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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hope Praytochange who wrote (696518)	8/12/2005 4:08:32 PM
From: paret	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769667

Trespass Prosecution Of Illegal Immigrants Ruled Unconstitutional, Judge Dismisses All Charges Union Leader ^ \| Augist 12, 2005 \| Staff JAFFREY — A judge has dismissed trespassing charges against a group of illegal immigrants, disagreeing with two small-town police chiefs who applied the state law because they said they were frustrated by lax federal enforcement. The closely-watched district court decision was released Friday afternoon. The police chiefs in New Ipswich and Hudson were praised by many law enforcement officers nationwide for their novel approach to homeland security. But lawyers for the immigrants argued that only the federal government has the power to regulate immigration, and that the state law was designed to apply to people intruding on private property. Jaffrey District Court Judge L. Phillips Runyon III dismissed the cases, ruling that "the criminal trespass charges against the defendants are unconstitutional attempts to regulate in the area of enforcement of immigration violations, an area where Congress must be deemed to have regulated with such civil sanctions and criminal penalties as it feels are sufficient." The trespassing law says a person is guilty when he “knows that he is not licensed or privileged to do so, he enters or remains in any place.” The immigrants, most of whom were from Mexico, were cited by police during traffic stops this spring after they produced fake identification and admitted they were in the country illegally. They pleaded innocent and were issued a citation — a violation akin to a parking ticket — which carries a fine and no jail time if convicted. Last month, the judge questioned lawyers on both sides at length about the use of the law and expressed doubt that he was the right authority to determine someone’s immigration status.