Combining anti-immigration fervor with Republican conspiracy theories can’t really ever come to a good end, but this is ridiculous:

In Pakistan, Usman Ali is trying to rebuild his life after being deported from Florida, his legal home of more than a decade, for improperly filling out a voter-registration card while renewing his driver’s license.

…

Mr. Ali, 68, who had owned a jewelry store in Tallahassee, got into trouble after a clerk at the motor vehicles office had him complete a registration form that he quickly filled out in line, unaware that it was reserved just for United States citizens.

Even though he never voted, he was deported after living legally in this country for more than 10 years because of his misdemeanor federal criminal conviction.

“We’re foreigners here,” Mr. Ali said in a telephone interview from Lahore, Pakistan, where he lives with his daughter and wife, both United States citizens.

Wow. A misdemeanor charge results in the deportation of a 10 year resident even though the explanation is plausible and obviously true. He also didn’t vote, which to me means the law is written too harshly.

The rest of the article talks about how Republican conspiracy theories about voter fraud hasn’t resulted in many convictions since 2001 when Ashcroft made finding such fraud a priority. Politics over sound policy, the mantra of the Bush administration.

I also want to point out that a law that requires deportation for a misdemeanor conviction is absolutely insane and should at least require the discretion of a judge. And the people who fall into the “I’m scared to walk down the street in Peoria because of terrorism” should go get a clue. The anti-immigration folks should have one person of their family randomly deported because a clerk told them to fill out the wrong form.

Then, tell me if these laws make sense.