An immigration lawyer in Fresno handles green cards, waivers, citizenship and removal defense, and also defends the criminal charges that can turn into immigration problems. The immigration practice at the Law Offices of David S. Chesley treats the criminal case and the immigration case as one problem, because a Fresno County plea can decide a federal immigration outcome months later.
Our law firm has been featured on
David Chesley in the news
Select a photo to enlarge
Which Fresno County courthouse hears a criminal case?
Fresno County splits criminal cases across three buildings, and each one handles something different.
| Courthouse | Address and phone | What it hears |
|---|---|---|
| Downtown Courthouse | 1100 Van Ness Avenue, Fresno, CA 93724; (559) 457-1801 Criminal Clerk, (559) 457-2000 | Felony and misdemeanor cases |
| Jail Annex, Criminal Courts 95 and 96 | 1265 M Street, Fresno, CA 93721; (559) 457-2000 | Criminal cases, including domestic violence |
| M Street Courthouse | 2317 Tuolumne Street, Fresno, CA 93721; (559) 457-1700 | Infractions, traffic infractions and Drug Court |
The court's own locations page also lists a separate ACTION Center at 1100 Van Ness Avenue, handling sentencing programs such as community service and DUI classes, and a Sheriff's Incarcerated Person Search for confirming a county jail booking. The Law Offices of David S. Chesley's own Fresno office is at 5588 N Palm Avenue, Fresno, CA 93704, (559) 365-7055. The firm's wider Fresno practice is on the Fresno criminal defense page, and a drug charge, which can carry its own diversion and bail questions, has its own page, the Fresno drug charges page.
Fresno has its own USCIS office. Immigration court and ICE are somewhere else.
USCIS actually keeps a Fresno office. The USCIS Fresno Field Office is at 744 P Street, Suite 120, Fresno, CA 93721, handling green card interviews and naturalization ceremonies by appointment only. Walk-ins are not accepted, and biometrics are handled separately at an Application Support Center, not at the field office. USCIS's own guidance is to "refer to your interview or appointment notice to confirm the field office address for your visit."
Immigration court is a different story. EOIR's own court listing shows no Fresno immigration court; the two courts serving Northern California are Concord and Sacramento. Neither court's own page states which counties it covers, so this page does not guess which one takes a Fresno case. What actually controls is the hearing notice that court sends once a case is filed, stating the court, the date and the time.
ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations lists only three field offices for the whole state. Los Angeles covers Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. San Diego covers San Diego and Imperial counties. Fresno County appears in neither list, which leaves the San Francisco Field Office, 630 Sansome Street, Room 590, San Francisco, CA 94111, (415) 365-8800, whose own stated Area of Responsibility is "Northern California, Hawaii, Guam, Saipan," the only one of the three not tied to a short, named county list.
EOIR's Automated Case Information System, once a case exists, can be checked with an A-Number and a nationality. EOIR calls it a source of "basic information about the status of certain cases," adding that "Not all cases, or all information about a case is displayed." The agency says the court's or Board's own documents, not this lookup, "are the only official determinations related to your case."
| Agency | Office | Address and phone |
|---|---|---|
| USCIS | Fresno Field Office | 744 P Street, Suite 120, Fresno, CA 93721 |
| ICE | San Francisco Field Office (ERO) | 630 Sansome Street, Room 590, San Francisco, CA 94111; (415) 365-8800 |
| EOIR (immigration court) | Sacramento or Concord (exact court per the hearing notice) | Sacramento: 650 Capitol Mall, Suite 4-200, (916) 447-9301. Concord: 1855 Gateway Boulevard, Suite 850, (925) 680-9015 |
What does a Fresno conviction risk under federal immigration law?
Two separate federal questions follow a Fresno conviction, and Fresno County's own sentence does not decide either one: whether the conviction makes someone deportable or inadmissible, and whether it blocks relief such as cancellation of removal.
| Question | Governing section | What can trigger it |
|---|---|---|
| Deportable? | 8 U.S.C. 1227(a)(2) | Aggravated felony; moral turpitude; drugs; firearms; domestic violence |
| Inadmissible? | 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(2) | Moral turpitude or controlled substance, unless excepted |
| Barred from cancellation of removal? | 8 U.S.C. 1229b(a)(3), (b)(1)(C) | Aggravated felony (permanent residents); 1182(a)(2), 1227(a)(2), (a)(3) (others) |
A Fresno-specific trap sits inside the first row: California's own Penal Code 18.5 caps a misdemeanor sentence at 364 days, so a California misdemeanor by itself cannot reach the one-year sentence that federal law needs to call something an aggravated felony; only a felony sentence crosses that line. California also builds in protection before a plea is ever entered. Penal Code 1016.5 requires the judge to read this warning, word for word, before nearly 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." Penal Code 1016.2 and 1016.3 put a matching duty on the defense lawyer, following Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356, 374 (2010): "counsel must inform her client whether his plea carries a risk of deportation." Once a conviction is already final, Penal Code 1473.7 can still reopen it for a prejudicial error that kept someone from understanding its immigration consequences. How a DUI conviction can affect immigration status in California walks through this same California advisement duty and the federal grounds in more depth; reviewing a Fresno charge against the immigration record before any plea is the better time to catch a problem than after it.
What else does the firm handle beyond the Fresno criminal case?
The firm's immigration practice also covers asylum cases, EB-5 investor filings, adjustment of status toward a green card, citizenship and naturalization applications, the firm's family-hardship Waivers 601 and 601(a) (USCIS form numbers, not statute sections), Cancellation of Removal 42(b) or 42(a) under 8 U.S.C. 1229b for someone already facing removal, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, T Visas, U Visas and post-conviction relief such as sealing records. A U Visa petition always needs a law enforcement certification; sealing a record helps outside the immigration case but, under Matter of Pickering, does not by itself undo an immigration consequence the way a legal-defect vacatur under Penal Code 1016.5 or 1473.7 can. More on how California record relief affects an immigration case.
Frequently asked questions
Can a Fresno drug charge affect an immigration case even without a conviction?
Sometimes, yes. Since the Laken Riley Act (Pub. L. 119-1, January 29, 2025), 8 U.S.C. 1226(c)(1)(E) requires federal custody for a noncitizen who is inadmissible under 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(6)(A), (6)(C) or (7) and who "is charged with, is arrested for, is convicted of, admits having committed, or admits committing acts which constitute the essential elements of" burglary, theft, larceny, shoplifting, assault on a law enforcement officer, or a crime causing death or serious injury, without a conviction being required.
If my Fresno case ends in formal probation, am I safe from immigration consequences?
No. 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(48)(B) counts a suspended sentence at its full length for immigration purposes, so a probation-only sentence can still cross a one-year threshold.
What if the Fresno court never gave the required immigration warning before an old guilty plea?
It depends on whether the warning was missing entirely or just not word for word. Penal Code 1016.5 requires a court to vacate a plea where no advisement was given and the conviction may carry one of the three listed consequences. For a plea from before 2026, subdivision (e) says a warning given in substance but not verbatim is not, by itself, grounds to vacate. Penal Code 1473.7 covers broader problems, including bad advice from a defense lawyer.
Was my Fresno case resolved through diversion instead of a conviction? Does that matter for immigration?
It depends on the details, not the label. 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(48)(A) looks at whether a judge found facts sufficient for guilt and ordered any penalty, regardless of what California calls the disposition.
Can local police transfer someone from Fresno County jail straight to ICE?
Not freely. California's Values Act, Government Code 7284.6(a)(1)(B), bars detention on an immigration hold request alone, and 7284.6(a)(4) bars a transfer without a judicial warrant or probable cause finding, unless Government Code 7282.5 allows it for a specific list of convictions.
Does a U Visa require an official certification, or is cooperating informally enough?
A certification is required by statute. 8 U.S.C. 1184(p)(1) requires a certification from a law enforcement official, prosecutor or judge before a U Visa petition can proceed.
Talk to a lawyer about your Fresno case today
Whether the issue is a new Fresno charge, an old conviction causing a new immigration problem, or an application an arrest has complicated, 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 to review both sides of the case together.