Dean Johnson Comments on Deportation Case for Sacramento Bee
Dean Kevin R. Johnson commented for the Sacramento Bee on the case of Pascale Fusshoeller, an undocumented immigrant who is facing deportation following a routine traffic stop in Nevada City. The case has drawn media attention in part because Fusshoeller runs Yubanet.com, a well-known local news website.
Fusshoeller, a citizen of Luxembourg, entered the United States on the visa waiver program, which allows foreign visitors into the U.S. without a visa so long as they leave within 90 days. She was stopped for allegedly running a stop sign and provided police with a driver's license belonging to her wife, which resulted in charges of giving false information to police, driving without a license, resisting arrest, and false impersonation. She has been released on prosecutorial discretion.
Dean Johnson said that although Fusshoeller is vulnerable to deportation because she overstayed her 90 days on the visa waiver, "as long she doesn't commit another crime of any kind, she's probably going to be OK... She's an upstanding member of the community and there's no good reason for the government to expend its prosecutorial resources to try to deport her."
Kevin R. Johnson is Dean and Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o studies at UC Davis School of Law. He is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law, and civil rights.