The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa is celebrating the Iowa Supreme Court’s dismissal of felony charges against an undocumented immigrant who’s lived in Iowa for two decades. Martha Martinez came into the country illegally with her parents when she was 11. She was charged with identity theft and forgery for using a fake I-D to get a job. Rita Bettis, the legal director for the A-C-L-U of Iowa, says since Martinez went through “rigorous background checks” to get legal residency status under President Obama’s “Deferred Action on Childhood Arrival’s policy, she was shielded from the kind of charges filed against her.

 

Bettis says the Iowa Supreme Court’s decision is a “strong rebuke” of the Muscatine County Attorney who filed the charges against Martinez in state court.

 

The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa had filed a “friend of the court” brief and participated in oral arguments on the case before the Iowa Supreme Court.

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