Equal Protection Challenges to Prosecutions Under 1325 & 1326: The Groundbreaking Decision in United States v. Carillo-Lopez

Over the past two years, federal defenders have begun challenging the laws that criminalize crossing the border — 8 U.S.C. § 1325 and 8 USC § 1326 — on the grounds that the law is racist, and therefore unconstitutional. Recently, in a case called United States v. Carrillo Lopez (“ Carrillo-Lopez ”), Judge Miranda Du in the District of Nevada agreed with this argument and granted a motion to dismiss a criminal case against a person charged with the crime of crossing the border after being previou