A working conceptualization of crimmigration law, at least as it plays out in the United States, must start with the radical changes to substantive law that I’ve described in parts I and II of this series of essays on defining crimmigration law. But it can’t end there. As an emergent area of law, crimmigration law is highly functional. Consequently, one of its lasting—and, frankly, devastating—impacts, enforcement, merits as much attention as the substantive law previously discussed. Indeed, I give enforcement methods special attention in Part III of my book Crimmigration Law. Crimmigration [...]
Naturalizing Immigration Imprisonment
Every day, roughly 33,000 people spend the night imprisoned while waiting to learn whether they will be allowed to remain in the United States. Thousands more are confined on charges of having committed an immigration crime. Others are behind bars because they were already convicted. The substantive law that applies to people in each of these categories differs: civil law governed by the Immigration and Naturalization Act for those in removal proceedings, and criminal law governed by the federal penal code (and, to a smaller degree, its state counterparts). That is largely where the [...]
Border Patrol’s “Consequence Delivery System” Casts Doubt on President’s Immigration Priorities
By Geoffrey Boyce On February 11, articles in the New York Times and the Washington Post focused attention on Operation Streamline, the federal program under which as many as 80 unauthorized border crossers may be charged, convicted and sentenced in a hearing lasting as little as half an hour. Those convicted under Streamline face sentences of up to 180 days for “illegal entry,” INA § 275, or 2 to 20 years for “illegal reentry,” INA § 276, depending on whether they have a previous “aggravated felony” conviction in the United States. Readers of crImmigration.com are likely familiar with [...]
9 Cir: Operation Streamline proceeding violates Rule 11; vacates conviction
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that a criminal conviction obtained through Operation Streamline violated Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and vacated the noncitizen defendant’s conviction. United States v. Arqueta-Ramos, No. 10-10618, slip op. (9th Cir. September 20, 2013) (Fernandez, Paez, and Berzon, JJ.). Judge Paez wrote the panel’s opinion. This case involved a woman who pleaded guilty to illegally entering the United States, a misdemeanor violation of INA § 275(a). The Arizona federal district court, where this occurred, accepted Arqueta-Ramos’ [...]
Critical report on criminalization of migrants
Last week Human Rights Watch released a damning report on the federal government’s sustained effort to use criminal law and procedure to sanction immigration law violations. The report, Turning Migrants into Criminals: The Harmful Impact of U.S. Border Prosecutions (May 2013), documents the many ways in which the criminal justice system has been employed to punish conduct that previously was largely dealt with through the civil immigration system or that didn’t often register on the government’s radar. Though the 83-page report has much to offer, there were a few aspects worth [...]