by Hispanic Link Wire services
The U.S. Supreme Court has announced that it will hear the case of José Angel Carachuri-Rosendo, a lawful permanent resident who faces deportation for possession of an anti-anxiety drug.
His appeal is based on the claim that he was denied an opportunity to make a case in lower court as to why he should be allowed to remain in the United States.
The case could affect hundreds of immigrants who face deportation each year, according to a post on the Immigration Policy Center’s Immigration Impact blog Carachuri-Rosendo has lived in the United States since he was four years old and his four children and fiancé are U.S. citizens. In 2004, he was convicted of possession of less than two ounces of marijuana and sentenced to 20 days of confinement.
The following year, he was convicted of possessing a tablet of Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug, for which he did not have prescription, and served another ten days in jail.
Even though his second conviction did not come under recidivism provisions, the court considered it a “drug trafficking crime,” a deportable offense, and the government initiated deportation proceedings.
In addition, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that his Xanax possession conviction renders him deportable without the opportunity for him to make a case to stay and without any consideration of the effect his deportation will have on his U.S. citizen children and fiancé.
The Supreme Court will have the opportunity to clarify whether a second possession conviction can be considered a “drug trafficking crime” without any recidivism findings present.
The action by the Supreme Court will also bring attention to immigration laws passed by Congress in 1996 which eliminated the discretion of immigration judges to make individualized decisions about whether a person should be deported.
According to Immigration Impact, “Such a result unfairly and unnecessarily disrupts the lives of not only those who are deported, but also their U.S. citizen families and friends who rely on them for support.”
The Immigration Policy Center is the research and policy arm of the American Immigration Council. IPC’s mission is to shape a rational national conversation on immigration and immigrant integration.
Two students win immigrant rights battle
By Erin Rosa
Two students who were set to be deported by federal authorities will get to stay in the United States, thanks to community organizing in Florida.
Jesús and Guillermo Reyes, two youths of Venezuelan descent, had deportation orders deferred for at least another year. Before the decision, the brothers were detained at an immigration lockup, but have since been released. Jesüs, 21, is a student at Miami Dade College and Guillermo, 25, is a graduate of the school. The victory is another notch in the belt for an organic movement that has been successful in halting deportations of young people who came into the country as undocumented immigrants with their parents when they were children.
In response to such cases, lawmakers have proposed the DREAM Act, federal legislation that offers a pathway to citizenship for undocumented kids who entered the United States.
