{"id":62,"date":"2016-10-14T10:08:59","date_gmt":"2016-10-14T17:08:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hillandpiibe.com\/?p=62"},"modified":"2024-08-07T13:37:27","modified_gmt":"2024-08-07T20:37:27","slug":"ninth-circuit-will-reconsider-whether-alcoholism-bar-immigration-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hillandpiibe.com\/en\/visas\/2016\/10\/14\/ninth-circuit-will-reconsider-whether-alcoholism-bar-immigration-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"Ninth Circuit Will Reconsider Whether Alcoholism is a Bar to Immigration Benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On October 12, 2016, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals voted to re-hear a case decided earlier this year, <em>Ledezma-Cosino v. Lynch<\/em>, No. 12-73289 (March 24, 2016).\u00a0 In the earlier decision, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that alcoholism cannot be equated with the bad moral character element of \u201chabitual drunkard,\u201d because it is a medical disability.\u00a0 The Court noted that alcoholism long has been recognized as a medical condition, dating back to at least 1968.\u00a0 Therefore, it is not rational to link alcoholism to a person\u2019s moral character.<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Ledezma<\/em> Court\u2019s conclusion followed the Constitutional guarantees of the Equal Protection clause, which also applies to the class of non-citizens.\u00a0 The Equal Protection clause requires that all persons who are similarly situated be treated alike.\u00a0 The government cannot pick and choose among the class of noncitizens and treat members differently, unless the treatment is rationally related to a legitimate government interest.<\/p>\n<p>The government was not rational to blame alcoholics for lacking motivation to overcome their disease.\u00a0 Otherwise, disproportionate numbers of military veterans, Native Americans and the homeless population\u2014those battling alcoholism\u2014would have bad moral character.\u00a0 Furthermore, our understanding of alcoholism has changed over time, much like how we view those with mental illness or those who are homosexual.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Clifton wrote a dissent, arguing that that the bad moral character of \u201chabitual drunkard\u201d could occur under free will. \u00a0He also urged that there was a rational basis to deny immigration benefits to those who threaten or burden our institutions of public safety. \u00a0Finally, he asserted that the government nonetheless has the power to exclude noncitizens for other medical reasons, and that the Court never should have raised this issue in the first place.<\/p>\n<p>This case is set to be re-heard by a larger panel of Judges. \u00a0The new rehearing decision potentially\u00a0will clarify\u00a0Constitutional issues over the government\u2019s power and authority to exclude noncitizens, as well as procedural issues over how arguments and issues can be raised and addressed within the Ninth Circuit.\u00a0 This again underscores the\u00a0skill and knowledge an attorney needs toward\u00a0when and how to raise all important issues in a case, both at the Board of Immigration Appeals and in briefings before the Circuit Courts of Appeal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On October 12, 2016, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals voted to re-hear a case decided earlier this year, Ledezma-Cosino v. Lynch, No. 12-73289 (March 24, 2016).\u00a0 In the earlier decision, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that alcoholism cannot be equated with the bad moral character element of \u201chabitual [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":878,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,30,22,25,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-criminal-immigration-issues","category-deportation-removal-detention","category-green-cards","category-legal-analysis","category-visas"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ninth Circuit Will Reconsider Whether Alcoholism is a Bar to Immigration Benefits &#8226; Hill &amp; 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