With almost 7% of North Carolina’s population now being foreign-born, it has become increasingly important for criminal lawyers on both sides to understand the interplay between criminal law and immigration law. The relationship between the two bodies of law is most important in cases involving immigrant defendants who are neither citizens (citizens, generally, cannot lose their citizenship by virtue of a conviction), nor completely undocumented (such individuals will be subject to deportation whether convicted or not), but who are instead in the United States legally with a status short of citizenship. That class of immigrants may comprise a quarter or more of all immigrants in North Carolina.
Sejal Zota and John Rubin, both of the School of Government, have written the authoritative work on the subject for North Carolina lawyers: Immigration Consequences of a Criminal Conviction in North Carolina. It is available as a free PDF download, or for purchase in hard-copy form, here:
Immigration Consequences of a Criminal Conviction in North Carolina