Evelyn Sineneng-Smith is an immigration consultant in California, helping individuals and employers navigate the nation’s complex immigration system so that noncitizens can become lawful and productive residents in the United States. In the course of assisting two undocumented workers and their employer with the process of obtaining a status that would allow the workers to remain and work in the U.S., Sineneng-Smith prepared and filed paperwork and applications that gave the workers a better chance of eventually obtaining permanent lawful residency status, although obtaining that status still depended on changes in the law extending the workers’ eligibility dates. The government eventually brought criminal charges against Sineneng-Smith for the help she provided, alleging that she had misled the workers to believe they would obtain permanent lawful residency status (although Sineneng-Smith asserted she warned the workers that changes to the law would still be required).
Sineneng-Smith was charged with violating an immigration statute making it a crime to “encourage” or “induce” an alien to reside in the U.S. in violation of the law. Sineneng-Smith argued not only that she had not misled the workers, but that the immigration statute’s ban on “encouraging” another to stay in the country in violation of the immigration laws violates the First Amendment’s protection of freedom of speech. At trial, her constitutional defense was denied and she was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment. However, a federal appeals court reversed the conviction, ruling that the prohibition on “encouraging” was overbroad and criminalized speech that is constitutionally protected. In challenging the government’s appeal to the Supreme Court, The Rutherford Institute and its partners filed an amicus brief supporting Sineneng-Smith, arguing that the criminal prohibition on “encouraging” aliens to stay in the U.S. discriminates against speech on the basis of its viewpoint in violation of the First Amendment.
Affiliate attorneys Erin Glenn Busby, Lisa R. Eskow and Michael F. Sturley of the University of Texas School of Law Supreme Court Clinic assisted The Rutherford Institute and its coalition partners in advancing the arguments in the Sineneng-Smith amicus brief.
Source: https://bit.ly/2tVzlxw
The Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit civil liberties organization, provides legal assistance at no charge to individuals whose constitutional rights have been threatened or violated.
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