Source: http://ilw.com/immigrationdaily/cases/2002,0313-Dominguez.shtm
Timestamp: 2019-02-16 14:20:50
Document Index: 133425576

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1229', '§ 1229', '§ 1229', '§ 1305', '§ 265', '§ 1229', '§ 1305', '§ 1229', '§ 1305', 'art:\n3', '§ 265', 'art:\n4', '§ 1229']

ILW.COM - Dominguez v. INS
No. 01-14658
INS No. A74-906-261
CARISSA ANN MARIE DOMINGUEZ,
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL, IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE,
Before ANDERSON, Chief Judge, CARNES and HULL, Circuit Judges.
Carissa Ann Marie Dominguez is a Jamaican citizen whose non-immigrant visitor visa expired on January 25, 1991. In September 1997 Dominguez applied for lawful permanent status. That status was denied in March 2000, at which time removal proceedings were initiated. On September 19, 2000, notice to appear at the November 14, 2000, removal proceeding was mailed to Dominguez at a Jacksonville, North Carolina address. She does not deny that the address to which the notice was sent was the address which she had given the INS in her formal submission.
We review the BIA's denial of a motion to reopen a deportation order for abuse of discretion. Anin v. Reno, 188 F.3d 1273, 1276 (11th Cir. 1999).
staying with cousin -
1608 Bragmont Street
Cohena, CA 91722
We disagree. Due process is satisfied so long as the method of notice is conducted "in a manner 'reasonably calculated' to ensure that notice reaches the alien". Id. at 1278, citing Mullane v. Central Hanover Bank & Trust Co., 339 U.S. 306, 318 (1950). The INS has a duty to provide written notice to those appearing before it in a hearing. 8 U.S.C. § 1229(a)(1). Section 1229(a)(1) provides in relevant part:
In removal proceedings under section 1229a of this title, written notice (in this section referred to as a 'notice to appear') shall be given in person to the alien (or, if personal service is not practicable, through service by mail to the alien or to the alien's counsel of record, if any) specifying the following:
(F)(i) The requirement that the alien must immediately provide (or have provided) the Attorney General with a written record of an address and telephone number (if any) at which the alien may be contacted respecting proceedings under section 1229a of this title [removal proceedings].
Pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1229(c), the notice specified in § 1229(a) is effective if sent to the "last address provided by the alien."1 Indeed, an alien has an affirmative duty to provide the government with a correct address; under 8 U.S.C. § 1305(a),2 the alien must notify the attorney general within ten days from the date of a change of address. See also 8 C.F.R. § 265.1.3 Failing to provide the INS with a change of address will preclude the alien from claiming that the INS did not provide him or her with notice of a hearing. See 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(5)(B) ("No written notice shall be required . . . if the alien has failed to provide the address required under section 1229(a)(1)(F) of this title").
In addition to those clear statutory requirements, we also recognize the Fifth Circuit's decision in United States v. Estrada-Trochez, 66 F.3d 733 (5th Cir. 1995), in which that court held that notice sent to the alien's last known address satisfied due process, even though the alien argued that the INS could have easily notified his family. Id. at 736. As the Fifth Circuit recognized, it is the alien's statutory duty to notify the government of each change of address within ten days of the date of that change. 8 U.S.C. § 1305(a). The Fifth Circuit concluded: the "ultimate fault lies with the Appellant for [her] failure to comply with a law that is essential to the administration of the INS." Estrada-Trochez, 66 F.3d at 736.
The statute clearly provides that notice to the alien at the most recent address provided by the alien is sufficient notice, and that there can be an in absentia removal after such notice.4 It is clear that the notice of the November 14, 2000, hearing was properly sent to the most recent address provided in writing by Dominguez pursuant to the foregoing statutory requirements. The handwritten note relied upon by Dominguez does not satisfy the statutory requirement that the notice be in writing. Moreover, the record does not support Dominguez's argument that the handwritten note proved even an informal notice to INS of her address as of the INS's September 19, 2000 notice to her scheduling the November 14, 2000 hearing. At best, the note merely suggested that Dominguez was staying at that California address at that particular time in November 1997, not that she was residing there; Dominguez's own assertion is that she moved from her Jacksonville, North Carolina address in March 1999; also, there is no proof as to when the handwritten note was made a part of Dominguez's file, or if it was there as of September 2000; finally, the address on the handwritten note is different from the address in her notice of appeal. We readily conclude that Dominguez's due process argument is without merit. Her other arguments are rejected without need for discussion.
1. 8 U.S.C. § 1229(c) states:
2. 8 U.S.C. § 1305(a) states, in pertinent part:
3. 8 C.F.R. § 265.1 states, in pertinent part:
4. 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(b)(5)(B) states: