California immigrant spared from deportation
WASHINGTON — With Justice Neil M. Gorsuch casting the deciding vote, the Supreme Court on Tuesday spared a California immigrant from deportation because his conviction for home burglary was not clearly the kind of “aggravated felony” that would require removing him from the country.
The decision narrows one provision of a broad federal immigration law that calls for mandatory deportation for noncitizens — including longtime lawful residents — who are convicted of a crime that involves a “substantial risk” of force or violence.
Federal law makes clear that dozens of violent crimes, including murder, rape and robbery, would trigger deportation, but the justices have struggled in recent years to decide which other state crimes qualify as aggravated felonies under federal law.
A federal immigration judge had decided James Dimaya, a native of the Philippines who immigrated legally and had lived in Northern California since 1992, was slated for deportation because he had pleaded guilty twice to residential burglary under California law. Although a lower court found Dimaya had gone into an unoccupied home, the immigration judge found that a residential burglary is a crime of violence because it carries a “substantial risk” that “physical force” may be used, citing the words of the law.
But by a 5-4 vote, the justices reversed that ruling on Tuesday and held that the burglary law is too vague and uncertain to be deemed a crime of violence in all instances.
It marked the first time that Gorsuch, President Donald Trump’s appointee, joined with the four liberals to form a majority.
A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security slammed the ruling. “By preventing the federal government from removing known criminal aliens, it allows our nation to be a safe haven for criminals and makes us vulnerable as a result,” said DHS press secretary Tyler Q. Houlton.
The ruling in Sessions vs. Dimaya was a defeat for the Trump administration. Lawyers for the Obama administration had taken a similar position, first appealing the case in 2016 and urging the court to uphold the deportation decision.
The justices differed on whether the ruling would have a significant effect beyond home burglaries. While the dissenters said it would cast doubt on other crimes such as racketeering and money laundering, the majority said it would only prevent the government from relabeling crimes such as car burglary or residential trespassing as violent offenses.