Opinion ID: 754792
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Contents/Language of the Forms

Text: 36 Initially, the government contests the district court's decision that the forms fail adequately to inform aliens of their rights and of the consequences of waiving them. Our review of the forms leads us to conclude that the district court properly evaluated them in light of all the relevant circumstances and correctly determined that a confluence of factors  rendered them constitutionally inadequate. Whether or not any one of the factors alone might be insufficient to create a due process violation, the combination of factors--the forms' failure to advise the alien in clear terms of the need to request a separate hearing on the document fraud charges in order to contest deportability on that ground; the forms' failure to explain the drastic immigration consequences that ensue from a final order on the document fraud charges; the fact that the fine notice informs the alien that the penalty for document fraud is simply the imposition of a fine and the issuance of a cease and desist order; the fact that the acknowledgement in the rights/waiver form does not state that a failure to request a hearing will result in a finding of deportability and permanent excludability, and in most instances immediate deportation (although the acknowledgement purports to set forth the consequences of that failure); the legalistic language and confusing references to sections of the INA; the practice of presenting the monolingual fine notice and rights/waiver notice forms simultaneously with the bilingual OSC; 4 the failure to provide translations or explanations of the forms (other than the OSC) to aliens who have difficulty comprehending English; and the statements in the OSC assuring the alien that he will receive a deportation hearing at which he may refute the charges that will serve as the basis for deportation--produces a high likelihood that aliens receiving the forms will be confused and misled. 37 We reject the government's argument that the document fraud forms satisfy the notice component of due process even if they do not apprise the alien of the drastic consequences regarding deportation. 5 Informing an alien that a final order under § 274C will result in a finding of deportability and permanent excludability, and in most instances immediate deportation, is necessary in order to ensure that the alien understands that he must request a separate hearing on the document fraud charges in order to preserve his rights. Otherwise, the alien has no reason to know that by waiving his opportunity for a document fraud hearing, he is waiving his right to a meaningful deportation hearing. See Mullane v. Central Hanover Bank & Trust Co., 339 U.S. 306, 314, 70 S.Ct. 652, 94 L.Ed. 865 (1950) (The notice must be of such a nature as reasonably to convey the required information.). Here, the alien never learns how to take advantage of the deportation procedures because the combined effect of all the forms together is confusion. See also Perkins v. City of West Covina, 113 F.3d 1004, 1012 (9th Cir.1997) (explaining what kind of notice is constitutionally sufficient). 38 In fact, the forms the government serves on the plaintiffs are not only confusing, they are affirmatively misleading. The fine notice specifically advises the alien that a final order on the document fraud charges will direct him to pay a fine and to cease and desist from his wrongful conduct. It says nothing about the fact that a final order will result in a finding of deportability and excludability, or the likelihood that it will result in the alien's immediate deportation. The acknowledgement in the rights/waiver form exacerbates the problem by once again listing the penalties for the offense but failing to mention the drastic immigration consequences. Moreover, the OSC, which is frequently served on the alien simultaneously with the other two document fraud forms compounds the due process violation. Understandably, the OSC, which is the only form that is bilingual, is the most worrisome to the alien because it threatens deportation. As a consequence, many aliens are likely to pay more attention to the OSC than to any other form. Although the OSC specifically promises the alien an opportunity to be heard as to whether or not he should be deported, in document fraud cases such a promise is frequently illusory; for in the meantime, the alien will often have unknowingly waived his only opportunity for a hearing on charges that will render him both deportable and excludable. Yet nowhere does the OSC even hint at the need for the alien to request a separate hearing. To the contrary, it expressly informs him that a hearing at which he can contest the charges on which deportation is threatened will be scheduled automatically. By making that assurance, the government lulls the alien into a false sense of procedural security, whether or not document fraud ultimately serves as the basis for the deportation order; for, at the very least, the alien will without further recourse be held to be deportable and permanently excludable.