Opinion ID: 164847
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Summary of facts and proceedings

Text: 2 Mr. Latu, a native of Tonga, was admitted to the United States as a permanent resident in 1972, at the age of thirteen. In 1999, he pleaded guilty in a California federal court to two counts of theft and receipt of U.S. mail. Mr. Latu began serving his sentence in California, but was later transferred to Colorado to complete it. In May 1999, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) 2 issued a Notice to Appear out of one of its California offices, ordering Mr. Latu to show cause why he should not be removed on the basis that he had committed an aggravated felony. But the Notice to Appear failed to specify which section of 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43) defined the felony he committed as an aggravated felony, and did not set a specific date, time, or place for hearing. 3 In July 2000, the INS commenced removal proceedings by filing the notice with the Immigration Court in Colorado and serving it on Mr. Latu. See 8 C.F.R. § 1003.14(a). In an amended notice, Mr. Latu was given a place to appear before an immigration judge (IJ). He appeared before an IJ on July 31 and was given three weeks to obtain counsel and respond to the charges. At an August 31 hearing, the IJ granted his counsel's request for a second extension of time to answer the charges. Mr. Latu challenged the sufficiency of the original notice at a hearing on September 11, 2000, during which the INS orally informed him that he was charged with violating § 1101(a)(43)(M), an offense involving fraud or deceit in which the loss to the victim or victims exceeds $10,000. Aplt. App. at 49. At counsel's request, the IJ gave Mr. Latu an additional sixteen days to respond to the charge. Id. at 50. The INS amended the charge to state a violation of § 1101(a)(43)(G) (a theft offense, including receipt of stolen property, for which the term of imprisonment is at least one year), on September 25, 2000. After another hearing in Colorado in October 2000, the IJ concluded that the INS had proved by clear and convincing evidence that Mr. Latu is an aggravated felon subject to removal, and ordered Mr. Latu's removal to Tonga. Aplt.App. at 59-60. 4 Mr. Latu appealed the removal order to the Bureau of Immigration Appeals (BIA), which dismissed the appeal by order entered May 18, 2001. Id. at 97-100. The BIA also denied Mr. Latu's request for adjustment of status under 8 U.S.C. § 1255, determining that he is statutorily ineligible for such relief under § 1182(h) in light of his aggravated felony conviction. Id. at 99-100. And it held it had no authority to adjudicate the constitutionality of § 1182(h). Id. Mr. Latu did not file a petition for review to challenge either the BIA's final order of removal or its denial of his request for an adjustment of status. Instead, he filed the present petition for writ of habeas corpus in the federal district court in Colorado. 5 Mr. Latu made the following arguments in his habeas petition: (1) failure to provide notice of date, time, and place of the hearing and of the underlying felony in the Notice to Appear constituted a violation of his Due Process rights; (2) the INS further violated his Due Process rights by commencing the removal proceedings in Denver, rather than in California (where his conviction on the predicate felony was obtained), thus denying him the opportunity to obtain rulings under more favorable Ninth Circuit precedent; (3) the INS failed to prove that the Mr. Latu's conviction was sufficient to support his removal; and (4) § 1182(h) is facially unconstitutional, as it deprives lawful permanent residents who have committed aggravated felonies an opportunity to adjust their status that is available to aliens who do not have permanent-resident status. 6 With respect to the deficiencies in the Notice to Appear, the district court concluded that Mr. Latu eventually received all the process he was due and that he was not prejudiced by the initial lack of information. With respect to the government's choice of venue for the removal proceedings, the court rejected the government's argument that the decision was a discretionary one outside the court's jurisdiction to review, but found that the choice of venue did not prejudice Mr. Latu. The district court held that Mr. Latu should have raised his argument that the government failed to prove by sufficient evidence that he had been convicted of an aggravated felony in a petition for direct review and that he could not now raise it in a habeas proceeding. Finally, the court rejected Mr. Latu's challenge to the constitutionality of § 1182(h)(2). 7 Mr. Latu filed a timely appeal of the district court's order on three of the above four issues, dropping his third argument about the sufficiency of the evidence. The government contends that Mr. Latu could have raised all the issues on which he seeks habeas relief in a petition for direct review and that the district court had no jurisdiction to consider the merits of any of Mr. Latu's habeas petition. The government also argues that the court did not have jurisdiction to consider Mr. Latu's challenge to the INS's decision to institute removal proceedings in Colorado, rather than in California, because that is a discretionary decision outside the purview of the court. In the alternative, the government urges affirmance on the merits.