Saturday, December 05, 2009
The days of federal courts in Arizona cattle-calling large numbers of illegal immigrants may be coming to an end. The Ninth Circuit appellate court in San Francisco ruled on Wednesday that Arizona’s federal judges cannot take pleas from 50 to 100 defendants at a time in illegal immigration cases. A three-judge panel said that while it was understandable that the volume of cases involving unauthorized aliens has forced the courts to try implementing shortcuts, “No judge, however conscientious, could have possessed the ability to hear distinctly and accurately fifty voices at the same time.” The Tucson court reportedly processes 25,000 illegal immigration cases a year.
The ruling stemmed from an appeal brought on behalf of six Mexican citizens who were arrested for entering the United States illegally. During their initial arraignment, assistant federal public defender Jason Hannan requested that the judge allow each defendant to individually address the court. Instead, Magistrate Judge Jennifer Guerin continued the proceedings en masse, prompting Hannan to later challenge his clients’ convictions and the practice of mass pleas.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Group Pleas in Immigration Cases Violate the Law, 9th Circuit Rules (by Annie Youderian, Courthouse News Service)
9th Circuit Kills Group Criminal Immigration Pleas (Corruption Chronicles)
Ninth Circuit Opinion (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit) (PDF)
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