Undocumented immigrant was found with drugs in Idaho. Why he didn’t get probation
Can an undocumented immigrant get probation, which typically requires people who have committed a crime to comply with all the laws of the U.S.?
That question was central to an Idaho Supreme Court opinion from earlier this year. In that case, a man named Jesus Agustin Perez Garcia was found with marijuana during a 2023 Eastern Idaho traffic stop, during which he tried to hide a meth pipe under a patrol car, according to a probable cause affidavit and the Supreme Court’s opinion.
The man pleaded guilty, and even though his lawyer and the prosecution recommended probation, the judge in the case denied him that. Why? Because Perez Garcia was an undocumented immigrant who had previously been deported.
Someone “would typically get probation under these circumstances,” District Judge Darren Simpson said, according to the Idaho Supreme Court’s opinion. But during sentencing, Simpson questioned whether Perez Garcia could follow federal law because of his immigration history and sentenced him to prison.
“I don’t know how I can grant probation under those circumstances,” Simpson said, according to the Supreme Court opinion.
Perez Garcia appealed his sentence, but Idaho’s justices agreed with Simpson.
The standard for a long time has been to not allow illegal or impossible conditions of probation, Boise-based immigration lawyer Chris Christensen said in a phone interview. The court’s holding was pretty narrow, Christensen said, but he worried about the practical implications.
“I’ve never seen it applied like this,” Christensen said. “My fear is, does that lead to harsher sentences?”
Perez Garcia was born in Sonora, Mexico, a state south of Arizona, and had returned to the U.S. searching for better opportunities after a previous deportation. After the 2023 traffic stop, he pleaded guilty to felony possession of a controlled substance and felony destruction of evidence. His lawyers said he had a history of working, was in treatment for substance abuse and these were his first criminal charges.
Simpson, rather than give probation, imposed a sentence of five years, but allowed Perez Garcia to become eligible for parole at any time.
Perez Garcia appealed, saying it was wrong for the court to sentence him to prison solely because of his legal status.
But in April, the Idaho Supreme Court rejected his argument. Other courts have ruled probation can’t be denied just based on someone’s legal status, the justices said. But if someone is undocumented, that can affect other probation conditions, such as an ability or willingness to comply with the law and find work.
That’s what happened in this case, the justices wrote, with the judge noting that Perez Garcia had returned after deportation. His immigration background also affected sentencing factors, such as criminal history, the justices said.
His history is part of what makes the facts in this case “unique,” according to Christensen, the immigration lawyer.
It’s a misdemeanor to illegally cross the border, Christensen said. But just existing in the U.S. after that isn’t a crime, according to the Supreme Court’s opinion.
But if someone is in the U.S. after being deported, that means their presence in this country is a continuing offense, according to the opinion.
Someone constantly violating the law couldn’t comply with that probation condition to follow the laws of the U.S., the justices explained.
“We emphasize, however, that immigration status alone does not render a defendant ineligible for probation,” the justices wrote.
Christensen said he didn’t disagree with the court’s reasoning, but he worried about unforeseen outcomes. For example, taxpayers could bear the costs of an undocumented immigrant’s long prison sentence even if the person is ultimately going to be deported.
For Perez Garcia, the issue is moot. His sentencing and appeal played out during the end of the Biden administration and as President Donald Trump was coming into office and hardening the government toward immigrants. In 2024, before Trump’s election, while Perez Garcia was being sentenced, the state said he most likely wouldn’t be deported. By the day after the Idaho Supreme Court heard arguments in October 2025, he’d been deported.
