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Law Used to Prosecute Migrants in U.S. Struck Down as Racist

  • Nevada federal judge says law violates Fifth Amendment
  • 1929 law made it a crime to re-enter U.S. after deportation
Migrants Huddle In Camps And Shelters In Tijuana Waiting To Cross Into U.S.

Photographer: Mario Tama/Getty Images

An almost century-old federal law that makes it a crime for deported migrants to re-enter the U.S. was found unconstitutional by a judge who said its passage in 1929 was motivated, in part, by prejudice against Mexicans and other Latinos.

U.S. District Judge Miranda Du in Reno, Nevada, ruled Wednesday that the law, known as Section 1326, violates the equal protection guarantees of the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment.