LAWYERS DISCUSS CROSS-BORDER CONFUSION

A pardon probably doesn't count and an absolute discharge can mean
absolutely nothing when you're trying to enter the U.S. with a
criminal conviction, Winnipeg lawyers heard yesterday at a meeting of
the Manitoba Bar Association.

"We don't know what the U.S. authorities are going to do," said
criminal lawyer Mike Law. One of the first things his clients ask is
whether a conviction will prevent them from entering the States, he
told a panel of immigration lawyers.

In the "minefield" that is the U.S. immigration and border security
system, that's never a simple question, said Law, who was looking to
the panel on "cross-border confusion" for answers.

But even experienced U.S. immigration lawyers are having a hard time
navigating the system there, said Loan Huynh, chairman of the American
Immigration Lawyer's Association Minnesota and Dakotas chapter.

Regulations are constantly being revised and there is confusion about
who has jurisdiction in different areas of immigration, said the
lawyer with Fredrikson & Byron in Minnesota. Since the terrorist
attacks of Sept. 11 and the implementation of the U.S. Homeland
Security Act, the American immigration department has been overhauled,
split into new bureaucracies and riddled with new rules and
departments, she said.

Prior to 9/11, the U.S. immigration was already a puzzle for many
Canadian judges, lawyers and their clients, said Law, who is with the
firm Chapman Goddard & Kagan in Winnipeg.

"There's a huge amount of confusion," said Law. He's heard judges
grant absolute discharges for simple marijuana possession to spare
someone from a conviction that would prevent them from getting into
the U.S. when in fact the conviction stands in the eyes of the
American authorities.

Huynh said the U.S. doesn't recognize discharges. The conviction
remains on the person's record when border agents check on the computer.

The trouble is, Law said, most Canadians don't know that. There's
confusing double standards as well. A Canadian convicted of drunk
driving won't have as hard a time getting into the States as someone
convicted of possessing a joint but the reverse is true for Americans
trying to get into Canada, said Law.