Immigrant wins in drug deportation case
By PETE YOST, Associated Press Writer Tue Dec 5, 5:09 PM ET
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Tuesday increased the chances for some immigrants to remain in
the United States if they have been convicted of drug possession under state laws.
The justices' 8-1 ruling came on the same day the court heard arguments in another immigrant case in
which a man in California is trying to avoid deportation after pleading guilty to a theft charge.
The ruling came in the case of Jose Antonio Lopez, a 16-year permanent U.S. resident who pleaded guilty in
a South Dakota court to telling someone where to obtain cocaine.
The crime, aiding and abetting possession of drugs, is a felony in South Dakota. Most first-time simple
possession offenses are punished as misdemeanors under the federal Controlled Substances Act.
Conduct that is a felony under state law but a misdemeanor under the Controlled Substances Act is not an
aggravated felony for purposes of immigration, Justice David Souter wrote.
Lopez was deported to Mexico in January 2006, but will come back to the United States where an
immigration judge will decide whether he may remain in the country.
He wants to return to his family in the United States who include his 11-year-old son and 6-year-old
daughter, and his legal prospects have improved greatly because of the court ruling, his lawyers said.
Lopez, who had operated a grocery store in Sioux Falls, S.D., still could face deportation, but an immigration
judge would have discretion to allow him to remain in the United States.
In opposing the immigrant's legal position, the Bush administration said that Congress left the door open to
counting state felonies under the federal Controlled Substances Act. That would trigger deportation under
the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Reading the law "the government's way ... would often turn simple possession into trafficking, just what the
English language tells us not to expect and that result makes us very wary of the government's position,"
Souter wrote.
Justice Clarence Thomas dissented, declaring his colleagues' approach "unpersuasive."
The decision could affect thousands of immigrants with minor drug-related convictions, said Benita Jain, a
staff attorney with the Immigrant Defense Project of the New York State Defenders Association.
After the justices issued the decision, they turned to the case of Luis Alexander Duenas-Alvarez, a Peruvian
immigrant in California who pleaded guilty to unlawfully taking a car, prompting the government to file
removal proceedings against him.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Duenas-Alvarez's conviction did not qualify as an
aggravated felony under immigration law. The federal government appealed to the Supreme Court.
In other action, the court dismissed the case of a third immigrant, whose case had been consolidated with
that of Lopez. The court said its decision to accept the case of Reymundo Toledo-Flores had been
improvidently granted.
Toledo-Flores is a Mexican national who objected to having his latest conviction for illegally entering the
United States classified an aggravated felony. Toledo-Flores was contesting his prison term, not his
deportation, and he had already served it.
The cases are Lopez v. Gonzales, 05-7664, and Toledo-Flores v. U.S., 05-493.
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Associated Press reporter Suzanne Gamboa contributed to this report.
March 26, 2006
Immigration Debate Heating Up in Senate
By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Founded by immigrants and praised as a haven for the oppressed, the United States now
is struggling to decide the fate of as many as 12 million people living in the country illegally.
The Senate takes up the emotional debate on the heels of weekend rallies that drew hundreds of thousands
of people protesting attempts to toughen laws against immigrants. Among the ideas that President Bush and
members of Congress are considering:
• Erecting a fence on the Mexico border to deter illegal immigration.
• Treating people who sneak across the border as felons to be deported.
• Allowing foreigners to stay in the country legally as custodians, dish washers,
construction workers and other low-paid employees.
• Allowing those working in the U.S. a path to citizenship.
• Requiring them to get in line behind everyone else back in their home countries who
want to become Americans.
On Monday, the Senate Judiciary Committee takes up the issue and Bush headlines a naturalization
ceremony for 30 new citizens at Constitution Hall. Demonstrations are planned near the Capitol,
including a prayer service with immigration advocates and clergy who plan to wear handcuffs to
demonstrate the criminalization of immigration violations.
Bush is going to Mexico this week for a meeting with the leaders of Mexico and Canada. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice said Sunday it's important that Mexico "recognize the importance of defense of the
borders and of American laws."
Protests raged across the country over the weekend, led by more than 500,000 people who marched
through downtown Los Angeles on Saturday in one of the largest demonstrations for any cause in recent U.
S. history. Marchers also took to the streets in Phoenix, Milwaukee, Dallas and Columbus, Ohio.
The president, working hand-in-hand with the business community that relies on cheap labor, is pressuring
Congress to allow immigrants to stay in the country legally if they take a job that Americans are unwilling to
do.
Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., also supports the idea and has vowed that his committee will
advance a bill to the full Senate on Monday, even if they have to work "very, very late into the night."
"If they're prepared to work to become American citizens in the long line traditionally of immigrants who have
helped make this country, we can have both a nation of laws and a welcoming nation of workers who do
some very, very important jobs for our economy," Specter said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., has said that whether or not a bill gets out of the Judiciary
Committee, he is opening two weeks of debate on the issue Tuesday. He has offered a plan that would
tighten borders, add Border Patrol agents and punish employers who hire illegal immigrants because he
says the most important concern is improving national security in an age of terrorism. His bill sidesteps the
question of temporary work permits, but he has said he's open to the idea.
Democrats have said they will do everything they can to block Frist's bill. Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio,
voting record), D-Mass., said Sunday that legislation creating tougher enforcement does not do enough.
"We have spent $20 billion on chains and fences and border guards and dogs in the southern border over
the last 10 years," Kennedy said on "Face the Nation" on CBS. "And it doesn't work. What we need is a
comprehensive approach. I think President Bush understands it."
Where Kennedy and Bush differ is on the question of what to do with foreigners who are already living and
working in the United States. Kennedy and Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., have a bill
that would allow those immigrants to apply for citizenship once they pay taxes and a fine and learn English.
Critics like Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., say that would give amnesty to people who have broken the law by
entering the country without permission. "It's a slap in the face to every single person who has done it the
right way, and to everybody who's waiting out there to do it the right way," Tancredo said. "It's bad policy.
And it's also, I think, for the Republican Party especially, bad policy."
Bush wants to give foreign workers a guest permit to stay for a specific amount of time to do a job, without a
path to citizenship. Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., propose to let employed illegal
immigrants stay for five years but then leave, pay fines and apply to re-enter the country.
If the Senate can agree on the bill, the work won't be over to get legislation to Bush's desk to become a law.
The House passed a bill last year that increases penalties for illegal immigration activities, requires
employers to verify the legal status of their employees and provides $2.2 billion for a seven-mile wall across
the border. But it did not address the guest worker issue.
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