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The intersection of criminal law and immigration law

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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

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Harboring prosecutions are rare, but attorney general wants more

Earlier this month, federal prosecutors in Arizona brought criminal charges against a local activist who devotes his free time to helping migrants survive the deadly desert route northward. Scott Daniel Warren, prosecutors allege in a complaint accusing him of violating a federal law against harboring migrants, provided two people with “food, water, beds, and clean clothes” for three days. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been a vocal proponent of deploying the Justice Department’s extensive resources against migrants. In a April 2017, he urged prosecutors to ramp up criminal charges for [...]

Posted by César on January 29, 2018 on 4:34 am 3 Comments
Filed Under: harboring, illegal entry, illegal reentry, statistics, U.S. District Courts

Texas anti-migrant law largely halted or curtailed

As attention remains focused on Hurricane Harvey’s devastating impact on the Texas Gulf Coast, the state’s controversial immigration law was to go into effect on Friday. Late Wednesday, a San Antonio federal court put that schedule on hold for most of the law. Its “show-me-your-papers” provision, however, can go into limited effect. Senate Bill 4 marks the pinnacle of state Republican elected officials to tie state and local governments to ICE’s immigration enforcement practices. The law authorizes police to ask about immigration status. It requires compliance with immigration detainers [...]

Posted by César on August 30, 2017 on 9:43 pm Leave a Comment
Filed Under: 14th Amendment, 1st Amendment, 4th Amendment, 5th Amendment, detainer, Due Process Clause, imprisonment, local immigration policing, U.S. District Courts

Detainer without probable cause of crime violates 4th Amendment

Adding to the growing caselaw about the constitutional infirmities of immigration detainers, a federal district court in Texas concluded this week that a detainer lacking probable cause of criminal activity violates the Fourth Amendment. Trujillo Santoyo v. United States, No. 5:16-cv-00855-OLG, slip op. (W.D. Tex. June 5, 2017). This case involved an individual arrested on criminal charges that were dismissed without a conviction. While lawfully jailed in the Bexar County Adult Detention Center during the pendency of the criminal case, ICE issued an immigration detainer against Trujillo [...]

Posted by César on June 9, 2017 on 4:00 am 2 Comments
Filed Under: 4th Amendment, detainer, U.S. District Courts

Immigration continues lead role in federal criminal prosecutions

The federal criminal justice system is squarely focused on immigration activity. In the 2016 fiscal year, 68,314 defendants were prosecuted in federal courts for federal immigration crimes, the administrative office that helps operate the federal courts reported this month. This represents forty-three percent of all people prosecuted for federal crimes that year. Two crimes made up the bulk of federal immigration crime prosecutions. Illegal entry, a misdemeanor, and its felony counterpart, illegal reentry. No other category of federal crime came near immigration to receive top billing among [...]

Posted by César on March 28, 2017 on 4:00 am 13 Comments
Filed Under: illegal entry, illegal reentry, imprisonment, statistics, U.S. District Courts

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 [...]

Posted by César on October 18, 2016 on 4:00 am Leave a Comment
Filed Under: 4th Amendment, 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, border militarization, U.S. District Courts, U.S. Supreme Court

Lawsuit reveals DACA data treasure trove

Litigation often reveals fascinating information tough to obtain otherwise and the states’ lawsuit against the federal government’s use of its executive powers to provide temporary lawful status to many migrants already in the United States is proving to be no exception (for more on that lawsuit see my article here). A document that the United States filed in federal court last week provides a much-needed glimpse into DACA’s internal operations. In a formal declaration, Donald W. Neufeld, the associate director for service center operations at USCIS, gives a detailed accounting of the [...]

Posted by César on February 3, 2015 on 4:00 am Leave a Comment
Filed Under: deferred action, statistics, U.S. District Courts, Uncategorized

Immigration took center stage among federal criminal cases during FY 2011-12

A new report indicates that federal law enforcement agents, prosecutors, and courts are significantly involved in regulating immigration law through the criminal process. Mark Motivans, Federal Justice Statistics, 2011-2012 (Jan. 2015). By overall historical standards, this is quite anomalous, but it is in line with the trend we’ve seen in recent years (see my analysis of parallel data for fiscal year 2010). Law enforcement investigations and arrests for alleged immigration law violations are at eye-catching rates, with the bulk of those arrested individuals soon finding themselves in federal [...]

Posted by César on January 29, 2015 on 4:00 am 1 Comment
Filed Under: statistics, U.S. District Courts, Uncategorized

17 states sue federal government over its immigration priorities

And so it begins. Republicans have been clamoring about the illegality of President Obama’s announced immigration priorities since long before he stepped in front of the cameras last month. Yesterday they took a crucial first step toward forcing a court to decide whether they’re correct. Led by Texas Governor-elect Greg Abbott, currently the state’s Attorney General, seventeen states and four governors sued the federal government in an attempt to stop implementation of the Administration’s immigration enforcement strategy. Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief, State of Texas v. [...]

Posted by César on December 4, 2014 on 4:00 am 2 Comments
Filed Under: Prosecutorial discretion, U.S. District Courts

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