposed, the same rule our DACA and criminal charges guide covers in full. As of November 2026, USCIS is processing DACA renewals but not initial requests, following the Fifth Circuit's January 17, 2025 ruling, which raises the stakes of any misdemeanor conviction for someone currently protected.
Colorado Post-Conviction Relief: Challenging the Conviction Itself
Which Fixes Count in Immigration Court
Not every fix to a Colorado conviction changes how immigration law treats it.
The Board of Immigration Appeals drew that line in Matter of Pickering, 23 I&N Dec. 621 (BIA 2003): a conviction vacated because of rehabilitation, or only to avoid the immigration consequences it now carries, still counts as a conviction.
But a conviction vacated for a procedural or substantive defect in the original case, something wrong with how the conviction happened, does not count.
A plea lawyer's failure to give required immigration advice can be that kind of defect.
The same split applies to a sentence changed after the fact. In Matter of Thomas & Thompson, 27 I&N Dec. 674 (A.G. 2019), the Attorney General held that a later order modifying, clarifying, or changing a sentence counts for immigration purposes only when it rests on a defect in the underlying proceeding, not on hardship or changed circumstances. Our post-conviction relief blog covers the general Colorado post-conviction landscape, including a 2026 Board decision on sentence-clarification orders.
A vacatur motion filed for the wrong reason can finish the criminal case and still leave the immigration case exactly where it started. We draft every motion with both courts in mind.
Crim. P. 35(c) and Padilla Claims
Colorado's Rule 35(c) lets a person challenge a conviction for a constitutional violation. That includes ineffective assistance of counsel. The U.S. Supreme Court held in Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356 (2010), that defense counsel must advise a noncitizen client about deportation risk, clearly when the law is clear and with a warning of possible consequences when it is not. Colorado's own courts required something close to that duty earlier, in People v. Pozo, 746 P.2d 523 (Colo. 1987), which held that a lawyer who knows a client is a noncitizen may need to look into the immigration law before advising on a plea.
Proving prejudice from a bad plea follows Lee v. United States, 582 U.S. 357 (2017): the question is whether there is a reasonable probability that the client, properly advised, would have rejected the plea and gone to trial, even with a weak defense, judged by evidence from the time of the plea rather than hindsight. Whether a 35(c) motion built on Padilla or Pozo can still reach an old plea depends on timing rules covered below, and on facts specific to the original case.
Deferred Judgments: The Crim. P. 32(d) Route
A pending deferred judgment works differently from an ordinary conviction when it comes to post-conviction relief. In Kazadi v. People, 2012 CO 73, 291 P.3d 16, the Colorado Supreme Court held that Rule 35(c) is not available while a deferred judgment is still running, because no final judgment exists yet to attack. The remedy during that window is a motion to withdraw the guilty plea under Crim. P. 32(d), which can raise the same ineffective-assistance grounds a 35(c) motion would.
Kazadi addressed a deferred judgment that was still pending. Once a deferred judgment has been completed and the case dismissed, the guilty plea has already been withdrawn under the deferred judgment's own terms, so a Rule 32(d) motion may have nothing left to withdraw, and Rule 35(c) presumes a conviction that Colorado no longer treats as standing. Colorado appellate law on a finished deferred judgment is restrictive. If your deferred judgment already finished, a lawyer needs to look at the specific procedural history before saying whether any post-conviction motion is available.
Deadlines and Exceptions
Colorado sets time limits on challenging a conviction under C.R.S. § 16-5-402: no limit for a class 1 felony, three years for other felonies, eighteen months for a misdemeanor, and six months for a petty offense, running from the date of conviction. The statute allows exceptions, including one for justifiable excuse or excusable neglect. Colorado's Supreme Court has held that a noncitizen who says plea counsel never gave the required immigration advice can, on sufficient allegations read with the plea paperwork, be entitled to a hearing on whether that excuses a late Rule 35(c) motion. A hearing is not a result. Many older convictions are already past the ordinary deadline. The timing question needs a lawyer's review early.
Have your conviction reviewed before your next immigration step. Call (888) 746-5245.
Before a consultation, a handful of documents usually tell us more than a client's memory of the case can.
The original charging document, showing the exact statute charged
The plea agreement or deferred-judgment stipulation, showing what was actually admitted
The sentencing order, or the completion and dismissal order, showing what the court imposed and whether it was finished
The register of actions from the criminal case, laying out the full procedural history
Any green card, visa, or other immigration paperwork already on file
Any Notice to Appear or USCIS notice already received
The charging document and plea agreement establish the record of conviction described earlier on this page.
From the sentencing order, we can see whether any suspended time pushes a sentence over the one-year aggravated-felony line.
The register of actions tells us the procedural history a post-conviction motion would need.
We ask for all six on the first call. The right answer depends on reading them.
Two Courtrooms, One Team
A criminal case and an immigration case run on separate tracks, with separate judges and separate rules of evidence. Even the deadlines are separate. We work both from the same file.
Novo Legal Group is a Spanish-first practice. Every attorney is bilingual. Our intake team answers in Spanish as well as English. If a domestic violence conviction already puts your green card or visa at risk, or threatens a pending application, call our Denver office, (303) 335-0250, or our toll-free line, (888) 746-5245.
A conviction that is already final still opens a different kind of case, with its own set of rules, run by the same team that would have handled the matter from day one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I be deported for a domestic violence conviction from years ago?
It depends on which Colorado statute you were convicted under and what the record of that case shows, not on how old the conviction is. For a person who was admitted to the U.S., the federal domestic violence deportation ground under INA § 237(a)(2)(E)(i) has no age limit for a conviction entered after September 30, 1996. A lawyer reading the charging document and plea agreement is the only way to answer this for a specific case.
My deferred judgment was dismissed. Does immigration still count it?
Generally yes, because the guilty plea, together with the conditions the court imposed, already met the federal definition of a conviction before the case was ever dismissed, under INA § 101(a)(48)(A). Colorado's dismissal and sealing rules change what a background check shows, not what federal immigration law already counted. We do not call a completed, dismissed deferred judgment immigration-safe on a domestic violence charge.
Can I apply for citizenship with a domestic violence conviction?
You can file an N-400. USCIS will review the full criminal history against the good moral character standard before deciding it. That review, or the interview itself, can surface a deportable conviction and lead to a Notice to Appear instead of an approval. Have a lawyer review the conviction against the application before you file.
Can a Colorado conviction be vacated for immigration purposes?
Sometimes. Immigration courts give effect to a vacatur that rests on a legal or constitutional defect in the original case, which can include a plea lawyer's failure to give required immigration advice. A vacatur granted for rehabilitation, or only to avoid immigration consequences, still counts as a conviction under the standard the Board of Immigration Appeals set in Matter of Pickering. Which post-conviction route applies depends on where the case stands: Rule 32(d) for a deferred judgment still running, Rule 35(c) for a final conviction, and a much narrower set of options, if any, for a deferred judgment already completed and dismissed. Deadlines under C.R.S. § 16-5-402 apply too, with narrow exceptions. Timing needs a lawyer's review early.
Will ICE detain me, and can I get bond?
Whether detention is mandatory depends on how the conviction fits federal law and on the person's immigration history. The domestic violence ground by itself is not a mandatory-detention ground, but the same conviction can lead to mandatory detention if it also fits another listed ground. For someone who entered without being admitted, a 2025 Board decision limiting bond is under federal-court review. Outside mandatory detention, a bond decision looks at danger to the community and flight risk, case by case. We do not predict a bond outcome before a judge hears the case.
Your Future Is Worth Fighting For. Talk to Us Before Your Next Immigration Step.
What to do next depends on where things stand right now.
If you already have a Notice to Appear, put it together with the criminal-case papers listed earlier on this page, and get them in front of a lawyer who handles removal defense before your first hearing.
If you are filing for citizenship or renewing a green card, have the conviction reviewed before you file.
If you just want to know whether an old domestic violence case is a problem, bring the paperwork and we will read it with you.
TL;DR The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), the appellate body that reviews decisions from Immigration Judges in removal cases, published Matter of Callos ...
The right criminal defense attorney is not just one who knows the law. For Denver's Hispanic community, the right attorney is one who can defend your case in ...
A Denver DUI arrest sets off two parallel proceedings that both threaten your driving privileges. The criminal case decides guilt and sentencing. The DMV ...
