(CN) - The 7th Circuit rejected the deportation appeal of a Russian man convicted of sexual misconduct with a minor under Indiana law. A three-judge panel said his crime constituted an "aggravated felony" triggering deportation under federal immigration law.
Mikhail Gaiskov, a Russian citizen and permanent resident of the United States, claimed that the lower courts mischaracterized his conviction as "sexual abuse of a minor," a removable offense.
Rejecting his claims, the Chicago-based federal appeals court upheld the deportation orders of the immigration judge and the Board of Immigration Appeals.
"First, we reject Gaiskov's suggestion that a minor is not seriously harmed by the conduct prohibited" under Indiana law, Judge Flaum wrote. "However, even if there was little harm to a minor associated with the crime, this would not foreclose its classification as an aggravated felony."
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