WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said Friday it will hear a case involving a scam that falsely promoted adult adoptions as a path to U.S. citizenship.
The case tests whether a section of federal immigration law is unconstitutional because it is so broad that it violates the First Amendment’s free-speech guarantees. The high court two years ago heard arguments on the same issue in a different case, but the court’s ruling ultimately did not reach the question.
The new case the high court agreed to hear involves Helaman Hansen, who operated a Sacramento nonprofit called the Americans Helping America Chamber of Commerce. The government said that between 2012 and 2016, he persuaded at least 471 people to join his adult adoption program even though he knew the adoptions he was promoting would not lead to citizenship. People paid between $550 and $10,000 to participate.
Hansen’s victims included noncitizens already in the United States on visas whom he convinced to remain in the country illegally, and noncitizens outside the United States whom he convinced to travel to and live in the United States illegally to participate.