Guest Post: Dolan Law Offices – 3 Important Federal Immigration Decisions Issued During the First Quarter of 2010
During the first quarter of 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court and several of the Courts of Appeals have issued important immigration decisions. These decisions impact the rights of people who are not U.S. citizens and who want to remain in the United States. Below is information on three of the recently issued immigration cases.
On March 31, 2010 the Supreme Court issued a decision regarding the right to immigration law advice for noncitizens charged with a crime. Specifically, the Court found that criminal defense lawyers must advise noncitizens on the effect of a plea on their ability to remain in the country. In other words, noncitizens who are charged with a crime are entitled to competent legal advice concerning whether they risk deportation by accepting a guilty plea.
On February 19, 2010, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a credible death threat made by a person with the ability to carry out the threat constitutes persecution. While the Court found evidence of past persecution due to a credible death threat made by a person with the ability to carry out the threat, it remanded to the Board of Immigration Appeals to decide whether the U.S. Government could effectively rebut the presumption of likely future persecution by proving that the country’s circumstances had changed or that the petitioner had the ability relocate.
On January 5, 2010 the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that taking away a person’s citizenship because of his religion or ethnicity may be persecution. In Haile v. Holder, the Board of Immigration Appeals originally denied an Ethopian’s request for asylum. The 7th Circuit granted the petition for review and remanded the case reasoning that if Ethiopia took away Haile’s Ethiopian citizenship because Haile was Eritrean and the Ethiopian government was hostile to Eritreans then Haile might have a well founded fear of persecution if he was to return to Ethiopia. The Court made an analogy to Nazi Germany’s treatment of the Jews in the 1930s and 1940s.
Thus, in recent months the Supreme Court has expanded the rights applicable to noncitizens who are arrested and charged with a crime while the Courts of Appeals have extended the definition of persecution and protected people who want to remain in the United States.
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