Chicago Sun Times Editorial: U.S. Supreme Court sets feds straight on deportation rules

Chicago Sun Times Editorial: U.S. Supreme Court sets feds straight on deportation rules
Copyright by THe Chicago Sun Times
June 17, 2010
http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/2402112,CST-EDT-edit17b.article


Of all of the criminal offenses that would warrant deportation of a legal immigrant, getting caught with a single tablet of Xanax without a prescription doesn't come close to making the list.
Yet that was all it took for Jose Angel Carachuri-Rosendo, a Mexican immigrant, to be sent back to Mexico.

The fact that Carachuri-Rosendo, who had lived in Texas legally since he was 5, had a previous conviction for marijuana possession meant that this second misdemeanor drug offense -- the Xanax pill -- automatically qualified as an "aggravated felony," though he was sentenced to only 10 days in jail for it.

At least, that's the absurdly rigid interpretation federal immigration authorities chose to take of a law that requires deportation of noncitizens found guilty of serious crimes.

But on Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court set the foolish feds straight, providing a more sensible analysis of how the law should be applied.

The court ruled unanimously that minor drug offenses do not justify automatic deportation of legal immigrants. Rather, attorneys general should have discretion to show leniency in such cases.

Justice John Paul Stevens observed that "a 10-day sentence for the unauthorized possession of a trivial amount of a prescription drug" doesn't fit with the "everyday understanding" of what qualifies as an aggravated felony.

"While it is true that a defendant's criminal history might be seen to make an offense 'worse,' " Stevens wrote, "it is nevertheless unorthodox to classify this type of petty simple possession recidivism as an aggravated felony."

Sad that Stevens even had to say so.

Deporting a person convicted of criminal sexual assault, armed robbery or an equally violent crime is perfectly justified.

Uprooting the life of an otherwise law-abiding man caught with an ounce of marijuana or a single anti-anxiety pill is a waste of our government's time and money.

Monday's Supreme Court decision was a victory for common sense.