NOLAN

Citations

• 19 I. & N. Dec. 539

Syllabus

NOLAN, 19 I&N Dec. 539 (BIA 1988) ID 3043 (PDF) (1) The pardon issued automatically to the respondent as a first felony offender pursuant to Article 4, section 5(E)(1) of the Constitution of the State of Louisiana of 1974 upon completion of his sentence does not satisfy the requirements of section 241(b)(1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1251(b)(1) (1982), and therefore does not excuse deportability under section 241(a)(4) of the Act, because the pardon is neither full nor unconditional and because it was not issued by the Governor or an otherwise constitutionally-recognized executive body of Louisiana. (2) The availability or unavailability of a pardon under state or federal law, or the existence or nonexistence of a qualifying pardoning authority, is not determinative of whether an offenseconstitutes a \crime\ within the ambit of section 241(a)(4) of the Act. Matter of Cevallos, 12 I&N Dec. 750 (BIA 1968), overruled.