·
The
client may choose to offer to plead guilty to a
more serious offense, or more counts, that have
smaller immigration effects, as opposed to the charged
offense or an offered lesser which carries a greater
possibility of serious immigration damage.
·
The
client may offer to serve additional days, months,
or even years of incarceration in order to obtain
a plea bargain in which the offense of conviction
is altered to one which affords him or her an enhanced
probability of being able to salvage the immigration
situation.
·
The
client may choose to offer to inform against other
culprits in return for a plea bargain s/he can live
with from an immigration standpoint. This can take
extreme forms (more common in federal court) of
years of involuntary and highly dangerous servitude
such as going undercover busting Mafiosi. If the
client cares enough, and the prosecution is willing,
sometimes an agreement to avoid deportation can
be worked out. The immigration laws contain a special
"S" visa, perhaps standing for "snitch,"
for noncitizens if a prosecutor seeks it.FN243
·
If
there are codefendants, perhaps the prosecution
would agree to inflict greater punishment on a U.S.
citizen codefendant, or one who is an immigrant
whose immigration status is not in jeopardy, in
return for lightening up on an immigrant at risk.
·
The
client may be willing to take a long-odds case to
trial since long odds are better than no odds at
all.
