Editorial: Unbending laws can be very unjust

Wednesday, June 11, 2003 | 8:58 a.m.

A Las Vegas man with a seven-year-old felony drug offense on his record may soon face an order that he be deported to his native country of Colombia. The fact that he is a legal resident of the United States, is married with children, has a good job and has had a clean record since his conviction will likely have no bearing on his case. If appeals fail and he is deported, he will be whisked away from his family and flown to Colombia, where he will be dropped off with no prospects and an order to never return to the United States. We view this case as an example of why mandatory federal penalties applying to legal residents from other countries should be reevaluated.

There is no denying that Leonel Magana Sandoval, a native of Colombia, committed a serious crime in 1996. He sold a quantity of methamphetamine to an undercover police officer. There was a plea bargain and he received a suspended sentence and probation, which he completed successfully. The conviction came to the attention of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (formerly the Immigration and Naturalization Service) recently when Sandoval went there to renew his green card, which had expired after a decade. He was immediately incarcerated and a deportation hearing was scheduled for June 16.

His crime was a felony and we cannot argue against the necessity for a hearing to determine whether his stay should be extended. We hold the view, however, that the hearing should be more fair than what federal law allows. The immigration judge presiding at the hearing will have little choice but to order deportation. Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which includes the mandatory penalty of deportation for immigrants convicted of crimes. Congress changed immigration law again in the 1990s to rule out arguments based on the character of convicted immigrants.

We think Sandoval's fate should not be decided in such an unforgiving manner. We wish the judge could look at Sandoval's total, 20-year life in Las Vegas. He has a wife employed in the gaming industry and a 2-year-old daughter and a 5-year-old son. The son is recovering from burns sustained when he set the family home on fire last March while playing with matches. The family was in good spirits before Sandoval's incarceration because they are overcoming that near tragedy. Sandoval himself is a supervisor with a plumbing company and there are credible local witnesses who would testify that he has turned his life around since his arrest seven years ago. But thanks to an unbending law to uphold, the judge will not have discretion when reviewing those facts.