Divisible Statute Law and Legal Definition
A divisible statute is a criminal statute that includes various offenses, some of which have immigrations penalties, and others which do not. In immigration proceedings, such statutes are referred to as divisible statutes. Before a defendant can be determined to be removable, the courts must hold that the crime itself is a removable crime, i.e., that the state or federal statute is defined as a crime of moral turpitude, or a theft offense, or a crime of violence, etc. This can be very complicated when a criminal statute includes other crimes besides the removal offense, typically referred as a divisible criminal statute.
