Martina Rodriguez v. United States

Our court has recently received a number of appeals presenting problems that relate to the interval between deportation and the end of an alien’s term of imprisonment. Several district judges have sought to depart downwardly from an alien-defendant’s guidelines sentence to adjust in advance for the anticipated collateral consequences of the alien’s status — including what is often a lengthy stay in Immigration and Naturalization Service (“INS”) deportation centers awaiting deportation. See, e.g., United States v. Restrepo, 802 F.Supp. 781 (E.D.N.Y.1992). We write this opinion to help clarify…