INFORMATION FOR CALIFORNIA STATE PRISONERS WITH IMMIGRATION HOLDS (Revised February 2012)

"This manual is designed for noncitizen prisoners in the custody of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). Thus, the manual is addressed to people who are currently serving criminal sentences of longer than one year and who have at least one felony conviction; people in other situations may have more options for relief from removal. The purpose of the manual is to give noncitizen CDCR prisoners an understanding of what will happen to them as the result of an immigration detainer (hold), help them decide whether to challenge removal (deportation), and help them prepare for the proceedings if they choose to challenge removal. For most noncitizen prisoners, the main questions will be whether they can be deported and whether they have any defenses to deportation (known as “relief from removal”). The answers will depend on each person’s immigration status, other immigration history, the type of criminal convictions they have on their record, and family or social factors. Unfortunately, most CDCR prisoners will be deportable and will have few or no defenses to deportation." - Prison Law Office, Feb. 2012.