An immigration lawyer in Sacramento helps with asylum, green cards, citizenship and fighting removal, and also defends the criminal charges that can turn into immigration problems. The immigration practice at the Law Offices of David S. Chesley treats both as one problem, since Sacramento's criminal court and its federal immigration agencies sit close together, yet decide separate questions.
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Sacramento's own immigration court, USCIS office and ICE coverage
Sacramento is unusual. It has its own immigration court and its own USCIS office, both in the same federal building, but no ICE field office of its own.
EOIR's own court listing names the Sacramento Immigration Court as one of only two Northern California courts, alongside Concord. It sits in the John Moss Federal Building, 650 Capitol Mall, Suite 4-200, Sacramento, CA 95814, (916) 447-9301, open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday except federal holidays. No EOIR page states a county list for which cases that court actually hears; the hearing notice the court sends once a Notice to Appear is filed states the court, the date and the time for that specific case.
USCIS keeps an office in the same federal building. The USCIS Sacramento Field Office is at 650 Capitol Mall, Sacramento, CA 95814, handling green card interviews and naturalization ceremonies by appointment only. USCIS's own locator does not list a suite number for that office, so do not assume it shares the immigration court's Suite 4-200. Walk-ins are not accepted, and biometrics happen separately at an Application Support Center. USCIS's guidance: "Please refer to your interview or appointment notice to confirm the field office address for your visit."
ICE runs no Sacramento office. Its Enforcement and Removal Operations division lists only three field offices statewide, and Sacramento is absent from the Los Angeles and San Diego offices' named county lists, which leaves the San Francisco Field Office, 630 Sansome Street, Room 590, San Francisco, CA 94111, (415) 365-8800, whose stated Area of Responsibility is "Northern California, Hawaii, Guam, Saipan."
| Agency | Office | Address and phone |
|---|---|---|
| EOIR (immigration court) | Sacramento Immigration Court | 650 Capitol Mall, Suite 4-200, Sacramento, CA 95814; (916) 447-9301 |
| USCIS | Sacramento Field Office | 650 Capitol Mall, Sacramento, CA 95814 |
| ICE | San Francisco Field Office (ERO) | 630 Sansome Street, Room 590, San Francisco, CA 94111; (415) 365-8800 |
Once a case is filed, EOIR's Automated Case Information System lets a person check status with an A-Number and nationality. EOIR's own description keeps it modest: "basic information about the status of certain cases," with the caveat that "Not all cases, or all information about a case is displayed." EOIR says plainly that the court's own documents, not this system, "are the only official determinations related to your case."
Where does a Sacramento criminal case actually get heard?
Sacramento County moved all of its criminal courtrooms, operations and jury services to the Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye Sacramento County Courthouse, 500 G Street, Sacramento, CA 95814, replacing the former Gordon D. Schaber Courthouse as of April 20, 2026. Anyone holding an older citation listing the Schaber address at 720 9th Street should expect the case to now sit at 500 G Street instead. The county's Main Jail is at the Lorenzo Patiño Hall of Justice, 651 I Street, Sacramento, CA 95814, and the Criminal Division's combined phone line for both buildings is (916) 874-5744.
The Law Offices of David S. Chesley's own Sacramento office is at 770 L Street, Suite 950, Sacramento, CA 95814, (916) 248-4717. The firm's wider Sacramento practice is on the Sacramento criminal defense page, and a Sacramento DUI arrest specifically has its own page, the Sacramento DUI page.
What does a Sacramento conviction risk under federal immigration law?
Sacramento's court decides the sentence; two separate federal questions follow from it, and neither is up to that court: 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, absent the exception |
| 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) |
Californians are often caught out by one detail in that first row: Penal Code 18.5 caps a state misdemeanor at 364 days, so a misdemeanor alone can never reach the one-year sentence federal law needs to call something an aggravated felony. California also steps in before a plea is entered. Penal Code 1016.5 requires the judge, before accepting almost any guilty or no contest plea, to read this on the record, word for word: "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 separate duty falls on defense counsel: Penal Code 1016.2 and 1016.3 codify Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356, 374 (2010), which held that "counsel must inform her client whether his plea carries a risk of deportation." If a conviction is already final, Penal Code 1473.7 can still reopen it where a prejudicial error kept the person from understanding its immigration consequences. How a DUI conviction can affect immigration status in California covers this same advisement duty and the federal grounds at greater length; reviewing the immigration record before a new Sacramento plea is the better time to catch a problem.
What else does the firm handle for Sacramento clients?
Beyond the criminal case, the firm's immigration work for Sacramento clients covers asylum, the EB-5 investor program, adjustment of status toward a green card, citizenship and naturalization applications, and the firm's family-hardship Waivers 601 and 601(a) (USCIS form numbers, not statute sections). For removal proceedings before the Sacramento Immigration Court, that includes Cancellation of Removal 42(b) or 42(a) under 8 U.S.C. 1229b, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, T Visas, U Visas (which always require a law enforcement certification) and post-conviction relief such as sealing records, which helps outside the immigration case but, under Matter of Pickering, does not by itself undo an immigration consequence. The firm's immigration practice page, linked above, sets out the specific requirements behind each of these services in more detail.
Frequently asked questions
If Sacramento has its own immigration court, why does ICE send cases to San Francisco?
Immigration court and ICE enforcement are entirely different agencies with different offices. ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations division runs only three field offices statewide, and Sacramento falls under the San Francisco one.
Can a misdemeanor from Sacramento County actually lead to removal proceedings?
Yes, in some cases. A misdemeanor crime of moral turpitude, repeated, or a single qualifying drug or domestic violence offense, can support deportability under 8 U.S.C. 1227(a)(2) without any felony conviction.
Does a Sacramento plea deal built around probation avoid immigration consequences?
Not necessarily. 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(48)(B) counts a suspended sentence at its full length, so a probation-based deal can still reach a one-year threshold for immigration purposes.
I have an old Sacramento arrest that never led to a conviction. Could it still affect a pending naturalization application?
It can come up even without a conviction. An arrest alone is not a conviction under 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(48)(A), but it should be reviewed against the application before filing, not after a problem appears.
What if the Sacramento court never gave me the required immigration warning before I pleaded guilty?
It depends on whether the warning was skipped entirely or given imperfectly. If skipped entirely and the conviction may carry one of those three consequences, the court must let the defendant withdraw the plea. For a plea before January 1, 2026, subdivision (e) says an imperfect warning is not, by itself, grounds to vacate, though a judge keeps discretion to grant relief another way. Penal Code 1473.7 covers a wider set of problems, including bad advice from counsel.
Is law enforcement certification required for a U Visa, or just helpful?
It is required. 8 U.S.C. 1184(p)(1) requires a written certification from a law enforcement official, prosecutor or judge before the petition can be filed.
Talk to a lawyer about your Sacramento case today
Whether the case in front of you is a new Sacramento charge, an old conviction resurfacing in an immigration matter, or a case already pending before the Sacramento Immigration Court, 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.