DHS Learns Not to Build Cases on Wikipedia; They’re Not Admissable.
Google may give Wikipedia lots of authority, but don’t count on that to help in the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. An immigration case appealed there hinged on the authority of a personal identification document, for which the feds used evidence from Wikipedia to determine that it did not meet its standards. Unfortunately for DHS, using Wikipedia did not meet the court’s standards.
The Department of Homeland Security, wishing to deny the asylum claim, argued that the laissez-passer was insufficient as a form of identification. Excerpts from Wikipedia apparently provided at least some of the information used by the DHS position to support its position.
The Court of Appeals ruled it was unclear if the immigration judge would have reached the same ruling without Wikipedia’s influence. The case has been sent back to the Immigration Judge for further consideration, using only admissible sources.
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