Today, the US Supreme Court upheld a Kansas law that criminalizes use of another person’s social security number to get work supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf…
Here’s a preview of the case published on my blog crimmigration.com/2019/10/16/sup…
In a decision written by Justice Alito, #SCOTUS held that information that identification information can be used in state criminal prosecutions even though it also appears on the federal I-9 form used for employment.
The complication was that the federal Immigration & Nationality Act says that information “contained in” the I-9 can’t be used “for purposes other than enforcement” of federal immigration laws.
Clearly, a Kansas identity-theft criminal offense isn’t federal immigration law. The Supreme Court got around this by comparing a social security number to an email address.
“Individuals often provide their e-mail addresses to a wide circle of friends, acquaintances, online vendors, work-related contacts, and others….
"In ordinary speech, no one would say that a person who uses an e-mail address has used information that is contained in all these places."
The likely result of today’s decision is a greater willingness by state/local prosecutors to use the criminal justice system to make life difficult for migrants.
In some communities, working or renting an apartment is going to come with increased exposure to state criminal prosecution, then jail time, followed by deportation.
