Opinion ID: 175021
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Prejudice Prong of a Claim of Ineffective Assistance in Removal Proceedings

Text: In 1988, the BIA in Lozada established a framework within which it would consider a motion to reopen a removal proceeding based on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. See generally 19 I. & N. Dec. at 637. With regard to the substance of such a claim, the Board stated as follows: Any right a respondent in deportation proceedings may have to counsel is grounded in the fifth amendment guarantee of due process.... Ineffective assistance of counsel in a deportation proceeding is a denial of due process only if the proceeding was so fundamentally unfair that the alien was prevented from reasonably presenting his case.... One must show, moreover, that he was prejudiced by his representative's performance. Id. at 638 (emphasis added). In applying Lozada principles in the context of an alien's claim that his attorney failed to make certain arguments, the BIA has articulated a variety of standards as to what the alien must show to establish that counsel's performance caused him prejudice. For example, in In Re Fernandez, No. A41 590 875, 2006 WL 3088698 (B.I.A. Sept. 21, 2006) (unpaginated), the Board stated that prejudice means that it is likely that an alien would have prevailed at the hearing or on appeal had the negligent representation not occurred. (Emphasis added.) In In Re Munroe, No. A34 111 687, 2007 WL 275812 (B.I.A. Jan. 18, 2007) (unpaginated), the Board described a standard considerably less stringent than likely-to-have-prevailed, stating that evidence of prejudice is evidence reflecting a reasonable possibility that the outcome of his removal hearing would have been different had counsel not declined to apply for relief on his behalf or conceded the charge of removability. (Emphasis added.) And in applying Lozada in In Re Chambers, No. A18 133 311, 2007 WL 2588591 (B.I.A. Aug. 8, 2007) (unpaginated), the Board referred to yet another standard, stating that [p]rejudice is shown where counsel's actions [are] so inadequate that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's ineffectiveness, the outcome of the proceedings would have been different, while also stating that Chambers had failed to show prejudice because he failed to demonstrate what actions his former attorney should have taken that would have warranted a different result.  (Emphases added.) In Compean I, the then-Attorney General vacated Lozada in part, renouncing its assumption of a constitutional foundation for the right to counsel in removal proceedings, and established a clear and stringent standard for BIA analysis of motions to reopen based on claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. The Compean I Attorney General opined that the Constitution does not confer a constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel in removal proceedings. 24 I. & N. Dec. at 714; but see, e.g., Debeatham v. Holder, 602 F.3d at 485 (such claims are grounded in the right to due process). The Attorney General noted, however, that the alien has a statutory privilege to retain counsel, see Compean I, 24 I. & N. Dec. at 726, and concluded that the Board has discretion to reopen proceedings [i]n extraordinary cases, where a lawyer's deficient performance likely changed the outcome of an alien's removal proceedings, id. at 714 (emphasis added). He stated, I conclude that to establish prejudice arising from a lawyer's deficient performance sufficient to permit reopening, an alien must show that but for the deficient performance, it is more likely than not that the alien would have been entitled to the ultimate relief he was seeking. Id. at 733-34 (emphasis added); see also id. at 734 (finding the `more likely than not' standard ... more appropriate than [the] `reasonable probability' standard and more demanding). In Compean II. a new Attorney General vacate[d] Compean [I] in its entirety, 25 I. & N. Dec. at 3, and called for rulemaking to evaluate the Lozada framework and to determine what modifications should be proposed, see id. at 2. With Compean I vacated, the Lozada standard was expressly restored. See, e.g., id. at 3 (To ensure that there is an established framework in place pending the issuance of a final rule, the Board and Immigration Judges should apply the pre- Compean standards to all pending and future motions to reopen based upon ineffective assistance of counsel, regardless of when such motions were filed.). Compean I was announced after Vartelas filed his motion to reopen but before the Board ruled on the motion; Compean II vacated Compean I, but not until after the Board had ruled on his motion. Thus, the Compean I standard was the prevailing standard at the time of the Board's decision. Vartelas contends that the Board's application of the stringent requirement set in Compean I, rather than the standard set by Lozada, denied him due process. (Vartelas brief on appeal at 12.) We conclude, however, that in this case we need not determine which of the standards of prejudice applies to an ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim in removal proceedings. Whatever the provenance of the right, an ineffective-assistance claim cannot be established without some showing of prejudice; and for the reasons stated in the sections that follow, Vartelas has failed to show prejudice under any standard.