WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has made it harder for longtime immigrants who have been convicted of a crime to avoid deportation.
Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the opinion Thursday for a 5-3 conservative majority that ruled against a Mexican citizen who entered the U.S. illegally and has lived in the country for 25 years.
Clemente Avelino Pereida had been charged in Nebraska with using a fraudulent Social Security card to get a job and was convicted under a state law against criminal impersonation.
Not all criminal convictions inevitably lead to deportation, but Gorsuch wrote for the court that Pereida failed to prove he was not convicted of a serious crime.
The three liberal justices dissented.
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