## Facts

- A 17-year-old U.S. citizen was stopped at the San Ysidro port of entry while attempting to drive a stolen vehicle into the United States.
- Officers found undocumented persons concealed inside the vehicle.
- The minor stated he knew the vehicle had been tampered with but claimed he was threatened into driving it across the border.
- He had no prior criminal history and was assessed as not posing a significant risk of reoffending.
- He admitted receiving a stolen vehicle in a negotiated disposition, and the juvenile court declared him a ward and placed him on probation.
- The court committed him to Camp Barrett for up to 365 days, stayed on conditions including that he return to live with his grandparents in Tijuana and not enter the United States during probation.
- The juvenile court indicated it sought a uniform approach for “border cases” and stated it did not matter that the minor was an American citizen.

## Issues

1. Whether a probation condition requiring a U.S.-citizen minor to leave and not reenter the United States during probation is invalid under the three-part reasonableness test for probation conditions.
2. Whether that condition unconstitutionally burdens the minor’s rights to travel, association, and assembly by effectively banishing him from his own country.

## Decision

- The appellate court struck the probation condition prohibiting the minor from entering the United States during probation.
- The court held the condition failed the reasonableness test because it regulated noncriminal conduct, lacked a sufficient relationship to the offense, and was not reasonably related to preventing future criminality on this record.
- The court also held the condition was unconstitutional because it broadly impaired protected rights and functioned as banishment of a citizen from the United States.
- The wardship adjudication and remaining dispositional orders were otherwise affirmed, with directions to modify probation conditions to remove the invalid term.

## Legal Principles

- A probation condition is invalid if it (1) has no relationship to the offense, (2) regulates conduct that is not itself criminal, and (3) is not reasonably related to future criminality.
- Juvenile courts have broad discretion to set probation conditions, but that discretion is limited when conditions burden constitutional rights.
- Conditions that significantly impair constitutional rights must be closely tailored and reasonably related to legitimate probationary purposes and public safety.
- A probation condition that effectively banishes a U.S. citizen from the United States is constitutionally suspect and, absent narrow tailoring and record support, impermissible.

## Conclusion

The court invalidated a probation term that required a U.S.-citizen minor to remain in Mexico and not enter the United States during probation, concluding it was unreasonable under governing probation standards and unconstitutional as an overbroad, banishment-like restriction on travel and association.


In re James C., 165 Cal. App. 4th 1198, 81 Cal. Rptr. 3d 846 (Ct. App. 2008)