Opinion ID: 202283
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Warrant of Deportation

Text: 25 The Warrant of Deportation, commanding any INS officer to take custody of Roberto García and to remove him from the United States, was introduced through Sassone. She testified that a Warrant of Deportation, when complete with an alien's photograph and fingerprint, reveals that an INS official witnessed the alien's departure from the United States on a given date. As explained by Sassone, the Warrant of Deportation contained in Roberto García's Alien Registration File, complete with photograph and fingerprint, revealed that Roberto García was actually placed on a plane in Newark, New Jersey, on December 13, 1999, for deportation out of the United States. Sassone further explained that, had Roberto García been granted permission to re-enter the United States subsequently, such permission would be reflected not only in his Alien Registration File but also in the INS's computer indices. Sassone testified that she found no evidence, either in the Alien Registration File or the agency's computer indices, that permission to re-enter had ever been granted to Roberto García. 26 Relying on Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 124 S.Ct. 1354, 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004), García contends on appeal that the district court violated his confrontation rights by admitting the 1999 Warrant of Deportation when the officer who signed the warrant was not made available for cross-examination. Because García did not object to the admission of the Warrant of Deportation at trial, we review for plain error. 27 In Crawford, 541 U.S. at 68, 124 S.Ct. 1354, the Supreme Court held that the Confrontation Clause prohibits the admission of out-of-court statements that are testimonial in nature unless the declarant is unavailable and the defendant had a prior opportunity to cross-examine the declarant concerning the statements. García argues that the Warrant of Deportation admitted in this case falls within the core class of testimonial statements described by the Supreme Court in Crawford. 28 At least three circuit courts have rejected the very argument being made here by García. In United States v. Valdez-Maltos, 443 F.3d 910, 911 (5th Cir.2006), the Fifth Circuit held that warrants of deportation do not constitute testimonial hearsay under Crawford. The Ninth and Eleventh Circuits have likewise held that defendants have no right to confront and cross-examine the agents who routinely record warrants of deportation because warrants of deportation are non-testimonial and, therefore, not subject to the confrontation clause. See United States v. Bahena-Cardenas, 411 F.3d 1067, 1074-75 (9th Cir.2005), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 126 S.Ct. 1652, 164 L.Ed.2d 398 (2006); United States v. Cantellano, 430 F.3d 1142, 1145 (11th Cir.2005), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 126 S.Ct. 1604, 164 L.Ed.2d 325 (2006); see also United States v. Rueda-Rivera, 396 F.3d 678, 680 (5th Cir.2005) (stating generally that documents in a defendant's immigration file are analogous to non-testimonial business records); United States v. Quezada, 754 F.2d 1190, 1194-95 (5th Cir.1985) (holding that a warrant of deportation contained in an alien's INS file was reliable and admissible because the official preparing the warrant had no motivation to do anything other than mechanically register an unambiguous factual matter). 29 Because we find no reason to disagree with the Fifth, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits, we conclude that García has established no error at all, much less plain error, with regard to the admission of the 1999 Warrant of Deportation.