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An aggravated felony (''"violent felony"'' or a ''"federal felony"'') is used in the United States immigration law to refer to a broad category of criminal offenses that carry certain severe consequences for aliens seeking asylum, legal permanent resident status, citizenship, or avoidance of deportation proceedings. Anyone convicted of an aggravated felony and removed from the United States "must remain outside of the United States for twenty consecutive years from the deportation date before he or she is eligible to re-enter the United States."〔(【引用サイトリンク】url= http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/8/1212.2 )〕 When the category of "aggravated felonies" was first added to the Immigration and Nationality Act in 1988, as a response to heightened concerns about drug abuse, it encompassed only murder and trafficking in drugs or firearms.〔See Pub. L. 100-690, 102 Stat. 4181, Section 7342 (Nov. 18, 1988)〕 The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA) and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA) both tremendously expanded the category. AEDPA added crimes related to gambling and passport fraud; IIRIRA added a great many more crimes, including certain crimes of a sentence of at least a year regardless of whether the sentence had been suspended. The following chart lists all current aggravated felonies: ==Controversial issues involving an aggravated felony== The definition of aggravated felony has significantly expanded since its inception in 1988. A series of amendments have expanded its reach to the point that an aggravated felony need not be aggravated, nor a felony, to trigger the consequences of such a conviction. Although U.S. Congress made it clear that in order for any criminal offense to qualify as an "aggravated felony", it must be a "crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year", the Third Circuit Court of Appeals has ignored this. For example, in ''United States of America v. Winston C. Graham'', 169 F.3d 787 (3rd Cir. 1999), the Third Circuit Court of Appeals held that the respondent's 1990 petit larceny, a Class A misdemeanor with a maximum of one year imprisonment under New York law, constitutes an aggravated felony.〔(Aggravated Felonies and Deportation ) (Syracuse University)〕 In ''Lopez v. Gonzales'', 549 U.S. 47 (2006), the Supreme Court ruled that because immigration law is under the control of the federal government, the definitions of any terms on the aggravated felony list comes from federal law, not state law. This holding calls into question the result in Graham because under federal law a crime must be punishable by imprisonment for a term "exceeding" one year in order to be considered an aggravated felony, otherwise it is cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. In (a)(20), Congress explains that the term "crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year does not include ... any State offense classified by the laws of the State as a misdemeanor and punishable by a term of imprisonment of two years or less." In ''Leocal v. Ashcroft'', , the Court ruled that DUI is not an aggravated felony if the DUI statute that defines the offense does not contain a ''mens rea'' element or otherwise allows a conviction for merely negligent conduct. In ''Popal v. Gonzales'', 416 F.3d 249, 254 (3d Cir. 2005), the Third Circuit Court of Appeals held that Pennsylvania simple assault does not constitute crime of violence under 18 USC § 16(a) and is therefore not an aggravate felony.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url= http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/416/249/480940/ )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Aggravated felony」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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