What law have illegal aliens broken?

[cthulu2016]

It appears I was wrong... crossing the border outside channels is, indeed, a federal crime. My bad.

8 U.S.C. § 1325 : US Code - Section 1325: Improper entry by alien

So that answers the question.


__________________________

[font color=gray]None. It seems odd, but... none.

They are extra-legal, but there is no statute criminalizing being in the United States without federal authorization.

If a policeman in Seattle sees whoever is atop the FBI's Most Wanted list he'll arrest him, even though the guy may well not be charged with any violations of Seattle ordinances or Washington state law.

But all these state anti-immigrant laws are not enforcing federal law, they are seeking to enforce what they imagine federal policy to be, or wish that it was.

And that's why Scalia equating undocumented aliens to bank-robbers was so faulty.

(The use of the contentious term "illegal alien" in the headline was quite intentional because it points right to the puzzling question of illegality.)[/font color]

[Xipe Totec]

1. Want to hear crickets?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1087228

[dkf]

12. Your link is dead.

[NoGOPZone]

18. It works for me nt

[Xipe Totec]

20. Can't help it, 2006. The question is stil pertinent, and

I'm sure you can find present rules for immigration.

It should not be hard...

[dkf]

27. Doesn't it make sense that you can't turn something illegal into something legal?

Ingenuity doesn't transform reality.

Moreover, I think it should be more than difficult, it should be impossible. Willfully beginning your experience by breaking the law demonstrates that other people are more appropriate for consideration of U.S. citizenship.

[Xipe Totec]

28. It is not illegal to be born outside the US

And it is not illegal to become a US citizen by naturalization.

But the laws are written such that there are only three ways to do it:

1.- Nepotism. You must have a relative who is a US citizen

2.- Endentured servitude. You must become a wage slave to a powerful corporation for years.

3.- Prostitution. You must marry a US citizen.


Land of opportunity? Don't make me laugh.

[midnight]

24. Nicely said.

[Gman]

2. The crime is entering the country illegally

and the law is pretty clear. They are here because they entered the country illegally, i.e. not under legal conditions.

[Xipe Totec]

4. Clear?

State it and reference it. Chapter and paragraph.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

10. Ok.

Section 1325 in Title 8 of the United States Code.


Any alien who enters or attempts to enter the United States


at any time or place other than as designated by immigration


officers, or eludes examination or inspection by immigration


officers, or attempts to enter or obtains entry to the United


States by a willfully false or misleading representation or the


willful concealment of a material fact, shall, for the first


commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18 or


imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both, and, for a subsequent


commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18, or


imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both.

[treestar]

19. That applies to border crossers

But would not apply to people who come on visas but then overstay.

[Gman]

31. Look it up

I'm not anybody's legal clerk. The law is clear.

[Xipe Totec]

33. Thank God you are not anybody's legal clerk

God is subtle but not perverse.

But do try to get edumacated on the subject, if you can.

[cthulu2016]

7. If that is a crime where are the trials?

Do you know of any instances of someone being charged with the crime of being here without federal permission to be here?

If folks were then there would be criminal trials, not administrative INS hearings.

[Gman]

32. The habitual offenders are prosecuted

Most are just sent back.

[CreekDog]

17. no, not all illegals have entered the country illegally

see, when i argue with Republican talking points, my frustration isn't that they're Republican, my frustration is that they are verifiably wrong in the assurance that they are 100% correct.

you are not.

[Snake Alchemist]

3. One point of contention. Illegal alien is the official government terminology. nt

[Xipe Totec]

6. Is it?

Show me.

[Snake Alchemist]

30. Sure.

http://www.endillegalimmigration.com/Illegal_Aliens_Vs_Undocumented_Workers/index.shtml

[ForgoTheConsequence]

5. Uh.

Crossing the border without inspection and authorization is a crime in itself.

[Xipe Totec]

8. Reference the pertinent statute, please nt

[ForgoTheConsequence]

14. I'll post it again.

Any alien who (1) enters or attempts to enter the United States


at any time or place other than as designated by immigration


officers, or (2) eludes examination or inspection by immigration


officers, or (3) attempts to enter or obtains entry to the United


States by a willfully false or misleading representation or the


willful concealment of a material fact, shall, for the first


commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18 or


imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both, and, for a subsequent


commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18, or


imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both.


http://uscode.house.gov/uscode-cgi/fastweb.exe?getdoc+uscview+t05t08+5191+0++%28%29%20%20AND%20%28%288%29%20ADJ%20USC%29%3ACITE%20AND%20%28USC%20w%2F10%20%281325%29%29%3ACITE%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20

[CreekDog]

22. what about people who don't enter illegally?

ah ha!

the other poster is wrong to say unequivocally that the law broken is illegal entry.

[Xipe Totec]

23. Thank you. See post #19

[cthulu2016]

9. Is that true?

What is the name of the crime? What's the charge? Are these criminal charges in federal courts?

[jenwilson]

15. I live the people that just buy the media load of BS...

and "know" it must be illegal because the anti-immigrant media declares it so. They can't quote a law because there isn't one.

[brewens]

11. Illegal technically but the people paying them must feel they are doing exactly what

they are supposed to do. We say they aren't supposed to come here. It may be the benefits in some cases but in mostly they expect to get a job. We also have a hand in making their own country, in the case of Mexico for sure, bad enough that they would rather be up here.

[saras]

13. You're wrong, unfortunately.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_immigration_to_the_United_States

Immigrants can be classified as illegal for one of three reasons: entering without authorization or inspection, staying beyond the authorized period after legal entry, or violating the terms of legal entry.

Section 1325 in Title 8 of the United States Code, "Improper entry of alien", provides for a fine, imprisonment, or both for any immigrant who:

enters or attempts to enter the United States at any time or place other than as designated by immigration agents, or
eludes examination or inspection by immigration agents, or
attempts to enter or obtains entry to the United States by a willfully false or misleading representation or the willful concealment of a material fact.

The maximum prison term is 6 months for the first offense and 2 years for any subsequent offense. In addition to the above criminal fines and penalties, civil fines may also be imposed.

But even an anti-immigration site describes a first offense as a "civil misdemeanor".

And as the entire wikipedia article, or the text of any of the relevant laws, makes clear, it's pretty complicated. There's a SEPARATE law against evading medical examinations, for example.

Which is why I suggested elsewhere that we bust all the bank robbers (you know the ones) before worrying about misdemeanors. If we got our billions of dollars back, we could afford to take a more sensible approach to immigration no matter what position we take.

[cthulu2016]

21. Well, I stand corrected.

8 U.S.C. § 1325 : US Code - Section 1325: Improper entry by alien

You're right. Which means I encountered some bad legal analysis of Scalia's rants (from people who should know better.)

[Go Vols]

25. .

When we can take care of US citizens properly ...

[dkf]

26. Holy cows look at the penalty for transporting someone one knows is an illegal alien.

http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/8/12/II/VIII/1324

I wonder if US citizens know the downside of this.

[Kaleva]

29. The laws that prohibit eating us, enslaving us and vaporizing our cities.