Criminal trespass charges dismissed for undocumented immigrants

In the case of New Hampshire v. Barros-Batistele, Justice L. Phillips Runyon III ruled on August 12, 2005, that local New Hampshire police cannot enforce a criminal trespass statute against immigrants on the theory that they did not have permission to be in the United States and therefore are trespassing.

The key to the ruling was that immigration law is an area that Congress has set aside exclusively to be ruled and punished according to federal laws and to be enforced by federal authorities. This finding was actually conceded by the prosecutors, so it was not very controversial.

It is supported by analyzing the federal laws that criminalize and set penalties for entering the United States without permission -- it is clear that Congress set forth a comprehensive scheme that should not be encroached upon by new state laws.

Perhaps this ruling can be used as further proof that local law enforcement have no authority to enforce federal immigration laws (except under a rarely-used provision whereby local police undertake training from federal officials and essentially become deputized). Maybe this can be cited to argue that interrogations by state police for the sole purpose of enforcing federal immigration laws should be suppressed as unlawful searches and seizures, violating the United States Constitution and the applicable state constitution.