Fremont sits between two of the Bay Area's biggest legal hubs, Oakland and San Jose. The Law Offices of David S. Chesley's immigration lawyers handle visas, green cards, citizenship and asylum cases from this area. The firm's criminal lawyers handle charges where a conviction can carry its own immigration consequence, and state law requires a warning before any plea.
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Where is a Fremont criminal case heard?
Unlike some Alameda County cities, Fremont does not have to travel for a criminal hearing. The Superior Court of California, County of Alameda, names only four Criminal Court Locations total: Dublin, Fremont, and two buildings in Oakland.
| Court | Address and phone | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Fremont Hall of Justice | 39439 Paseo Padre Parkway, Fremont, CA 94538; (510) 818-7500 | One of Alameda County's four named criminal court locations |
Table: Fremont's own criminal courthouse.
What the citation itself says still comes first. Penal Code 853.6 requires only the time and the place to appear on that paper, so treat it, not this page, as the actual schedule.
The firm has no office physically in Fremont. Its work on the underlying charge runs through two dedicated pages: criminal defense in Fremont and DUI defense in Fremont.
Which federal agencies handle a Fremont immigration case?
Here is where the geography flips. A Fremont criminal case stays local, but a Fremont immigration case is handled out of neighboring cities, through three federal agencies with no office of their own inside Fremont.
| Agency | Office for this area | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Immigration court (EOIR) | Concord, 1855 Gateway Boulevard, Suite 850, Concord, CA 94520, (925) 680-9015, or Sacramento, (916) 447-9301 | Removal cases; EOIR's listing names only these two Northern California courts, with no stated city or county assignment |
| USCIS | San Jose Field Office, 1450 Coleman Avenue, Santa Clara, CA 95050 | Interviews for non-asylum cases, naturalization ceremonies, applicant services |
| ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations | San Francisco Field Office, 630 Sansome Street, Room 590, San Francisco, CA 94111; (415) 365-8800 | Area of Responsibility: Northern California, Hawaii, Guam, Saipan |
Table: three agencies, none of them based in Fremont.
On the court question, there simply is no third option to weigh. EOIR's own finder lists exactly two Northern California immigration courts, Concord and Sacramento, with nothing written anywhere about which cities belong to which. A hearing notice is the only document that actually answers that for a given case. Once a case exists, EOIR's ACIS tool can pull up, in the agency's own description, "basic information about the status of certain cases" for anyone who supplies an A-Number and nationality, though it cautions that "not all cases, or all information about a case is displayed."
USCIS, by contrast, has a clear answer, and it is in Santa Clara, not Fremont. The agency's ZIP lookup sends every Fremont address to the San Jose Field Office at 1450 Coleman Avenue. Despite the name, that office sits in the neighboring city of Santa Clara. Its posted services are interviews for non-asylum cases, naturalization ceremonies, and applicant services, by appointment. The standard instruction applies: "refer to your interview or appointment notice to confirm the field office address for your visit." Biometrics are handled elsewhere, at a separate Application Support Center.
ICE's side of things runs out of San Francisco. That field office's published Area of Responsibility, "Northern California, Hawaii, Guam, Saipan," is broad enough to cover Alameda County without naming it specifically, and it sits entirely outside the separately published, narrower territories the Los Angeles and San Diego field offices claim.
What three outcomes can follow a Fremont conviction?
Federal law treats one conviction as three separate questions, and a Fremont case gets no special exception.
| Outcome | What it means | Statute | Example grounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deportable | Removable after already being admitted | 8 U.S.C. 1227(a)(2) | One crime of moral turpitude within 5 years of admission with a possible 1-year sentence; 2 such crimes after admission, not from one scheme; any aggravated felony |
| Inadmissible | Barred from a visa, green card or reentry | 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(2) | A crime of moral turpitude, admitted or convicted; a controlled substance violation |
| Barred from relief | Cancellation of removal unavailable | 8 U.S.C. 1229b | Permanent residents: an aggravated felony. Others: a conviction under 1182(a)(2), 1227(a)(2) or 1227(a)(3) |
Table: deportable, inadmissible and barred from relief are not the same test.
For someone already admitted, 8 U.S.C. 1227(a)(2)(A) sets the deportability bar: a single crime of moral turpitude inside five years of admission with a possible one-year sentence is enough, as is any aggravated felony, or two such crimes after admission unconnected to one scheme.
For someone applying for a visa, a green card or reentry, 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(2)(A) governs instead, and a crime of moral turpitude or a drug offense can defeat the application. Its lone exception covers a single such crime only, where either the person was under 18 and more than five years have passed since release from confinement, or the maximum sentence was a year or less with no more than six months actually imposed.
Not every felony-sounding conviction qualifies as an "aggravated felony" under 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(43). Penal Code 18.5 caps a California misdemeanor at 364 days, which keeps it below the federal list's one-year thresholds entirely; only a wobbler sentenced on the felony side can reach that list.
Even the word "conviction" has its own federal meaning. 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(48)(A) counts a formal judgment of guilt on its own, and counts a guilty or no contest plea with any imposed punishment exactly the same way. A suspended sentence is measured at its full length, regardless of time actually served.
What warning must California give before a plea?
Penal Code 1016.5 requires a judge to read this exact line before almost any guilty or no contest plea: "If you are not a citizen of the United States, you are hereby advised that conviction of the offense for which you have been charged may have the consequences of deportation, exclusion from admission to the United States, or denial of naturalization pursuant to the laws of the United States." A conviction that may in fact carry one of those consequences, paired with a skipped warning, opens the door to vacating the plea under that same law.
A second duty runs alongside the court's warning. Penal Code 1016.2 adopts Padilla v. Kentucky into California statute, quoting the Supreme Court's holding at 559 U.S. 356, 374 (2010) that "counsel must inform her client whether his plea carries a risk of deportation." Penal Code 1016.3 carries that forward: defense counsel must give honest, affirmative advice on the consequences and work to limit them when the client wants that.
Can an old Fremont conviction still be reopened?
Years can pass before a conviction becomes a problem, usually the moment a visa, green card or citizenship application is filed. Penal Code 1473.7 lets someone no longer in criminal custody move to vacate it. The ground is prejudicial error that blocked their ability to meaningfully understand, defend against, or knowingly accept its immigration consequences. That standard reaches well past a lawyer's bad advice.
Two events can start the filing clock. One is a notice using the conviction as grounds for removal, or for denying a benefit, status or naturalization. The other is a notice that a removal order has become final. The later of the two is the one that matters.
Record sealing and a certificate of rehabilitation are genuine California remedies, but they do not touch the federal side. The Board of Immigration Appeals made that explicit in Matter of Pickering, 23 I&N Dec. 621 (BIA 2003): a conviction vacated only for rehabilitation, with no legal defect involved, "is not eliminated for immigration purposes." Penal Code 1016.5 and 1473.7 remain the only two routes that can.
Before a new plea happens in a Fremont case, line up the criminal facts and the immigration history together. See reviewing a plea for immigration consequences and, where a DUI is involved, how a DUI can affect immigration status.
What immigration services does the firm offer here?
Fremont clients bring the firm's immigration lawyers asylum claims, EB-5 investor visa cases, Form I-601 and I-601A hardship waivers, adjustment of status work, and citizenship and naturalization filings. In removal proceedings, the firm files for cancellation of removal, EOIR-42A or 42B under 8 U.S.C. 1229b, and pursues a motion to reopen or reconsider if that application fails.
Two further paths exist for specific situations. A child meeting 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(27)(J)'s conditions, including a juvenile court order, can pursue Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, and the firm's citizenship and naturalization work covers the path to becoming a U.S. citizen directly. A crime victim may separately qualify for a U Visa, where a law enforcement certification under 8 U.S.C. 1184(p)(1) is not optional.
The same office also defends the criminal charge itself, from DUI through drug, theft, violent and sex offense cases.
Frequently asked questions
Can a misdemeanor conviction in Fremont lead to deportation, or does it have to be a felony?
A misdemeanor is enough on its own in many cases. Immigration law simply does not sort crimes the way California does. A misdemeanor domestic violence crime, a drug offense, or two unrelated crimes of moral turpitude can each support deportability under 8 U.S.C. 1227(a)(2). An immigration lawyer can check a specific charge before a plea is entered.
If my Fremont case was dismissed, can the arrest still come back to affect my immigration status?
Mostly not, but Congress narrowed this in 2025. A plain arrest is still not a conviction under 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(48)(A). The Laken Riley Act added an override, though. The person must already be inadmissible under 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(6)(A), (6)(C) or (7). Once that is true, a charge, arrest or admission of theft, burglary, larceny, shoplifting, assault of a law enforcement officer, or a crime causing death or serious injury triggers mandatory ICE custody under 8 U.S.C. 1226(c)(1)(E).
Is a no contest plea safer for my immigration status than a guilty plea in a Fremont case?
No safer at all. Once any punishment follows, 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(48)(A) treats a no contest plea exactly like a guilty one.
I was never given the immigration warning before pleading guilty years ago in Alameda County. What can I do?
Look to Penal Code 1016.5 first. Its 2026 amendment addresses exactly this scenario: a plea taken before January 1, 2026 cannot be vacated for this reason alone just because the required word-for-word warning was read imperfectly, or not read at all. Nothing about that rule takes away a court's ordinary discretion to vacate a plea for a different reason. Penal Code 1473.7 is a separate avenue worth exploring in an Alameda County case like this one.
Can ICE take someone directly from Alameda County jail?
Not from a hold request on its own. Government Code 7284.6(a)(1)(B) forbids that. A real transfer needs a judicial warrant, a judicial probable cause finding, or one of the convictions Government Code 7282.5 lists, under Section 7284.6(a)(4).
Does a U Visa really require police cooperation, or is it optional?
Required, not optional. 8 U.S.C. 1184(p)(1) makes the law enforcement certification a mandatory part of the petition, and the applicant must have been, be, or be likely to become helpful to the investigation.
My naturalization application is already pending. Could an old Fremont case put it at risk?
It could, so get ahead of it. Have the old case reviewed against the pending application before the interview, rather than waiting for a problem to turn up.
Talk to a Fremont immigration lawyer today
A criminal case and an immigration case tied to the same Fremont arrest rarely run on matching deadlines. The Law Offices of David S. Chesley offers a free consultation, is available 24/7, and offers payment plans. Call (800) 755-5174 or use the firm's consultation request form.