Opinion ID: 203588
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Missing Transcript.

Text: The petitioner's last claim of error relates to the missing transcript of the master calendar conference. This claim is jejune. To comply with the demands of due process, hearing transcripts need only be reasonably complete and accurate. See Kheireddine v. Gonzales, 427 F.3d 80, 84-85 (1st Cir.2005). To make out a due process violation based on gaps in the record, then, a petitioner must show at a bare minimum that the gaps relate to matters material to his case and that the absence of missing transcripts is prejudicial. See id. Simply showing an imperfection in the record is not enough; the complaining party must show specific prejudice materially affecting his ability to obtain meaningful review. Teng, 516 F.3d at 17. Here, the record of the immigration proceeding is substantially complete. Indeed, the record of the hearing itself is complete in every particular. The petitioner's remonstrance relates only to the missing transcript of a brief calendar conference, at which no evidence was taken. The petitioner has provided a barebones outline of this objection: his counsel makes a conclusory statement that the emergency room notes would have had a bearing on the issue of competence. But he fails plausibly to explain how or why that is so. In any event, the law is pellucid that if a missing transcript reasonably could be recreated by the complaining party, its absence is not prejudicial. See Kheireddine, 427 F.3d at 86. This is such a case. The original emergency room record presumably still exists, yet the petitioner made no effort before the BIA (or before us, for that matter) either to produce that record or to explain why it is not available. Because it would have been child's play simply to resubmit these notes, this claim of error founders.