Tan Nguyen cleared by California Attorney General

A state investigation has found that Tan Nguyen's congressional campaign committed no crime last year when it mailed 14,000 letters telling immigrants they could be jailed for voting, the Attorney General's Office said Wednesday.

However, the U.S. Department of Justice confirmed that its voting-rights section is still investigating the incident.

..."We could not prove that there was an intent to intimidate lawfully registered voters," [Senior Assistant Attorney General Gary Schons] said. "There's no doubt there was an intent to intimidate unlawfully registered voters."

...Schons said the investigation found that despite his claim to the contrary, Nguyen knew about the letter before it was mailed.

Nguyen said again Wednesday that he did not know of the mailer until afterward, but was otherwise pleased with the news.

...Schons said a key in the decision to close the case stemmed from the Spanish word "emigrado." He said the original draft of the letter – in English – warned those in the country illegally and those with green cards that they could face jail or deportation if they voted.

Schons said "those with green cards" was translated into "emigrado," which can be interpreted as meaning noncitizens with work permits. However, when "emigrado" was translated back into English after the letters were mailed, it became "immigrant," which carries no connotation of being a noncitizen with a work permit.

Politics · Fri, 05/18/2007 - 08:08 · · Importance: 1