Litigation

Amicus Brief: Farhane v. United States

February 2, 2021

Naturalized citizens deserve full and proper counsel from their attorneys under the Sixth Amendment.

We filed an amicus brief in Farhane v. United States. In Farhane, the Second Circuit will determine whether a criminal defense attorney’s failure to advise a naturalized U.S. citizen of the denaturalization and deportation consequences of a guilty plea constitutes ineffective assistance of counsel under the Sixth Amendment. The amicus brief shows that the complexity of the naturalization process as well as the relative lack of knowledge by naturalized individuals about our legal system requires that naturalized individuals be informed about the possibility of denaturalization for themselves as well as their families by their attorneys.