WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court concluded on Friday that a federal law making it a crime to encourage illegal immigration does not violate constitutional free speech rights, preserving a decades-old regulation backed by President Joe Biden’s administration.
The 7-2 ruling reversed a lower court’s decision to strike down the provision, which was part of a larger immigration act, in a case involving a California man named Helaman Hansen, who defrauded immigrants through a phony “adult adoption” program. The lower court had concluded that the law was unduly broad because it might criminalize speech protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor, both liberal justices, voted against the decision. The law prohibits enticing or encouraging noncitizens “to come to, enter, or reside” illegally in the United States, including for financial gain. Hansen’s 2017 conviction for violating the measure was overturned by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Hansen was also found guilty of mail and wire fraud and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He is not in prison while his appeal is being heard.
Federal prosecutors accused Hansen of defrauding illegal immigrants in the United States between 2012 and 2016 by promising them citizenship through an “adult adoption” program run by his Sacramento-based business, Americans Helping America Chamber of Commerce.
According to the prosecution, Hansen induced at least 471 people to join his program, costing each of them up to $10,000, despite the fact that he “knew that the adult adoptions that he touted would not lead to U.S. citizenship.” According to authorities, Hansen and his program gathered more than $1.8 million through the plan.
In a decision striking down the law, the 9th Circuit ruled that it criminalizes even commonplace speech such as telling immigrants who are in the country illegally, “I encourage you to reside in the United States,” or advising them about available social services. The 9th Circuit upheld Hansen’s other convictions and ordered that he be resentenced.
