Deporting Undocumented Immigrants Not Punishment

The federal government doesn’t have to consider whether deportation of an undocumented immigrant is too severe compared to the justifications for doing so, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held March 27 (Marin-Marin v. Sessions, 2017 BL 95716, 2d Cir., Docket No. 15-2074, 3/27/17).

Removal isn’t punitive, and that analysis therefore isn’t required under the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment, the court’s unsigned opinion said.

The court acknowledged that the U.S. Supreme Court said that “deportation is a particularly severe penalty,” in Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356 (2010) (78 ...