Appeals panel overturns illegal immigrant’s sentence

Appeals panel overturns illegal immigrant’s sentence
By DIANE CARROLL
The Kansas City Star

A recent case in the Kansas Court of Appeals case raised this issue: Should an illegal immigrant be denied probation solely on the basis of his immigration status?

Last week, a three-judge panel said no.

In doing so, the judges overturned a Barton County district judge’s decision to sentence Nicholas L. Martinez to one year in jail instead of probation. The appeals panel said an illegal immigrant cannot be denied probation solely because of his immigration status, unless a compelling reason exists.

Entering the United States without proper documentation is a crime, the court said, but being in the country afterward is not necessarily against the law.

“While Congress has criminalized the illegal entry into this country, it has not made the continued presence of an illegal alien in the United States a crime unless the illegal alien has previously been deported and has again entered the country illegally,â€

This makes no sense. It is illegal to cross the border, but not illegal to stay here. Then they say it's illegal to be here if the person had been deported once. Well, if it's not illegal to be here, then how would they deport that person in the first place. 8O

Exactly.
When I heard this I said so, it's illegal to come here. And it's illegal to stay here. But now it's okay if you get here kind of like you're exempt from the illegally getting here part? This just blows my mind. If you're illegally here then you're illegally here. That would make you a flight risk.
If my husband used our son to sell and transport drugs, where do you think he would be? IN JAIL! It just seems to me that if you're a citizen you get much harsher treatment then illegals do. Maybe it's just me.