Supreme Court rules in key immigration case

A unanimous ruling today by the U.S. Supreme Court (USSC) will likely have broad implications on immigration and law enforcement.

In a 9-0 verdict, the USSC ruled that the crime of identity theft is limited to those who knowingly and purposefully stole the documents of others. In his majority opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer observed that the plaintiff in the case- Ignacio Flores-Figueroa- did purchase and use false documents to obtain work in Illinois. Yet it was not conclusively proven that Flores-Figueroa knew that the fake Social Security number was not his. Thus, according to the USSC, Flores-Figueroa should not have been charged with "aggravated identity theft" which would’ve landed a mandatory sentence of two years in prison.

Breyer rejected government concerns that the court's ruling might make it more difficult to prosecute false document cases. "In the classic case of identity theft, intent is generally not difficult to prove," Breyer wrote. "Where a defendant has used another person's identification information to get access to that person's bank account, the government can prove knowledge with little difficulty. The same is true when the defendant has gone through someone else's trash to find discarded credit card and bank statements."

Charges of identity theft have been levied against hundreds of undocumented immigrants arrested in dozens of workplace raids. In the case of the May 2008 Postville, Iowa raid over 270 workers charged with identity theft opted for “fast-track” deportation proceedings. The “arbitrary nature of the law” was contested, however, when over 100 workers faced lesser charges since their identification numbers were made up.

Image- NPR
Online Sources- Iowa Independent, csmonitor.com, AP, The Latin Americanist, Los Angeles Times