Opinion ID: 158209
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The INS Clerk

Text: 39 Finally, Mr. Gutierrez-Gonzalez argues that the INS affirmatively misled him as to the state of the law and that he relied on that misrepresentation, when the INS clerk issued him a temporary work permit. While it would seem that Mr. Gutierrez-Gonzalez should have immediately been taken into custody when he admitted to the INS clerk that he was in the country illegally, the INS's failure to arrest Mr. Gutierrez-Gonzalez on the spot and the erroneous issuance of a work permit does not estop the federal government from later arresting and prosecuting Mr. Gutierrez-Gonzalez for illegally reentering the country. Mr. Gutierrez-Gonzalez did not inform the INS clerk that he had previously been deported from the United States. Rather, Mr. Gutierrez-Gonzalez submitted a fraudulent application that affirmatively stated that he had never been deported. The INS clerk specifically informed Mr. Gutierrez-Gonzalez that the work permit was not an entry document. Under these facts, even if an INS clerk could be considered an agent of the government charged with interpreting, administering or enforcing immigration law and the actions in this case considered active misleading as to the state of the law, Mr. Gutierrez-Gonzalez's alleged belief that he was in the United States legally was not reasonable.