quick reference chart and annotations for determining immigration ...

Immigrant Legal Resource Center, Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project,
Maricopa County Public Defender August 2012
Aggravated Felony: If a sentence of a year or more is imposed, robbery will be an aggravated
felony as a theft crime or as a crime of violence. State v. Hudson, 152 Ariz.121, 730 P2d 830 (1986)
(finding that robbery is, by definition, a crime involving violence).
Aggravated robbery, ARS § 13-1903.
See Robbery, § 13-1902.
Armed robbery, ARS § 13-1904.
A. A person commits armed robbery if, in the course of committing robbery as defined in section 13-
1902, such person or an accomplice:
1. Is armed with a deadly weapon or a simulated deadly weapon; or
2. Uses or threatens to use a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument or a simulated deadly weapon.
Crime Involving Moral Turpitude (CMT): Yes.
Aggravated Felony: If sentenced to a year or more, aggravated robbery will be an aggravated
felony as a crime of violence or a theft crime. See Robbery, § 13-1902. United States v. Taylor, 529 F.3d
1232, 1237 (9th Cir. 2008) (armed robbery under Arizona law involves the threat or use of force and is
therefore a crime of violence).
Firearms Ground: Armed robbery may be a deportable offense under 8 U.S.C. 1227(a)(2)(C) as
a firearms offense if the record of conviction indicates that a firearm was involved in the offense.
Because not all deadly weapons are firearms, if the record of conviction does not indicate that a firearm
was involved, the conviction does not trigger deportability under the firearms ground. Matter of
Pichardo, 21 I&N Dec. 330 (BIA 1996) (where the record of conviction failed to identify the subdivision
under which the alien was convicted or the weapon he was convicted of possessing, deportability is not
proven even where the alien testified in immigration proceedings that the weapon he possessed was a
gun).
48. Forgery, A.R.S. 13-2002
With intent to defraud, the person:
1. Falsely makes, completes or alters a written instrument; or
2. Knowingly possesses a forged instrument; or
3. Offers or presents, whether accepted or not, a forged instrument or one that contains false information.
Crime Involving Moral Turpitude: Yes.
Aggravated felony as Forgery: Counsel should conservatively assume that the offense will be
held to constitute forgery, and therefore be an aggravated felony if a sentence of at least a year is
imposed. 8 USC §1101(a)(43)(R). However, immigration counsel have strong arguments that the statute
is divisible since a conviction can involve a real document that contains false information, such as a
validly-issued driver’s license with a false name or date of birth. See Vizcarra-Ayala v. Mukasey, 514
F.3d 870 (9th Cir. 2008) (Cal. Penal Code § 475(c) encompasses conduct involving real, unaltered
documents and thus is not categorically an offense "relating to forgery" under 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)(R));
State of Arizona v. Thompson, 194 Ariz. 295 (1999) (MVD employee was convicted for including false
information on an otherwise genuine document).
Arizona Criminal Chart with Explanatory Endnote – August 2012
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