Nevada judge says immigration law making reentry a felony is unconstitutional, has racist origins

[WhiskeyGrinder]

https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/nevada-judge-says-immigration-law-making-reentry-a-felony-is-unconstitutional-has-racist-origins

A federal judge in Nevada has ruled that a nearly 70-year-old section of law that makes it a felony to reenter the U.S. after being deported is unconstitutional, saying it was enacted with discriminatory intent against Latinos and therefore violates the Equal Protection Clause.

Judge Miranda Du issued an order on Wednesday dismissing a case against Gustavo Arellano-Lopez, who was indicted last summer for being in the U.S. in spite of being deported in 1999 and 2012. It appears to be the first time a court has made such a decision, even though the statute known as Section 1326 has been under consideration by several district courts.

“Because Carrillo-Lopez has established that Section 1326 was enacted with a discriminatory purpose and that the law has a disparate impact on Latinx persons, and the government fails to show that Section 1326 would have been enacted absent racial animus … the Court will grant the Motion,” Du wrote.

The case is a blow for the Department of Justice (DOJ), which initially filed the charge during the Trump administration — an era of hardline immigration policies — but has since switched hands to the Biden administration. Left-leaning groups have asserted that the Trump administration had “weaponized” Section 1326 and other decades-old immigration laws as part of their “zero tolerance” immigration strategy.

I'm interested to see if the Biden DOJ appeals.

[MichMan]

1. Basically says the only penalty for being in the country illegally is deportation

and people are permitted to keep trying dozens of times and there is nothing that the government can do about it other than deport them again.

While an interesting interpretation, I would guess this would be appealed, but we will see.