9th Circuit Bars Deportation for Sex With Minor

A federal appeals court has ruled that an immigrant should not be deported for having sex with a minor.

The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a 2-1 decision (PDF) that the offense was not one of “moral turpitude,” the kind of crime that requires deportation, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

The statutory rape law bars conduct that "may be unwise and socially unacceptable to many, but it is not inherently base, vile or depraved," the court wrote.