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Convention against Torture
The Convention against Torture is a defense in an Immigration case. Basically, it prohibits removing a person from the United States if that person would more likely than not be tortured in his country. There are two types of defenses. First a withholding of Removal type, which is a defense to removal. it allows the alien to be released from custody and permitted to remain in the US. Secondly there is a deferral of removal which avoid the removal but could keep the alien in detention and at a later date the immigration judge could allow the removal of the alien to his country if the country conditions are favorable. Obviously the first option is the best. The torture convention is a defense even if the alien committed a felony. This is a good defense, use it. Torture in the act is defined as "an act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or her or a third person information or a confession, punishing him or her for an act he or she or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or her or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiesce of a public official or other person acting in a official capacity." |