An Illinois federal court has ruled that a federal provision that forbids illegal immigrants from possessing firearms is unconstitutional.
Heriberto Carbajal-Flores, an undocumented immigrant, was detained in Chicago in June 2020 for carrying a pistol in defiance of Title 18 of the U.S. Criminal Code, which forbids undocumented aliens from owning weapons or ammunition. After George Floyd died, Carbajal-Flores and his lawyers claimed that he carried the gun for self-defense “at a time of proven civil instability.”
In contrast, two subordinate courts upheld the Title 18 law. On March 8, however, Obama-appointed U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman of the Northern District of Illinois overturned those previous court rulings, ruling that Carbajal-Flores’ unlawful immigration to the United States did not revoke his constitutional right to self-defense.
“The Court concludes that Carbajal-Flores’s criminal history, which does not include any instances of improper weapon use, along with the non-aggressive manner in which he was arrested, do not corroborate the conclusion that he is a threat to public safety and should be denied the right to bear arms in self-defense under the Second Amendment,” Coleman wrote in the ruling.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in the Bruen case appears to be the deciding factor in the ruling. The Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision in that case held that laws limiting access to firearms must be “consistent with this nation’s long record of firearm control.” Since there doesn’t appear to be any historical precedent supporting the idea that illegal immigrants forfeit their right to self-defense right away, Coleman decided to find in the defendant’s favor and deemed the legislation unconstitutional.
“When it comes to Carbajal-Flores, the noncitizen possession statute (18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5)) violates the Second Amendment. The decision said, “Therefore, the court allows Carbajal-Flores’ request to dismiss.”
There are many proponents of gun rights who support the decision. Self-defense is “a pre-existing, inherent right,” according to a blog post by Navy veteran Tom Knighton on the website Bearing Arms. Knighton also pointed out that since the Second Amendment is “a natural right,” it “would naturally apply to everyone, including those who broke the law in coming into this nation.”
“To find that illegals are outside of ‘the people’ protected by the 2A, you must believe that the Framers were talking about a different ‘group of people’ in the First, Fourth, Ninth, and Tenth Amendments,” Second Amendment expert attorney Matthew Larosiere similarly contended.
Jay Oliver, a political pundit, adopted a somewhat different stance that was nonetheless somewhat compatible. Oliver told Newsweek in a statement, “Those who are here illegally cannot own a firearm of any type that is obtained in an unlawful manner” (emphasis added). “Unfortunately, there have been far too many instances where the progressive views and judgments of those in authority have resulted in the loss of innocent lives.”
