EFF Files Amicus Brief to Protect the Speech Rights of Immigrants and Immigrant Rights Advocates

This post was written by intern Devin Sullivan.Should it be a federal crime to encourage an undocumented immigrant to remain in the country?In a friend of the court brief filed today with the U.S. Supreme Court, we argue that such a prohibition is facially unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds that it would sweep up and prohibit constitutionally protected speech.Our brief was filed in United States v. Hansen, a challenge to the Encouragement Provision in 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(iv), which makes it a federal crime to "encourage or induce" an undocumented immigrant to "reside" in the United States, if one knows that such "coming to, entry, or residence" in the U.S. will be in violation of the law.

Read at Electronic Frontier Foundation