C-220 – An Act to amend the Criminal Code (immigration status in sentencing) – makes it so immigration status has no impact on sentencing for a crime.
This one’s pretty simple, Michelle wants to change the Criminal Code to make it so immigration status is explicitly excluded from consideration during sentencing.
Now for some background here, first of all this legislation goes directly against a Supreme Court ruling so there’s a good chance this won’t survive a court battle. The entire reason immigration status is relevant during sentencing is because deportation can have additional impacts. For example, if someone is deported to a country where they’re likely to be killed then any sentence that results in them being deported automatically becomes a death sentence. For a lesser crime like drug possession (the crime that originally lead to this ruling) that isn’t exactly a proportional sentence. A big note here is that any sentencing of at least 2 years in prison immediately disqualifies anyone from appealing a deportation order. In the original case that went to the Supreme Court it was ruled that the person who was sentenced have their sentence reduced by one day to allow them to appeal their deportation order. An important note here is that this doesn’t mean they get to avoid being deported, they just get to appeal their deportation.
Finally, the Supreme Court ruling explicitly doesn’t allow a judge to give someone a sentence that’s inappropriate for the crime. Murderers aren’t getting off with 2 years of jail because they might be deported.
Progress of C-220
C-220 is currently waiting for its Second Reading vote.
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