banished

Here's an item brought to my attention in comments. Friends of wmtc Scott M and Doug both noticed this craziness from a US judge. Why are so many judges in the US so damn stupid?

An American teacher convicted of having sex with a 15-year-old student has been exiled to Canada as punishment in an unusual case that has immigration experts divided over its legality.

A U.S. judge gave Malcolm Watson a choice between serving as much as a year behind bars or agreeing to a three-year exile at his home in Canada. Watson, a 35-year-old former teacher at Buffalo Seminary in New York state, chose Canada.

Under the sentence for sexual abuse imposed by Cheektowaga town court, Watson can enter the United States only to report to his probation officer. Watson lives in St. Catharines, Ont., with his Canadian wife and three children. His sentence started Monday.

Robert Kolken, a Buffalo immigration lawyer, told the Toronto Star that exiling a citizen is unheard of.

"I don't see how a judge sitting in a criminal court in the U.S. can lawfully banish a citizen as a condition of sentencing," he said.

"The real issue is whether it's legal or not," he told the paper, adding that he wonders whether the sentence can even be enforced.

Banish-ed, that banish-ed, that one word, banish-ed...