TO THE EDITOR:
In Monday’s front page article, “Immigration Debate Close to Home,” immigrant Carmen Rodriquez is paraphrased as saying that “undocumented people can be deported for a minor traffic infraction.”
If that indeed reflects her words, they are misleading at best, if not outright false. The Immigration and Nationality Act contains no provision for such removal grounds. Aliens are indeed removable under 8 USC section 1182 (a)(6)(A)(i), if they entered the United States without admission or inspection. A minor traffic violation, though, is not an independent ground for removability.
Further, the likelihood of a traffic stop, without other aggravating factors, such as prior criminal convictions or contemporaneous criminal activity, resulting in removal from the United States is infinitesimally small.
Prof. Michael Heyse, University of Maryland School of Law
Class of ’00
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