Professor Chin Comments for PolitiFact on Undocumented Immigration as Crime
Professor Gabriel “Jack” Chin commented for Politifact, the political fact- checking website sponsored by the Tampa Bay Times, on whether or not being in the United States without proper documentation is a crime.
"It is not a crime to be present in the United States without authorization, such as by overstaying a visa," Chin said. "But such a person is subject to being deported."
"It is a crime to cross the border other than as designated by immigration officials, but there is no separate crime for being unlawfully present in the United States," Chin said.
Gabriel "Jack" Chin is Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of Law and holder of the Edward L. Barrett Endowed Chair at UC Davis School of Law. He is a prolific and much-cited criminal and immigration law scholar whose work has addressed many of the most pressing social issues of our time.