Federal Immigration Law Bars Kansas ID Theft Prosecutions

Kansas may not use information from federal I-9 immigration forms to prosecute undocumented immigrants under state law for using false Social Security numbers to obtain employment, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled in a trio of related cases (State v. Garcia, Kan., No. 112,502, 9/8/17, State v. Ochoa-Lara, Kan., No. 112,322, 9/8/17, and State v. Morales, Kan., No. 111,904, 9/8/17).

The federal Immigration Reform and Control Act expressly bars state law enforcement from using either the I-9 employment verification form itself or information contained in the form in enforcing state laws, a divided court said in three ...