Chief Judge Miranda Du of the District of Nevada on Wednesday struck down 8 USC § 1326 (a) &(b), which criminalizes the re-entry of migrants who have previously been deported from the US, as a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fifth Amendment.

Section 1326 was struck down because the court found that the law was enacted with a discriminatory purpose and had a disparate impact on Latinx persons, and the government failed to establish that the law would have been enacted but for racial animus. Examining the historical background, legislative history, and other factors under Arlington Heights, a prior immigration case, the court found that Section 1326 was enacted with a discriminatory purpose. Further, the court found that subsequent amendments to Section 1326 did not ameliorate the discriminatory intent, and served to increase the deterrent effect of the law, steadily increasing criminal penalties for migrants who re-entered the US after being deported. In fact, the 1952 amendments were vetoed by former president Donald Truman, who was concerned about the racist implications of such a law.

Du is an immigrant herself; her family left Vietnam when she was a child and came to the US as an asylum seeker by way of Malaysia.