http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Migrant-courts-get-more-latitude-4356389.php

Georgia Won’t Appeal Decision Against Immigration Law

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that the Georgia Attorney General’s office confirmed Monday that the state will not appeal a federal court’s decision against the part of a Georgia immigration law that would punish people who knowingly transport or harbor illegal immigrants while committing other crimes. In August, the 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the immigration measure is pre-empted by federal law, which already prohibits such activities. Georgia was facing a deadline this week to decide whether to appeal the 11^th Circuit Court’s decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Affects Many Immigrant Convicts in South Florida

The Miami Herald reports that a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling blocked appeals for hundreds of Florida residents convicted in the past of crimes for which they could be deported. In Chaidez v. United States, the Supreme Court ruled that immigrants convicted of crimes before 2010 cannot appeal their cases if their criminal defense lawyers did not properly warn them of deportation. The decision followed up on the court’s 2010 ruling which threw out the conviction of military veteran Jose Padilla, whose lawyer failed to warn him that he faced deportation to his native Honduras if he pleaded guilty to marijuana smuggling in Kentucky.

After the ruling in Padilla v. Kentucky, thousands of convicted immigrants—fearing deportation—asked lower courts across the country to throw out their convictions. That included Roselva Chaidez, a longtime U.S. resident from Mexico convicted in Chicago of auto insurance fraud. However, seven of the nine justices agreed that the Padilla ruling established “new law” but was not legally “retroactive.” Under federal law, non-citizens convicted of an “aggravated felony” can be deported. The U.S. Attorney General’s Office had also argued that applying Padilla retroactively “would be overwhelming to the administration of justice” –flooding the courts with thousands of cases, most of them so old that witnesses or evidence in the cases have disappeared.

US Ruling May Hurt Dreamers’ License Case

Capitol Media Services reports that a federal judge has blocked deferred action recipients from arguing in court that they are being harmed by the refusal of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer to let them have drivers’ licenses. Judge David Campbell agreed to a request by the plaintiffs that they should not be questioned about how they obtained work or are driving as the issue is irrelevant to their legal claims of being denied equal rights. However, the Judge Campbell said the challengers cannot have it both ways. “Plaintiffs will not be permitted to argue that they were forced to drive or work illegally and that they are irreparably harmed by the inability to work or drive illegally,” the judge wrote.

The ruling is significant because one of the lawsuits filed late last year by the challengers is states that Governor Brewer’s order “severely frustrates their ability to obtain employment and achieve economic self-sufficiency.”

Former Immigration Worker Indicted in Fraudulent Documents Scheme Run by Fort Lee, NJ Man

NJ.com reports that a California man was indicted Friday for his alleged role in a Bergen County, NJ-based fraudulent document scheme that helped undocumented South Koreans live in the U.S. A grand jury convened in U.S. District Court in Newark, New Jersey to indict Martin Trejo, 45, of Rialto, California on charges of conspiracy to steal government property and conspiracy to transport stolen property in interstate commerce. According to U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman, Trejo was a contract employee with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration, who used his position to steal blank I-797 forms. The forms are used to verify a person’s legal right to reside in the country when applying for a driver’s license or other form of government-issued identification. Trejo is currently free on bail and awaiting trial.