Pubdate: Tue, 15 Dec 2009
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Page: A22
Copyright: 2009 Los Angeles Times
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/bc7El3Yo
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: David G. Savage, Reporting from Washington
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Supreme+Court

JUSTICES TO HEAR IMMIGRANT'S DRUG DEPORTATION CASE

The Legal Resident of Texas Is Being Sent to Mexico After Two 
Misdemeanor Drug Convictions.

The Supreme Court said Monday it would consider whether a strict 
immigration law called for deporting noncitizens convicted of repeat 
misdemeanor drug offenses.

The case before the court involves a legal immigrant from Texas who 
pleaded guilty to possessing less than two ounces of marijuana and 
later pleaded guilty to possessing a single tablet of Xanax, an 
anti-anxiety medication.

Although the convictions were minor, judges in some regions have 
ruled that two misdemeanor convictions for drug possession can count 
as an "aggravated felony," which is grounds for deportation.

Lawyers for several immigrant rights groups appealed the case to the 
Supreme Court, arguing it did not make sense to say drug possession 
was the same as a serious offense, such as drug trafficking.

The justices voted to hear the case of Jose Angel Carachuri-Rosendo, 
who had lived in Texas since he was 4 and had been a lawful resident 
since 1993.

After Carachuri-Rosendo pleaded guilty to having the Xanax tablet, a 
federal immigration judge said he was due to be deported to Mexico 
because of his aggravated felony.

Carachuri-Rosendo appealed but lost in the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of 
Appeals in New Orleans, which ruled that a "second possession 
offense" called for deportation of a noncitizen.

Lawyers for the Obama administration agreed the high court should 
hear the case to clarify what constituted an aggravated felony.

In other action, the court dismissed a suit by four British Muslims 
who said they were tortured and abused at the military detention 
facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, between 2002 and 2004.

They sued former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, former Joint 
Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard B. Myers and other top civilian 
and military leaders in the George W. Bush administration.

But they lost in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of 
Columbia, which ruled the officials were immune from such claims.

The appeals court judges said officials could not be sued for their 
actions unless they violated a clearly established law, and the legal 
rights of the Guantanamo detainees were not clear until the Supreme 
Court ruled on the issue in 2006.

Eric Lewis, a lawyer for the four British men, urged the high court 
to hear the case, but the appeal was turned down without comment.

"It's an awful day for the rule of law and common decency when the 
Supreme Court lets stand such an inhuman decision," he said. 
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