Ninth Circuit Finds that Criminal Reentry Provision Not Driven by Racial Animus
The INA was not intended to ‘advance equity for all’, but Congress has endeavored to ensure it is fair
By Andrew R. Arthur on May 24, 2023
A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit this week reversed a district court decision finding the criminal reentry provision in section 276 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) “was enacted with a discriminatory purpose and that the law has a disparate impact on Latinx persons” and that the government had failed to show that the provision would not “have been enacted absent racial animus”. It’s a triumph of law and common sense over a results-oriented determination that had cherry-picked the legislative record, and one that the president’s immigration advisors should take note of.
The Facts. The case is a criminal matter captioned U.S. v. Carrillo-Lopez, and the defendant — Gustavo Carrillo-Lopez — is a citizen of Mexico.
He had been removed from the United States on two occasions, first in 1999 and again in 2012. Prior to that 2012 removal, Carrillo-Lopez had been convicted of an unspecified felony drug possession offense, as well as a misdemeanor offense for infliction of corporal injury on a spouse.
At some point after he was removed, he returned illegally to the United States. For reasons unclear from either decision, his residence was searched in June 2019 and officers found “two firearms and plastic bags containing methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin”. He subsequently pled guilty to a single drug-trafficking count, although again it is unclear whether that was a state or federal charge.
It was likely a state charge, because thereafter Carrillo-Lopez was indicted on federal charges in Nevada for illegal reentry under section 276 of the INA, with a sentence enhancement for his prior convictions.
https://cis.org/Arthur/Ninth-Circuit-Finds-Criminal-Reentry-Provision-Not-Driven-Racial-Animus
