Supreme Court Upholds Deportation for Filling False Tax Return

The United States Supreme Court has ruled that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has the authority to label the crime of filing false tax returns, an "aggravated felony," subjecting lawful legal immigrants to automatic deportation.  The case involved Akio and Fukado Kawashima, a Japanese couple who came to the United States in 1984 with a goal of succeeding in business.  They opened up and operated a few popular sushi restaurants in California.  They never became U.S. citizens but were granted lawful permanent residence in the 1980's.  However, in 1991 they filed tax returns in which they underreported their income.  The federal government filed criminal charges against them and they plead guilty and paid $245,000 in penalties and interest.  They paid the entire amount in full and the husband ended up serving 4 months in a federal prison.  Ten years later, the Immigration and Naturalization Service decided to deport them.  In a 6 to 3 decision, the Supreme Court sided with Immigration and Naturalization and the Kawashima's have now been deported.  Tax lawyers point out that this ruling sends an ominous warning to legal immigrants.  If they are caught lying on their taxes, not only could they be forced to pay heavy monetary penalties, but they could also be deported.  This would apply to any false statement on a tax return made by a legal immigrant.  Immigration officials point to a 1994 provision created by Congress which defined "aggravated felony" to include "fraud" and "deceit" that cost the victims more than $200,000.  That threshold has since been lowered to $10,000.  It seems that deportation would apply to cases in which criminal charges were filed, not in cases involving only a civil penalty sought by the IRS.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.legaldefenderspc.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

Washington D.C. Mayor Orders Police Not To Check Immigration Status of Suspects

The mayor of Washington, D.C., has signed an executive order which directs his police officers to not check the immigration status of suspects.  The only exception in the mayor's order is that police can check the immigration status of someone if their immigration status has something to do with the crime they are being investigated for.  The Mayor of the District of Columbia, Vincent Gray, is concerned that residents are unwilling to cooperate with police investigations if they fear that their immigration status will be questioned.  The mayor believes that their fear of cooperating with the police endangers the community and adversely impacts public safety.  The fact is that this has been the longstanding policy in the District of Columbia for a long time.  The mayor's signing of the order just makes it official.  By signing the order the mayor said he wants to make it clear that his city's police officers are not in the business of enforcing federal immigration laws.  This does not mean that the District of Columbia is going to opt out of the Department of Homeland Security's Secure Communities program which is expected to be in place nationally by 2013.  The Secure Communities program is designed to let local officials cooperate with the Department of Homeland Security and turn over individuals before they are released from prison to the Department of Homeland Security for deportation.

The issue of illegal immigrants still garners emotional responses from various groups.  But the fact is that illegal immigration is not the problem that it once was.  The number of illegal immigrants entering the United States is at the lowest it has been in 40 years.  Turns out that the lack of jobs has deterred illegal immigrants from coming to the United States.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

Record Number of Deportations

For the third year in a row, Immigration and Customs Enforcement reported that another record has been broken.  They report that for the year ending in September, 396,906 people were deported.  A little more than half of the people deported had felony or misdemeanor convictions.  This represents an 89% increase over 2008.  More than 1,000 of those were convicted of murder, 5,800 convicted of sex crimes and about 80,000 convicted of drug related crimes.  Roughly 66% of those deported had recently crossed the border or had been caught crossing into the United States repeatedly.  Part of the reason for the high number of deportations of criminals has been attributed to the increasing involvement of local law enforcement officials and the Department of Homeland Security who report illegal immigrants to federal officials who request that they remain in local custody until their cases are concluded and then pick them up and place them into deportation.  What is concerning some people is that some of the people being deported only committed minor crimes.  Questions are being raised about whether the increased deportation efforts are warranted because due to the economic slow down, the number of illegal immigrants entering the United States is at the lowest its been in 40 years.  

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

Cook County Deals Blow to Feds

The Cook County Board has dealt a blow to the Federal Government when it comes to requests to detain people in Cook County jail who are facing misdemeanor charges.  The action by the Cook County Board follows a recent federal court case in which it was held that requests by the federal government to place immigration holds on defendants for possible deportation were merely requests and were not mandatory.  The Cook County Board pointed out that the cost to Cook County taxpayers is roughly $15 million per year, or roughly $143 per day per inmate to comply with these immigration hold requests by the federal government.  The decision only applies to individuals charged with misdemeanors who have immigration holds placed against them and are released from Cook County Jail for any reason.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

Illinois Withdraws From Federal Immigration Programs

Last week, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security informing them that the State of Illinois is formally withdrawing from the Secure Communities program, a federal deportation program that seeks to deport hardened criminals but is also used to deport illegal immigrants arrested for misdemeanor crimes.  Governor Quinn pointed out that nearly one third of illegal immigrants deported in Illinois were never convicted of any crime.  Quinn originally had stopped the state of Illinois from participating in the program since November because he was concerned about its effectiveness.  He had asked that the Department of Homeland Security provide proof that the program can be implemented effectively and sent the letter withdrawing after he said he was not satisfied that the flaws could be fixed.  At the same time, the Illinois Senate passed a local DREAM Act bill that would provide for privately funded scholarships and other financial assistance to students who were brought to the United States illegally.  A federal DREAM Act failed to pass in Congress.  The state measure now needs to be passed by the House of Representatives and be signed into law by Governor Quinn.  Governor Quinn has indicated that he would support such a measure.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

Penn. Mayor Vows To Take Immigration Fight To Supreme Court

The mayor of Hazelton, Pennsylvania has vowed to take the striking down of his crackdown on illegal immigrants to the Supreme Court.  In 2006, Hazelton Pennsylvania passed an ordinance that assessed fines against landlords who rented to illegal immigrants, denied business permits to companies that gave jobs to illegal immigrants and required prospective tenants to register with the city and pay for a permit to rent in the city.  Last month, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia struck down the ordinance because it usurped the federal government's exclusive power to regulate immigration.  Appeals courts are split over whether a state or a municipality have the right to enforce laws dealing with immigration.  The United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear oral arguments over a 2007 Arizona law that prohibits employers from knowingly hiring illegal aliens.  Following the passing of the Hazelton Pennsylvania ordinance in 2006, dozens of towns throughout the country enacting similar measures.  

We have been reporting consistently on efforts to deport legal aliens who have been convicted of criminal offenses.  We will continue to report on the evolving issue of legal and illegal immigration and the impact it is having on our criminal courts and our clients facing criminal prosecution and possible deportation.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

Supreme Court Rules On Aggravated Felony For Immigration Purposes

The United States Supreme Court today issued a ruling on a case involving what is considered an aggravated felony for immigration deportation purposes.  Jose Angel Carachuri-Rosendo was convicted in state court of simple drug possession of a single Xanax pill a year after he had received 20 days in jail for possessing 2 ounces of marijuana.  The state prosecutor had the option to charge him with an aggravated felony because if was his second case, but chose not to.  The federal government sought to have him removed from the country because he had committed an aggravated felony on the basis that it was his second conviction which amounted to a serious, or aggravated felony.  Carachuri-Rosendo argued that he had not been convicted of an aggravated felony.  The Supreme Court held that the immigration court cannot enhance the state judgment by substituting its judgment over that of the state court.  Since there was no finding of recidivism by the state court, the immigration court cannot add their judgment to that of the state court.

The impact of this decision is that a second conviction does not automatically make someone eligible for deportation.  The federal government had argued that since a second conviction for a minor drug offense would be considered an aggravated felony under federal law, immigrants convicted of a second minor drug offense in state court would be subject to automatic deportations.  That is no longer the case and thousands of immigrants who fall under the same set of facts can now petition the immigration judge for leniency.  Before this decision, deportation was automatic and they could not seek leniency.  Carachuri-Rosendo, who was well over 30 years old, has been in the United States legally since he was 5 years old.  His common law wife, mother, sister and 4 children are all U.S. citizens.  Carachuri-Rosendo had actually been deported to Mexico.

The case is Carachuri-Rosendo v. Holder, 09-60.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

Supreme Court Rules Courts Can Review Motions To Reopen Immigration Cases

Today the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling in an immigration case that may open the doors to courthouses for countless immigrants slated for deportation.  The ruling gives federal courts jurisdiction to hear decisions on motions to reopen decisions by the Board of Immigration Appeals.  The federal regulation gives discretion to the Attorney General and does not allow any review of his final decision.  However, the Supreme Court, relying on the longstanding tradition of judicial review of administrative action and an unwillingness to exempt judicial review of administrative decisions unless the statute clearly provides for it.  In this case the court found that such a prohibition does not exist in the legislation. 

The case involved an Albanian citizen who came to the United States in 1995 on a work visa.  The visa expired and he continued to remain in the United States.  In 1996 he applied for political asylum claiming he would be persecuted for his political beliefs if he returned to Albania.  He failed to appear for his asylum hearing and he was ordered to be deported.  He filed Motions to Reopen his case but the motions were denied by the Attorney General and the Board of Immigration Appeals.

An interesting twist to the case is that the government agreed with the petitioner that the federal court should have jurisdiction to hear the denial of his Motion to Reopen his case.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

Supreme Court Considers Lawyers Bad Advice

Today, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on a very interesting case. In 2001 Jose Padilla plead guilty to drug charges in Kentucky. Padilla had lived in the United States for 40 years as a permanent resident. He asked his attorney if a plea of guilty to the drug charges would have any immigration consequences and was told that it wouldn't. Of course, Padilla's attorney was wrong and Padilla is now facing deportation. Padilla is claiming that the faulty advice by his attorney amounted to a violation of his Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel. Padilla is arguing that defendants need to be informed of the immigration consequences of a guilty plea since Congress has mandated that a conviction of certain crimes can lead to deportation. During oral arguments Justice Scalia expressed concern of opening a Pandora's box. Scalia wanted to know what the extent of the possible consequences could be. For instance, would the attorney have to advise the client that a plea of guilty could affect their client's right to own a gun, or to obtain financial aid, or affect their ability to have visitation of their children in a divorce proceeding. Justice Kennedy suggested that judges warn defendants that there may be collateral consequences to their guilty plea when they are being admonished at the time of the plea.

We will keep an eye out for the court's decision and pass it along to you.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

ICE Drops Quotas But Arrests To Continue

The head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has ended arrest quotas in the fugitive operations program. In 2003, ICE agents were deployed around the country to arrest immigrants who had deportation orders pending and immigrants with criminal records. Many thousands of immigrants were arrested in the early morning hours when immigration agents would show up at their homes and arrest them. A review of this program showed that roughly 73 percent of immigrants arrested between 2003 and 2008 did not have criminal records. In 2006 ICE stopped requiring that two-thirds of those arrested be fugitives and added non fugitives as targets of arrest. On Monday, John Morton, the head of ICE, announced that the agency would no longer have any quotas or hard number and would just continue arresting individuals who had fought their cases in court and lost. Even though noncriminal fugitives are not out of the woods. Morton indicated that the agency will focus its attention on immigrants with criminal records.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.