Thread: Court: Law Against Encouraging Illegal Immigration May Violate First Amendment

Tuesday, September 19, 2017 09:29 AM
By: Brian Freeman

A federal law that makes it a crime to encourage foreigners to enter or remain in the United States illegally may violate the First Amendment, a federal appeals court suggested in an order this week, Politico reported on Tuesday.

In an unusual move, a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel asked federal public defenders and immigrant rights organizations to submit amicus briefs arguing that a San Jose woman was improperly convicted.

The court's ruling in the defendant's favor could make it more difficult for the Trump administration to increase prosecutions for those who help illegal immigrants.

The defendant, immigration consultant Evelyn Sineneng-Smith, was convicted in 2013 of encouraging foreigners to remain in the U.S. illegally by charging them to file petitions that had no chance of gaining the immigrants legal status.

The 9th Circuit judges expressed concerns that the language of the law was too vague or overbroad and lacked a clear intent requirement.

The judges also were mystified why, if the real concern was that the defendant was ripping people off, she was not brought on fraud charges rather than under this statute.

President Donald Trump often has been critical of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, especially when it has upheld injunctions against the implementation of his travel bans and has talked about plans to break up the 9th Circuit, according to Time.

https://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/co.../19/id/814396/

Aiding and abetting is not free speech, it's aiding and abetting illegal aliens in violation of federal immigration law.