The Laken Riley Act is quite possibly unconstitutional. It appears to violate the 5th, 6th and 14th Amendments
By Curt_Anderson January 22, 2025 6:15 pm Category: Law (0.0 from 0 votes)
Rules of the Post
I will leave it to the lawyers and constitutional scholars to make the arguments, and I predict that they will as soon as the first accused immigrant faces deportation.
In various ways, courts have held that a non-citizen defendant who is able to demonstrate that a charged crime carries the potential penalty of deportation is entitled to a jury trial under the Sixth Amendment. Nothing in the language of the Sixth excludes non-citizen defendants.
Sixth Amendment
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence."
Furthermore, deportation requires a conviction, not simply a criminal charge or an accusation.
In a the Supreme Court decision Sessions v. Dimaya Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote:
"Consider first the doctrine’s due process underpinnings. The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments guarantee that 'life, liberty, or property' may not be taken 'without due process of law.' That means the government generally may not deprive a person of those rights without affording him the benefit of (at least) those 'customary procedures to which freemen were entitled by the old law of England.'"
Non-Citizen Defendants Entitled to a Jury Trial Under the Sixth Amendment if Deportation is a Consequence of Conviction
People v. Suazo
State of New York Court of Appeals
Decided on November 27, 2018
The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) virtually guarantees that any alien convicted of an “aggravated felony” after entering the United States will be deported.
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Comments on "The Laken Riley Act is quite possibly unconstitutional. It appears to violate the 5th, 6th and 14th Amendments":
I will leave it to the lawyers and constitutional scholars to make the arguments, and I predict that they will as soon as the first accused immigrant faces deportation.