crimmigration.com

The intersection of criminal law and immigration law

Archive

After regularly updating crimmigration.com from January 2009 until November 2022, I have stopped doing so. I hope you continue to benefit from the blog as an archive. For up-to-date information about my work, visit ccgarciahernandez.com. – César

Citizenship is complicated

U.S. citizens don’t need the federal government’s permission to enter and exit the United States. They can’t be forcibly removed from the United States, and they can’t be convicted of entering the United States without the federal government’s permission. Put simply, immigration law’s controls on movement are off-limits to U.S. citizens. But what happens when someone doesn’t know they are a U.S. citizen? The short answer is that things get complicated. For the longer answer, let’s turn to the experience of Javier Garza-Flores. Born in México in 1974, he always knew that he was a Mexican [...]

5th Circuit: SB4 can go into force in Texas

When the Texas legislature passed Senate Bill 4 on party-line votes, it marked the most extreme immigration measure to make it through a state house since Arizona’s infamous Senate Bill 1070, the so-called “show me your papers” law. Within moments, all eyes turned to the courts. Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit announced that most of the Texas law does not violate the U.S. Constitution. City of El Cenizo v. Texas, No. 17-50762, slip op. (5th Cir. March 13, 2018). As a result, Texas law enforcement agencies and local governments are now blocked from choosing to limit [...]

Is the border truly a shoot-at-will location?

The Fourth Amendment offers a powerful bulwark against the state’s power to deprive people of their liberty. Only with the intercession of a neutral arbiter, the text indicates, can the government exercise its immense coercive powers. Anyone who has followed the evolution of Fourth Amendment jurisprudence over the last three decades knows that this promise is far from the reality. Along the border, however, even the watered-down state in which the Fourth Amendment hobbles along might be too much. Is it possible that a Border Patrol officer might have wielded his weapon too loosely, but the [...]

Border Patrol agent gets immunity after killing fleeing suspect

A Border Patrol agent who shot to death a fleeing suspect won’t face legal liability, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit announced last week. Mendez v. Poitevent, No. 15-50790, slip op. (5th Cir. May 19, 2016). Despite being clouded in controversy, the Fifth Circuit’s decision is crystal clear that the claims lodged by eighteen-year-old Juan Mendez’s family members won’t expose Border Patrol agent Taylor Poitevent to any legal repercussions. As recounted in detail by the Fifth Circuit, here is what happened. On October 5, 2010, Border Patrol Agent Taylor Poitevent, uniformed [...]

Following Trend, Fifth Circuit Holds Definition of Crime of Violence Unconstitutionally Vague

By Sarah Flinn Agreeing with both the Seventh and Ninth Circuits, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit concluded that the definition of crime of violence in 18 U.S.C. § 16(b) is unconstitutionally vague. United States v. Gonzalez-Longoria, No. 15-40041, 2016 WL 537612, at *1 (5th Cir. February 10, 2016). Mr. Gonzalez-Longoria was convicted and sentenced for being illegally present in the United States in violation of Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) § 276. Id. During sentencing, the trial court determined that Mr. Gonzalez-Longoria’s prior Texas felony conviction was an [...]

Fifth Circuit Finds that Despite Ambiguity in Record of Conviction, Burden Rests on Alien to Prove Conviction is not Related to a Controlled Substance

By Alex Sheppard Last month the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals released a decision on (1) whether the alien or the government bears the burden of proof in determining whether grounds for mandatory denial of an alien’s application for relief do not apply when the alien has demonstrated ambiguity in the record of conviction; (2) whether that burden was met; and (3) the effect of a Canadian pardon for the conviction in question. Le v. Lynch, No. 13-60664, slip op. (5th Cir. Jan. 6, 2016). The Fifth Circuit ruled that despite ambiguity in the record, the alien bears the burden of proof; that [...]

5 Cir rejects BIA’s limitations on marijuana personal use exception

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently pushed back against the BIA’s efforts to expand the range of low-level drug offenses that can result in removal. In Flores Esquivel v. Lynch, No. 13-60326 (5th Cir. October 1, 2015), a divided panel of the Fifth Circuit took issue with the Board’s narrow construction of a key exception to the controlled substance offense basis of deportation. This case involved an LPR convicted of two misdemeanor possession of marijuana crimes in Texas: one in 2003 and the other in 2011. The first consisted of getting caught as an 18-year-old with a [...]

5th Circuit: Border wave-through is an admission for cancellation purposes

By Sarah Flinn A recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that admission to the U.S. is met by a physical wave through the port of entry by an immigration official. Further, in relation to the INA provision governing cancellation of removal for lawful permanent residents, § 240A(a), the wave-through admission is valid for all immigrants, whether documented or not. Tula Rubio v. Lynch, No. 14-60183, slip op. (5th Cir. May 21, 2015). In 1992, in very common circumstances, Ramiro Constantino Tula Rubio, age 4, entered the United States as a passenger in a car [...]