December 14, 2009 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS - WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether immigrants convicted of repeat, minor drug possession crimes should be subject to deportation.

The justices said Monday they will hear an appeal from Jose Angel Carachuri-Rosendo, who was deported to his native Mexico after pleading no contest to possessing one tablet of the anti-anxiety drug Xanax without a prescription. A year earlier, Carachuri-Rosendo pleaded guilty to possessing less than two ounces of marijuana.

Both crimes are misdemeanors in Texas, where Carachuri-Rosendo lived. He was a legal U.S. resident who had been in the country more than 20 years, with a fiancee and four children who all are U.S. citizens.

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