Third Circuit: International Law Relevant in Removal Cases

In Rranci v. Mukasey (3d Cir. Aug. 22, 2008), the Third Circuit agreed that Mr. Rranci deserves a chance to reopen his case due to his prior lawyer’s ineffective assistance of counsel.  Mr. Rranci was an informant against an international criminal and would be killed if the United States deports him to where the criminal lives.

The Third Circuit agreed with a Seton Hall Law School amicus brief and ordered the BIA to provide protections to informants as required by the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime.  The court also highlighted how immigration lawyers need to be aware of relevant treaties.

Meetali Jain (then practitioner-in-residence at Seton Hall Law and now at American University Washington College of Law) and Maura Caroselli (then a law student) researched and wrote the amicus brief.  Baher Azmy conducted oral argument for amici and worked with Lori Nessel and Bassina Farbenblum.

Rex Chen at Catholic Charities of Newark represented Mr. Rranci.  He is separately part of a project to promote using international law arguments in immigration cases.  That project is run jointly by Georgetown’s Institute for the Study of International Migration and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network.

The court’s decision is at: http://www.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/063327p.pdf

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