A case that was decided February 21, 2012 by the United States Supreme Court should send shock waves through the resident alien community. Those persons, who are non-citizen U.S. resident taxpayers, face the prospect of deportation if they are convicted of tax crimes which are now to be considered as “aggravated felonies”.

The case is Kawashima v. Holder 565 U.S. __ (2012). The case arose on appeal from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and holds that aliens who are U.S. taxpayers, are subject to deportation if they are convicted of tax evasion involving $10,000 or more. In this case the defendant taxpayer was convicted of violating 26 U.S.C. §§7206(1) and (2) tax evasion and making a false statement, which are crimes involving fraud or deceit. Therefore, the court held that such crimes constitute aggravated felonies under 8 U.S.C. §1101(a)(43)(M)(i) and as such constitute aggravated felonies as defined in the Immigration and Nationality Act. The government sought their deportation, and a deportation order was sustained.

Please see full article below for more information.