A federal appeals court has ruled that the U.S. cannot deport an illegal immigrant who is a “habitual drunkard.”
In a 2-to-1 decision by the western 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, the judges decided the condition has been wrongly equated with poor moral character and instead is a medical disease.
The decision overlooked an immigration law established by Congress five decades ago that had made it difficult for a person caught living in the country illegally to evade deportation for embodying symptoms of a “habitual drunkard.”
“Is it rational for the government to find that people with chronic alcoholism are morally bad people solely because of their disease?” Judge Stephen Reinhardt, who was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, wrote in opposition to the law. “The answer is no.”
The ruling rendered Mexican citizen Salomon Ledezma-Cosino, considered a “habitual drunkard,” not eligible for removal from the U.S. Medical records indicate he drank an estimated one liter of tequila a day for a decade.
If the government does not appeal the ruling, he will be allowed to seek to stay in the country or leave voluntarily without being detained.
