The term "moral turpitude" means an act of baseness, vileness, or depravity in the private and social duties owing to one’s fellow man or society in general, contrary to accepted and customary rules, and is dependent upon depraved or vicious motives on the part of the alien. Since neither the INA nor its legislative history provides a definition of a crime of moral turpitude, a Court of Appeals will defer to the long-established BIA definition that it includes a crime committed recklessly and with a conscious disregard of a substantial and unjustifiable risk to the life and safety of others. Whether a crime involves moral turpitude is determined by the inherent nature of the crime as defined, rather than the circumstances surrounding the particular transgression. The essential question then in determining whether a crime involves moral turpitude is whether the proscribed act, as defined by the law of the appropriate jurisdiction in which the act was committed, includes elements which necessarily demonstrate the baseness, vileness, and depravity of the perpetrator.To determine whether a criminal conviction amounts to a crime involving moral turpitude, it is the statute that defines the crime, rather than the act committed, which is controlling.

If moral turpitude necessarily inheres in the crime defined by the statute under which the conviction occurred, the conviction is for a crime involving moral turpitude. Thus, it is in the intent that moral turpitude inheres, and a crime committed without contemplating death, without malice, and without intent, and ordinarily committed while engaged in a lawful act, but committed through carelessness or lack of caution or circumspection, does not include an evil intent and does not involve moral turpitude. However, a criminal statute need not require "evil intent" for it to be considered a crime involving moral turpitude; rather, the statute need only require an act of such debased or depraved behavior that it violates accepted moral standards. Conversely, not every conviction based on a criminal statute requiring "evil intent" is for a crime involving moral turpitude.

Where reckless conduct is an element of a statute, a crime of assault may be, but is not per se, a crime involving moral turpitude; however, where the offense is similar to a simple assault, it is not a crime involving moral turpitude.

Only if the statute under which the alien was convicted includes some offenses which involve moral turpitude and others which do not, will the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) look to the record of conviction, which includes the indictment, the plea, the verdict, and the sentence, to determine the offense for which the alien was convicted. In the case of many lesser crimes, the question of moral turpitude is not determined by the name of the crime, but rather by the nature of the crime as defined in the pertinent statute and alleged in the indictment.

In determining whether a crime involves moral turpitude, neither the immigration authorities nor the courts may go beyond the record of conviction to examine the circumstances under which the crime was committed, but, rather, the determination must be made

on the basis of the statutory definition of the crime and the record of conviction. The indictment, plea, verdict, and sentencing, but not extrinsic evidence, may be properly considered in determining whether a crime involves moral turpitude. In doing so, the court may look to the allegations of the indictment pertinent to the crime to which a plea of guilty was entered to determine whether such allegations state a crime involving moral turpitude.

Although when by definition a crime does not necessarily involve moral turpitude, an alien cannot be deported because in the particular instances conduct was immoral, when a crime does necessarily involve moral turpitude, no evidence is competent that the alien was in fact blameless.

Where the underlying, substantive offense is a crime involving moral turpitude, conspiracy to commit such an offense is also a crime involving moral turpitude.Conversely, conspiracy to commit an offense is not a crime involving moral turpitude where the substantive offense does not involve moral turpitude. Similarly, conviction under state law of being an accessory before the fact constitutes a conviction for a crime involving moral turpitude where the substantive offense involves moral turpitude.

 

Particular crimes involving moral turpitude for purposes of removal include:

(1) bad check charge;

(2) blackmail;

(3) forgery including uttering a forged prescription for narcotic drugs or any other writing with the intent to defraud the United States Government, or transportation of a forged and altered security in foreign commerce

(4) burglary and unlawful entry with intent to commit larceny

(5) incest;[

(6) rape, statutory rape, carnal abuse of a female child, indecent assault, or willful failure to register as a sex offender;

(7) bigamy consensual sodomy; oral sex perversion; being a lewd, wanton, and lascivious person in speech and behavior;[16] or offering to secure another for the purpose of prostitution and renting rooms with the knowledge that such rooms were to be used for the purposes of prostitution

(8) obtaining money by means of a fraudulent scheme involving cheating or swindling;

(9) concealing assets from a trustee in bankruptcy;

(10) possession of stolen mail, or using the mails in a scheme to defraud;

(11) perjury;

(12) larceny in any form, whether grand or petit, and an attempt to commit grand larceny;

(13) an attempt to defeat and evade income tax with intent to defraud the government;

(14) engaging in the business of a distiller of alcohol with intent to defraud the United States of the tax on distilled spirits; failure to pay an occupational tax required for the sale of liquor with intent to defraud the United States, or concealing distilled spirits with intent to defraud the United States of tax;

(15) conspiracy to defraud the United States, including conspiring with others to commit an offense against and to defraud the United States by carrying on the business of a wholesale liquor dealer while willfully failing to pay the special tax required to be paid by wholesale liquor dealers;

(16) murder;

(17) voluntary manslaughter;

(18) involuntary manslaughter, manslaughter in the first degree involving homicide committed without a design to effect death in the heat of passion, but in a cruel and unusual manner or by means of a dangerous weapon,[34] or manslaughter in the second degree involving criminally reckless conduct

(19) mayhem as defined by state statute requiring the act be done voluntarily, maliciously, or on purpose;

(20) assault and battery with intent to kill, with a dangerous or deadly weapon, with intent to rob,[39] or with the intention of ousting persons from the possession of their property to the end that the usurper may use the same for his own enjoyment and to the danger of the community;

(21) carrying a concealed and deadly weapon with intent to use the weapon against another person;

(22) willfully and knowingly making a false statement in an application for a passport with intent to induce and secure the issuance of a passport, or making of a false statement in the acquisition of a firearm;

(23) issuing an insufficient funds check with intent to cheat and defraud, or passing a worthless check with intent to defraud;

(24) child beating;

(25) robbery;

(26) bribery;

(27) counterfeiting, or passing, uttering, publishing, mailing, or possessing counterfeit obligations with intent to defraud;

(28) receiving and concealing stolen goods knowing them to be stolen;

(29) smuggling liquor with intent to defraud the United States of tariffs;

(30) encumbering mortgaged property with an intent to defraud;

(31) interfering with a law enforcement officer involving the use of deadly physical force;

(32) conspiracy, mail fraud, and wire fraud;

(33) obtaining student loans by fraud and false statements in violation of 20 USCA ß 1097(a) and making material false statements in violation of 18 USCA ß 1001;

(34) knowingly and willfully obtaining Pell grant funds0

(35) theft and conversion of United States government funds;

(36) obstruction of justice (providing a false name and driver’s license to police officers to prevent arrest for driving with revoked license);

(37) money laundering to conceal drug proceeds is a crime of moral turpitude;[60]

(38) possession of child pornography;

(39) knowingly harboring and concealing a person for whose arrest a warrant has been issued and misprision of felony;

(40) conviction for spousal abuse under California law;

(41) money laundering in violation of New York law;

(42) trafficking in counterfeit goods

Aggravated Felonies