Supreme Court hears immigrant deportation case

Jorge Luna Torres moved to the United States from the Dominican Republic when he was 9 years old and has been a lawful permanent resident for three decades.

But one brush with crime in 1999 came back to haunt him, and his case has made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Torres served one day in jail for third-degree attempted arson under New York state law. That conviction came up seven years later on a return trip from the Dominican Republic. The Immigration and Naturalization Service told him that under federal law an aggravated felony means deportation.

Lawyers for Torres argue his state arson conviction is not an aggravated felony because federal arson law includes the element of interstate commerce, which was clearly lacking in his case.

The narrow question for the court is whether Torres can appeal his threatened deportation. As sympathetic as Torres’ situation might seem, the Supreme Court justices worried during oral arguments earlier this month about setting a dangerous precedent for other, not-so-sympathetic cases.

“Congress would not have wanted to deprive individuals who have been convicted of minor offenses or less serious offenses of such discretionary relief,” Torres’ lawyer, Matthew Guadagno, said. But Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked what would happen if a ruling in Torres’ favor were applied in a case of child pornography. Guadagna said it wouldn’t apply, but that didn’t seem to satisfy all the justices. Both lower courts ruled against Torres, who could be deported for his crime even though he was in the United States legally.

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