The Supreme Court blocked the government Monday from routinely deporting legal immigrants for minor drug-possession convictions, a decision that immigrant-rights lawyers said will spare tens of thousands of otherwise law-abiding residents from being sent out of the United States.
In a 9-0 decision, the justices said a Texas man who had pleaded guilty at different times to having a marijuana cigarette and a single Xanax pill, an anti-anxiety drug, had been wrongfully deported.
Jose Carachuri-Rosendo was taken into federal custody after he pleaded no contest to having the Xanax pill without a prescription. Both an immigration judge and the U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled he must be deported because his second drug-possession conviction qualified as an "aggravated felony."
His case illustrated the potentially harsh impact of a 1996 federal law that was intended to rid the nation of immigrants who were criminals and violent offenders. Previously, immigrants could ask for leniency if they had a job, a family or other ties in the U.S.
The new law, by contrast, required the deportation of any noncitizen convicted of an "aggravated felony." But Congress did not carefully define this term. Since then, immigration judges have been deciding which crimes fit the definition.
The ruling Monday marks the third time in six years that the Supreme Court has intervened and ruled that these judges have gone too far.
Justice John Paul Stevens said the government's view defies common sense.
"We do not usually think of a 10-day sentence for the unauthorized possession of a trivial amount of a prescription drug as an 'aggravated felony,' " he wrote.
Because of its strict wording, the 1996 law had required deportation even for legal residents. Despite the ruling, immigrants convicted of drug charges still could be deported. They will, however, now have a chance to seek leniency before an immigration judge.
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: The Denver Post
Author: David G. Savage
Contact: The Denver Post
Copyright: 2010 The Denver Post
Website: Supreme Court blocks U.S. from deporting immigrants over minor drug convictions
In a 9-0 decision, the justices said a Texas man who had pleaded guilty at different times to having a marijuana cigarette and a single Xanax pill, an anti-anxiety drug, had been wrongfully deported.
Jose Carachuri-Rosendo was taken into federal custody after he pleaded no contest to having the Xanax pill without a prescription. Both an immigration judge and the U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled he must be deported because his second drug-possession conviction qualified as an "aggravated felony."
His case illustrated the potentially harsh impact of a 1996 federal law that was intended to rid the nation of immigrants who were criminals and violent offenders. Previously, immigrants could ask for leniency if they had a job, a family or other ties in the U.S.
The new law, by contrast, required the deportation of any noncitizen convicted of an "aggravated felony." But Congress did not carefully define this term. Since then, immigration judges have been deciding which crimes fit the definition.
The ruling Monday marks the third time in six years that the Supreme Court has intervened and ruled that these judges have gone too far.
Justice John Paul Stevens said the government's view defies common sense.
"We do not usually think of a 10-day sentence for the unauthorized possession of a trivial amount of a prescription drug as an 'aggravated felony,' " he wrote.
Because of its strict wording, the 1996 law had required deportation even for legal residents. Despite the ruling, immigrants convicted of drug charges still could be deported. They will, however, now have a chance to seek leniency before an immigration judge.
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: The Denver Post
Author: David G. Savage
Contact: The Denver Post
Copyright: 2010 The Denver Post
Website: Supreme Court blocks U.S. from deporting immigrants over minor drug convictions
