Opinion ID: 685666
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Unlawfulness of the blanket policy

Text: 11 Although the government admits that Judge Nail had a practice of denying changes of venue to aliens who lacked a prior domestic residence, it argues that the policy did not violate due process. At most, the government argues, the policy constitutes an abuse of discretion in individual cases. 12 To a considerable degree, the government's argument that Judge Nail's policy merely constitutes a series of individual abuses of discretion constitutes an attempt either to dispute the district court's pattern or practice finding, or to revisit our decision in Campos I. The government has avowed that it does not contest the district court's fact finding, and we accept that avowal. The district court found that Judge Nail had a regular policy that governed motions for change of venue and that he failed to exercise discretion in regard to those motions. And, as we will explain below, there is no reason to revisit our holding in Campos I that the district court has jurisdiction to adjudicate the validity of Judge Nail's pattern or practice. 13 The government is entitled, however, to argue here that Judge Nail's policy did not violate the plaintiffs' rights. The government focuses on the district court's conclusion that the policy denied the plaintiffs' constitutional rights 2 . We may, however, uphold the district court's conclusion on another ground if it is supported by the record. Charley's Taxi Radio Dispatch Corp. v. SIDA of Hawaii, Inc., 810 F.2d 869, 874 (9th Cir.1987). We are satisfied that the policy violated plaintiffs' statutory and regulatory rights, and a violation of those rights is sufficient to support the district court's decision. 3 14 Section 201(b) of the Refugee Act, 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1158, conferred upon all aliens a statutory right to apply for asylum. Orantes-Hernandez v. Thornburgh, 919 F.2d 549, 553 (9th Cir.1990). That right may be violated by a pattern or practice that forecloses the opportunity to apply. See Id. at 564 (upholding finding that coercion of aliens to accept voluntary departure violated their right to apply for asylum). The same provision of the Refugee Act required the Attorney General to establish means by which aliens, regardless of status, may apply for political asylum. See 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1158. When deportation proceedings have commenced, an asylum application is considered and decided within the deportation proceedings. 8 C.F.R. Secs. 208.3(b) and 208.10. Thus the exercise of the plaintiffs' rights to apply for asylum depends upon their opportunity to present their case to the immigration judge. 15 Deportation proceedings are subject to the fifth amendment guarantee of due process. Baires v. I.N.S., 856 F.2d 89, 90 (9th Cir.1988); Rios-Berrios v. I.N.S., 776 F.2d 859, 862 (9th Cir.1985). There is no reason, however, to explore the boundaries of the constitutional guarantee of procedural due process in the present context, and we do not do so. [W]e need not reach the constitutional issue if we find that a statutory right was violated and that the violation caused prejudice to the alien. Baires, 856 F.2d at 91; see also Massachusetts v. Westcott, 431 U.S. 322, 323, 97 S.Ct. 1755, 1756, 52 L.Ed.2d 349 (1977) (granting relief on a statutory basis foreclosed the Court from reaching a constitutional issue); Hagans v. Lavine, 415 U.S. 528, 547, 94 S.Ct. 1372, 1384, 39 L.Ed.2d 577 (1974) (a federal court should not decide federal constitutional questions where a dispositive nonconstitutional ground is available). 16 Congress by statute has provided that an alien must receive a hearing prior to deportation, in which the alien is entitled to a reasonable opportunity to be present and a reasonable opportunity to ... present evidence on his own behalf. 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1252(b). Aliens also have a statutory and regulatory right to counsel of their own choice, at no expense to the government. See Orantes-Hernandez, 919 F.2d at 554; Baires, 856 F.2d at 91; 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1252(b)(2); 8 C.F.R. Sec. 242.1(c). Although motions to change venue are left to the sound discretion of the immigration judge, an arbitrary refusal to change venue can be a violation of the statutory right to a reasonable opportunity to attend and present evidence at the deportation hearing. Baires v. I.N.S., 856 F.2d 89, 92 (9th Cir.1988). It may also deny the right to counsel. See id. at 91, 93 n. 6; cf. Orantes-Hernandez, 919 F.2d at 564-67 (coercion of voluntary departure supports injunction based on denial of right to counsel). In Baires, we found a violation of the right to attend and present evidence when the judge denied a motion for a continuance and a change of venue without first considering the nature and importance of the evidence to the alien's case. 4 Baires identified several factors that the immigration judge should weigh in each individual case in considering a venue request: (1) the nature of the evidence to be presented and the importance of this evidence to the alien's claim, (2) whether the need for a change of venue is the result of unreasonable conduct on the part of the alien, and (3) the convenience of the immigration court. Id. at 92-93. 17 Underlying Baires and several other venue cases is the principle that the immigration judge must consider the individual circumstances of each alien in deciding whether a change of venue is necessary to safeguard an alien's right to a reasonable opportunity to be heard. See, e.g., Hernandez-Vivas v. I.N.S., 23 F.3d 1557 (9th Cir.1994); Maldonado-Perez v. I.N.S., 865 F.2d 328, 335-36 (D.C.Cir.1989). Otherwise, aliens face a substantial risk that they will lose the opportunities guaranteed to them by statute and regulation. 18 By routinely denying changes of venue to asylum seekers who had not established a residence in the United States prior to their arrests, and routinely failing to exercise discretion regarding such requests, Judge Nail ignored numerous factors that are relevant and important to the venue inquiry. Indeed, whether an alien had a prior domestic residence has little relevance to whether an alien has a reasonable opportunity to be present at a deportation hearing in Arizona or Nevada at a much later date. In all, Judge Nail's policy is not sufficiently tied to the factors we delineated in Baires to preserve the statutory right to a reasonable opportunity. As a consequence, the plaintiffs not only were deprived of their statutory and regulatory rights to appear and present evidence at their deportation hearing, but they also suffered interference with their rights to apply for asylum and to secure counsel at no expense to the government. 19 The government next contends that, even if the plaintiffs' rights were violated, they have not shown that they were prejudiced by Judge Nail's policy, and that accordingly they were not entitled to any relief. Here again, the district court's findings, which the government does not contest, are to the contrary. The district court found that many of the plaintiff class had been deported in absentia for failure to appear, and found that few had the money to return to Arizona for a deportation hearing. A total denial of opportunity to apply for asylum justifies injunctive relief. See Orantes-Hernandez, 919 F.2d at 564. The district court also found that the location of witnesses and the availability of representation militated in favor of granting changes of venue for class members. There was testimony to support the financial inability of asylum seekers to travel to Arizona for hearings. There was also testimony that the change of venue policy had an adverse effect on representation. 5 We conclude that the plaintiffs showed sufficient prejudice to justify relief from Judge Nail's policy. We accordingly affirm the district court's judgment.