rssHolder Restores Right to Effective Counsel in Immigration Court
Wednesday, June 03, 2009 at 1:27 pm
- 7 Comments
Attorney General Eric Holder today withdrew the controversial ruling by his predecessor that immigrants in deportation proceedings have no right to appeal an adverse decision based on their lawyer’s mistakes.
The immediate effect is to restore the right to re-open a case based on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, but Holder also said he will “initiate a new rulemaking proceeding for regulations to govern claims of ineffective assistance of counsel in removal proceedings.”
“The integrity of immigration proceedings depends in part on the ability to assert claims of ineffective assistance of counsel, and the Department of Justice’s rulemaking in this area will be fair, it will be transparent, and it will be guided by our commitment to the rule of law,” Holder said in a statement.
As I wrote in February, just two weeks before the inauguration of President Obama, former Attorney General Michael Mukasey ruled in a case called Matter of Compean that immigrants have no right to be represented by a lawyer, and no right to appeal a ruling based on a lawyer’s mistakes.
“Neither the Constitution nor any statutory or regulatory provision,” Mukasey wrote in early January, “entitles an alien to a do-over if his initial removal proceeding is prejudiced by the mistakes of a privately retained lawyer.”
The ruling caused serious problems for immigrants who were entitled to remain in the country but had hired overburdened or simply incompetent lawyers who didn’t know the law, missed a critical deadline or failed to get their client’s full story.
Until Mukasey’s last-minute rule change, immigrants for the past 20 years had had the right to re-open a case if they could show that they were denied a fair hearing due to their lawyer’s mistakes.
Mukasey’s ruling outraged immigration lawyers struggling to represent clients who’d been mis-represented in the past. In a recent letter asking Holder to reverse the decision, the American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigrants Rights Project called the change “at odds with the vast majority of the courts of appeals and with ensuring fundamental fairness in immigration proceedings.”
Holder’s withdrawal of the decision means that for now, at least, the right to re-open a claim based on ineffective assistance of an attorney is restored.
Holder’s order, however, directs the Executive Office of Immigration Review to develop a new procedure “to evaluate the existing framework for making claims of ineffective assistance of counsel, to solicit public comment, and, if appropriate, to issue a final rule.”
In other words, the final outcome remains to be seen.
7 Comments
Comment posted June 4, 2009 @ 2:14 am
Those who come here illegally, steal our IDs and ignore our laws have already demonstrated they lack the honesty and decency to ever become American citizens.
a.) Enforce the existing immigration laws.
b.) Secure the border.
c.) Don't hire illegal aliens.
d.) No anchor babies.
e.) Deportation through attrition.
Comment posted June 4, 2009 @ 6:27 am
The only right that ILLEGAL people SHOULD have in this country is the right to be escorted back to their own country. I hate to say it, but if this country's leadership will not get tough on illegal immigration, then we as a country deserve to be attacked again the next time illegal terrorists hatch another plot to destroy us. The illegal's will destroy us anyway with all of their offspring. They cost this country BILLIONS AND BILLIONS OF DOLLARS. I like Barack Obama, but his toleration of what is happening to this country is inexcusable. If you are ILLEGAL then anything that you do in this country should be against the law. I thought that that was the MEANING OF THE WORD. How insane is this???? Real Americans need to stand up and be heard. Someone needs to organize a march on Washington to protest giving rights and privileges to people who cross our borders without a passport. That goes for Mexicans, Canadians, Iraqis, Cubans, etc.
Comment posted June 4, 2009 @ 9:30 am
Illegal aliens do NOT deserve a second legal attempt to avoid deportation. What they deserve is a bus ticket at taxpayers expense right back to their own country. The true costs of illegals in this country is in BILLIONS of dollars. Eric Holder's ruling is part of an agenda that has legalizing all of the miilions of illegals now in this country. No citizen, naturalized or native, should suborn this decision. It is just wrong.
At first reading, Mukasey's ruling in Compean seems offensive to the American Way. But, wait a minute… The laws of any country apply to its CITIZENS, not anyone who avoided the immigration gate to get here. As citizens of the USA, we might expect to be treated in certain ways when we go to another country, retaining in our minds those “…inalienable rights…” we've grown to expect in our culture. Well, those rights DO NOT APPLY in Mexico, France, Brazil, Libya, or any foreign land – even if you entered through that county's immigration process. In any country other than your home, the inherent rights of a US citizen do not apply. Members of the US military stationed abroad fall under the auspices of a specifically negotiated Status of Forces Agreement made between the US State Department and the country where our troops are stationed. In every case, our troops can expect a diminished set of legal rights and may be tried in forign courts for many offenses, particularly any that involve citizens of that country.
Citizens of another country should NOT expect the normal set of US laws to apply to them. Lawyers who prey upon illegal aliens are ambulance chasers of the worst sort. That same ilk work upon the citizens of this country as well. Illegal aliens deserve no better treatment than the actual residents. Just try getting a do-over in a divorce case where you picked a skunk lawyer who talked but couldn't perform to what you wanted…
Comment posted June 4, 2009 @ 1:27 pm
The only right that ILLEGAL people SHOULD have in this country is the right to be escorted back to their own country. I hate to say it, but if this country's leadership will not get tough on illegal immigration, then we as a country deserve to be attacked again the next time illegal terrorists hatch another plot to destroy us. The illegal's will destroy us anyway with all of their offspring. They cost this country BILLIONS AND BILLIONS OF DOLLARS. I like Barack Obama, but his toleration of what is happening to this country is inexcusable. If you are ILLEGAL then anything that you do in this country should be against the law. I thought that that was the MEANING OF THE WORD. How insane is this???? Real Americans need to stand up and be heard. Someone needs to organize a march on Washington to protest giving rights and privileges to people who cross our borders without a passport. That goes for Mexicans, Canadians, Iraqis, Cubans, etc.
Comment posted June 4, 2009 @ 4:30 pm
Illegal aliens do NOT deserve a second legal attempt to avoid deportation. What they deserve is a bus ticket at taxpayers expense right back to their own country. The true costs of illegals in this country is in BILLIONS of dollars. Eric Holder's ruling is part of an agenda that has legalizing all of the miilions of illegals now in this country. No citizen, naturalized or native, should suborn this decision. It is just wrong.
At first reading, Mukasey's ruling in Compean seems offensive to the American Way. But, wait a minute… The laws of any country apply to its CITIZENS, not anyone who avoided the immigration gate to get here. As citizens of the USA, we might expect to be treated in certain ways when we go to another country, retaining in our minds those “…inalienable rights…” we've grown to expect in our culture. Well, those rights DO NOT APPLY in Mexico, France, Brazil, Libya, or any foreign land – even if you entered through that county's immigration process. In any country other than your home, the inherent rights of a US citizen do not apply. Members of the US military stationed abroad fall under the auspices of a specifically negotiated Status of Forces Agreement made between the US State Department and the country where our troops are stationed. In every case, our troops can expect a diminished set of legal rights and may be tried in forign courts for many offenses, particularly any that involve citizens of that country.
Citizens of another country should NOT expect the normal set of US laws to apply to them. Lawyers who prey upon illegal aliens are ambulance chasers of the worst sort. That same ilk work upon the citizens of this country as well. Illegal aliens deserve no better treatment than the actual residents. Just try getting a do-over in a divorce case where you picked a skunk lawyer who talked but couldn't perform to what you wanted…
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