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eentry in 2011. Judge William G. Young severely questioned the prosecutor’s decision to
pursue this case:
The basic fairness considerations in this case favor a decision declining to
prosecute Ms. Bolieiro. Ms. Bolieiro was a lawful permanent resident. Yes,
Ms. Bolierio was convicted of a drug offense, was ordered deported, and was
actually removed. Moreover, her reentry into the United States under this set
of circumstances was a crime. But it is also fact that the conviction
precipitating this set of events was constitutionally invalid. She was deprived
of legal status by a deportation order based on what has now been judged to
be a constitutionally infirm conviction. The current prosecution is thus
attempting to enforce a deportation order that stems from a now-vacated,
constitutionally unjust conviction. The wisdom of pursuing a case under such
circumstances is dubious at best.… [I]t is inexplicable why the government
has continued to pursue this criminal case. 232
“Was it worth it for us to do this to him?”
Carlos Santana grew up in San Diego, California from the age of 4 and was a legal
permanent resident. 233 His mother and sister are naturalized US citizens. Carlos
was a nursing assistant with an interest in art and graphic design.
Nine years ago, Carlos, who is slightly built, got into a fight at a gay bar in Oregon.
“It’s the only fight I’ve ever been in,” he told Human Rights Watch in Tijuana,
Mexico. Carlos said he was convicted of attempted assault 2 in the lesser degree,
which he was told could eventually be expunged.
Carlos was not deported immediately, but he said in 2009, with nothing else on
his record, he went to court to pay a traffic ticket, where he was apprehended and
deported permanently to Mexico for his prior conviction, which was classified as
an “aggravated felony.”
232 United States v. Lucia Maria Boliero, Memorandum and Order, CR 11-10221-WGY, District of Massachusetts, February 13, 2013.
233 Carlos Santana’s full name is Juan Carlos Salgado Santana, but he goes by Carlos Santana.
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