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  1. #1
    Senior Member CCUSA's Avatar
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    Ruling could lead to deporting 8,000

    http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation ... 5722.story

    Ruling could lead to deporting 8,000

    Baltimore Sun : January 18 , 2007 -- by David Savage

    Despite the focus on California's law, the decision will apply across the country: The court pointed out that every state has a similar car-theft measure. The Supreme Court made it easier yesterday for the government to deport thousands of legal immigrants who were involved in car thefts.

    In a 9-0 decision, the justices said noncitizens who were convicted or pleaded guilty in California to the theft of a motor vehicle also are guilty of an "aggravated felony" under immigration laws, even if they simply aided another person to carry out the theft.



    The ruling reverses a decision of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which said California's law sweeps too broadly and could brand some minor participants as serious criminals deserving of deportation.

    Despite the focus on California's law, the decision will apply across the country: The court pointed out that every state has a similar car-theft measure.

    Government lawyers said the 9th Circuit's ruling, which applied throughout the West, had blocked the deportation of more than 8,000 immigrants.

    Under a strict 1996 immigration reform law, legal immigrants who have an "aggravated felony" on their records will be automatically deported from the United States.

    Intended to rid the nation of immigrants who are criminals, the law calls for their deportation even if they have lived legally in this country for decades and have a job and a family.

    Class of felony

    The law has put a sharp focus on what crimes can be deemed an aggravated felony. Congress listed a series of such crimes, including a "theft offense," that can result in at least a year in prison.

    Luis Duenas-Alvarez, a 32-year-old native of Peru and a permanent legal resident, pleaded guilty in Marin County in 2002 to taking a Honda Accord without the owner's permission. He was sentenced to three years in state prison.

    As his term neared its end, federal authorities moved to deport him, saying his theft offense was an aggravated felony under federal law.

    But the 9th Circuit blocked that move, ruling that it was not clear whether Duenas-Alvarez intended to steal the car. It was one of a series of rulings in which the appeals court said California law on vehicle thefts was too broad because it applies to the participants in a theft, not just to the principal thief.

    Writing for the court, Justice Stephen G. Breyer disagreed with that analysis. "In criminal law today, one who aids or abets a theft falls, like the principal, within the scope of the law against auto theft," he wrote. "We cannot agree that California's law is somehow special."

    Last month, the Supreme Court leaned the opposite way in a related case involving legal immigrants who commit drug crimes. In a 8-1 decision then, the justices rejected automatic deportation for an immigrant who pleaded guilty to drug possession in South Dakota.

    Not final defeat

    Yesterday's ruling in Gonzales v. Duenas-Alvarez is a setback for the immigrant, but not a final defeat.

    "The decision expressly leaves open our ability to present additional arguments to the Court of Appeals," said Christopher J. Meade, a New York lawyer who represented him in the high court.

    Reacting to yesterday's ruling, Stanford law professor Robert Weisberg said it was no surprise the court said those who aid or abet a theft are guilty of the crime of theft.

    "In modern law, aiding and abetting is not a separate offense. This was mainly a rebuke to the 9th Circuit, which was clearly trying to find a way to save this guy from deportation," Weisberg said.

    "Some of their decisions seem to have a neon ring around them that says, 'Reverse this decision.'"

    The high court's ruling was not a total victory for the government, however. The justices stopped short of deciding whether mere joyriding could be deemed an aggravated felony.

    They also left open the question of whether the deportation law should also extend to people who are an accessory after the fact to a car theft, including traveling in a stolen car. These issues can be decided later, the court said.
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  2. #2
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    This should also apply to other forms of theft, including identity theft. Car theft results in loss of maybe $5-30K depending on the car's value. Identity theft can have far more devastating, long-term and far-ranging effects.

  3. #3
    Senior Member lsmith1338's Avatar
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    http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=N ... e&sid=1862

    In the future please use links to the actual article, I have put it in above. Thanks for submitting this story
    Freedom isn't free... Don't forget the men who died and gave that right to all of us....
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  4. #4
    Cthelight's Avatar
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    Kate,

    Thank you. I agree. Car theft is minor
    compared to identity theft which I think
    is a far more illegal crime. Far more...

  5. #5
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    Luis Duenas-Alvarez, the weather in Lima Peuru, is a sunny 78 degress, have a nice trip back home and thank you for your tireless efforts in our
    court system. The results of your case will enable ICE to fill many
    planes and buses with other Alien EX-CONS, please take your family
    with you. Do the crime- do the time
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

  6. #6
    Senior Member SOSADFORUS's Avatar
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    8,000? GET ER DONE!!! ICE!!! Post Haste, quicker the better.
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